Television series

Under the Gunn

Name: Under the Gunn
Released: 2014
Cast: Tim Gunn, Rachel Roy, Jen Rade, Zanna Roberts Rassi

Workplace drama

Tim Gunn mentors three Project Runway alumni as they coach emerging designers through weekly challenges. It's a spinoff built on encouragement and tough love, with high-stakes runway presentations and genuine emotional investment in whether these fresh voices will make it. For anyone who loves watching talent bloom under pressure and fashion with real stakes.

If you liked this

Project Runway2004

The spiritual parent—same DNA of creative sprints, ruthless judging, and Tim's particular brand of constructive cruelty. Watching established designers compete at their peak is intoxicating; the stakes feel enormous.

But If you haven't seen the earlier seasons, you'll miss the cultural moment that made this format matter. Later seasons became uneven.

Making the Cut2020

Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn reunite for a global competition with cinematic production values. It captures what worked about the original—real mentorship, genuine warmth beneath the critique—but with higher production ambition.

But The international scope sometimes dilutes the intimacy of smaller-scale competitions. Pacing can drag in places.

The Great British Sewing Bee2013

A joyful competitor show with genuine affection for the contestants and the craft. No manufactured drama; just skilled people solving problems under time pressure, with judges who celebrate rather than destroy.

But It's slower and gentler than you might want. If you need edge and conflict, this feels almost meditative by comparison.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Under the Gunn

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Ugly Betty2006

Both explore how emerging creatives learn their craft from established figures. Both ask whether you have what it takes to survive in a ruthless industry—but Betty does it through character and warmth rather than elimination.

A beloved dramedy set in the fashion world where mentorship and self-belief are at the core. Betty's relationship with her boss mirrors what drives competition shows—the gap between potential and confidence, and how someone helps you cross it.

But It's not a competition show at all; it's a workplace comedy-drama that happened to be set in fashion. The pacing is deliberately soapy rather than driven by challenges.

Next in Fashion2020

Tan France and Alexa Chung host a design competition that trusts its contestants' taste and doesn't condescend. The mentorship feels earned and the judging panel includes actual fashion professionals, not celebrities.

But Some episodes prioritize spectacle over the actual work. The mentorship dynamic doesn't quite have the depth that drives great competition shows.

Face Off2011

Special effects makeup artists compete in high-pressure sprints with real practical constraints. The problem-solving is genuinely clever and the judges' feedback is specific and knowledgeable.

But If you're not interested in makeup technique, watching people troubleshoot silicone and prosthetics will feel like a slog.

Queer Eye2018

The Fab Five offer mentorship in fashion and life to people who need it. The fashion element is just one thread in something larger about how style connects to dignity and self-belief.

But If you want pure fashion competition, this is side-dish material. The sentiment can feel engineered. Also not really about watching designers work.