I was reading this week how ratings for this season are WAY down from the premiere, and even lower when compared to last season. That's too bad, because I think as a whole this season is leagues better than the previous one. I have to wonder if people are simply fatigued by the show, since we basically had two seasons back to back. Same thing happened with "So You Think You Can Dance" this fall. How can we miss you if you won't go away? Anyway, as we started out, we got interviews from The Damned, including Jesus, Jesse, and Anna, three designers who thus far have performed mostly dreadfully on the show. Meanwhile, Maya and Mila mused a bit on being differently aged twins, as Maya interviewed that Mila is basically Maya 15 years from now. I think that reflects pretty well on both of them, actually.

On the runway, Heidi teased that Tim would be introducing the designers to "really inspirational women." This led to Tim introducing some suit from Campbell's Soup, who spoke about the Address Your Heart program, which is tied into the Red Dress Awards, a gala marked by red dresses that benefits the American Heart Association. The inspiring women aspect of the challenge came in the form of the guest models, real women who have been impacted by heart disease. That's vague, but to give you an idea, some of them have hypertension, one has a heart that stops due to dehydration, one young woman needs a pacemaker to live, and one of the mothers has been technically dead for two minutes. But they are all awesome, strong, and truly inspirational, so kudos to you, show.

The designers thankfully were very responsive and treated these ladies with the respect they deserve, instead of recoiling in horror as past "Project Runway" contestants have done when confronted with models who aren't stick figures. I've never understood who these aspiring fashion designers think are going to wear their clothes after the show is over, because most women in the real world do not wear Size 0 clothing. So I was happy to see these designers not being annoying and/or offensive.

The designers were given $100, bins with red fabric that were in the color scheme of the Red Dress Awards, and Campbell's branding items that had to be incorporated into the look (I hated that part). It was a one-day challenge. Anna explained that she has been studying print making, and so she decided to trace the Campbell's logo onto chiffon. Maya was inspired by heart shapes, but didn't want to do anything too literal, so she worked a sweeping half-heart into her design. Amy was having issues with her fabrics - they weren't cutting/sewing the way she wanted them to, and she apparently got her proportions wrong. Jesse was creating a coat for his model that was extremely tight. Meanwhile, Seth Aaron was having issues with the front of his dress, which his model didn't like. She suggested a Grecian look, which is not his aesthetic at all, but he went with it to please her.

Tim's take: He told Jesse that his look desperately needed the jacket, because the dress alone was not nearly enough. Tim was very receptive to Anna's patterns. Jesus did another really fitted, cleavage-baring outfit that Tim seemed to think was OK. Tim encouraged Maya to take the time to follow through with her idea of making a cocktail purse with the Campbell's logo, although her dress looked cute. Amy seemed REALLY far behind. Tim was chagrined that Seth Aaron moved so far away from his personal design sense. That inspired Seth to bring his perspective back to the dress with two hours remaining. Many of the designers felt it was impossible to put out a gala-worthy look in one day. Yeah, I imagine that would be true.

The next morning, Amy felt that she only had 30 percent of her dress done. Yikes! Seth decided to go retro-50's with his dress, inspired by the whole Campbell's housewife thing. Smart. Jonathan referred to it as "a fashion emergency of Chernobyl proportions" as the designers all rushed to finish their garments. None of them seemed particularly confident in their looks.

The runway: Jonathan's gown was multi-tiered in a deep, shiny blood red with a Campbell's tie around the middle. Emilio's dress was short, flowy, and with a tube top. Not a hell of a lot of design there. Maya's dress was interesting, with a bronzeish band across the front that evoked a half-heart, but the bunching wasn't flattering. Anthony's look flattered his model with a well-made dress/coat combo. Amy's dress was flowy with some shiny bits of silk popping through; it was gorgeous going down the runway. Jesus's dress was basically a nightie with sparkly ties. Anna's dress made her model look so much bigger than she actually was, especially the top. Jay's model looked incredible, with a really architectural top but loose, flowy skirt. Jesse's outfit was old-fashioned. Ben's dress was backless and sharp looking. Mila's star-based outfit did look a bit hokey, but I liked the top of it and it fit the model well. Janeane's dress had a flippy, unflattering band across the boobs. Seth's outfit would have worked better for me had the skirt not been black.

Called to the final runway: Mila, Maya, Amy, Anna, Jesus, Jesse. I would have put Jay in there, for sure. The judges liked Mila's dress, finding it fun yet classic. Heidi thought Jesse's dress was sweet, but didn't stand out; Michael thought she looked like a majorette. But Nina liked the neckline of the actual dress. Michael totally hated Jesus's look, saying that he basically went off a checklist for everything that could be tacky: shiny, short, tight, crystals, etc. Hilarious! Heidi said the construction was flawless, but she worried about Jesus's taste. Um, yeah! Nina loved Amy's gown, finding it modern and feminine. Regarding Anna, Nina thought the racerback did the model no favors, and Michael also thought the top made her look broader. Heidi thought that Maya's dress was interesting, and saw where she was going with it. Nina specifically said she liked the Campbell's clutch.

Results: Amy won, which is cool - we've had different winners for each of the four challenges thus far, and they're all promising designers in my book. Mila and Maya were both safe. Jesse was given a reprieve, meaning the final two was Anna vs. Jesus, and that's a really clear choice. Jesus has been in the bottom three times in four episodes. Anna has been a nonentity thus far, and her dress was unflattering, but it was her only real dud so far. Thankfully Heidi put Jesus out of his (and our) misery. Jesus said he was shocked. How can you be shocked when 75 percent of the time you were in the bottom! But he had a good attitude about it, so good on him.

Next week: Big challenge! Huge reward! Hysteria! Clown clothes!