157 replies to this topic

[ScampKid]

Bert Keeter. Cute older guy and winner of the first challenge.

I don't know why, but I'm already kind of attached to Bert. I thought his winning design was good, but it didn't blow me away. Still, I found myself rooting for him to win just because I like him. He seems quiet and charming so far and I hope it stays that way.

Edited by ScampKid, Jul 30, 2011 @ 10:01 PM.

[IttyBittyFlavur]

My concern is that he's not going to have the stamina to survive the sleep deprivation and the stress of constant creativity. He'll need to pace himself.

[dirtybubble]

He is my early favorite as well. Older contestants don't usually do well on this show but I will hope for the best with him. He seems sweet, humble, AND talented so thats a rare trait right there.

[Pepper Mostly]

I'm rooting for him. I fear he's too fragile for the rough and tumble of this. But I think he has chops and I hope he can hang in there.

[ScampKid]

A couple people seemed a little upset with Bert's attitude this episode, but I found it kind of... refreshing. I don't think that he thinks he is 'above' such a challenge or that he was abusing his immunity, but I think his age has taken him a little past the ridiculousness that are these silly challenges. He's designing garments for people to actually wear, which I highly, highly appreciate, and is sort of the whole point of this competition. They're not going to be selling birdseed dresses on Piperline.com, after all.

I'm still rooting for Bert. I like his approach to this whole show. The other designers seem so frenetic and panic stricken and I'm enjoying Bert's calmer, no-nonsense attitude.

[sionprincess]

I agree. His attitude was kinda shitty, but whatever. I still love Bert. AND I fully believe that if he had been immunity free, he would have put in work, so I'm not gonna be too upset about the whole thing.

Also, while that bird seed dress was awesome, I don't really care about the unconventional challenge, so I don't care about who embraces them or not. I want a designer to make me a dress out of fabric. The kind they buy from a fabric shop, not the kind they've been sleeping in or on or that a dog should be sleeping in.

[stinamaia]

A couple people seemed a little upset with Bert's attitude this episode

According to the clip on Lifetime, he’s upsetting a lot of people.

Maybe it’s the age difference. But, we’re only two shows in. I’m not blown away by him, but I’ve still got an open mind.

[ScampKid]

I haven't seen the clips, but I imagine the age difference does have something to do with it. I don't think any of the contestants are ageist or anything, but he's at a much farther place in his life than any of the other contestants. For the others, fashion is probably their life. They live it, they breath it, they're energetic about it, they want to throw themselves into the world of fashion. Bert is already past all that. He's about ready to retire, that one, so he isn't as gung-ho about it as the others. I think it has little to do about attitude and a lot to do with where Bert is in his life compared to the others.

[stinamaia]

Here's a link to the clip.

Edited by stinamaia, Aug 5, 2011 @ 8:02 PM.

[Roglie]

He really coasted through this challenge, but I can see why. Being that much older than his fellow competitors he certainly knows that he doesn't have their stamina so he needs so save as much energy as possible. He's simply being pragmatic.

[stinamaia]

Plus, as he said, he didn’t like the challenge and didn’t want to do it.

[IttyBittyFlavur]

And if he hadn't had immunity, what then? Could he have managed to work up a little creative effort? Or would he have just turned up his nose at the whole exercise and gotten himself booted because it just wasn't his thing? Honestly, hasn't he watched the show? He has to know that this is a staple challenge. If he isn't into doing the challenges, what on earth is he doing on the show?

[luna azul]

We're talking about the guy who turned his boxer shorts into a delightful peek-a-boo bodice. I think he can bring the creative when it matters.

[Rosalyn578]

It doesn't take much creativity to turn a pair of fabric boxer shorts into a top. He was an ass this week and I'm not buying it that his age is the reason. If he can't be bothered with the challenges that he thinks are beneath him (For the record, they didn't ask him to make a costume.), then he should do something else. It's like the one contestant said, they're all excited to have this opportunity and he acts as if couldn't care less. Someone else could have taken his spot.

[Pepper Mostly]

Being that much older than his fellow competitors he certainly knows that he doesn't have their stamina so he needs so save as much energy as possible.

Hee! He's 57, not 80! I think its possible that he's defensive and prickly because he feels insecure. Maybe he'll find his feet, maybe he won't. I do worry that he's too fragile for reality TV, but I don't think his failure to embrace the challenge was a result of his age. He didn't feel equal to it so came across as snotty and dismissive.

[dirtybubble]

While I agree with Pepper Mostly that 57 isn't that friggin' old, being in this competition he must feel 157! On the one hand I can understand how he could feel beat down & just not feeling the challenge but on the other hand I do think his attitude was a little sh*!y and since he had immunity he could have done ANYTHING! Dude, you are an artist--now is the time to spread your wings and show these young whipper snappers what for! Even if creating "crazy costumes" isn't his thing he could have stilled pulled together a fierce outfit without going overboard.

I guess I'm just disappointed.

[BoredEnough]

I could care less about his attitude because he seems to be massively talented.

If the other obnoxious designers had half his talent I wouldn't mind having to watch them so much either.

[Ripley68]

I think the younger kids are kind of picking on him. His partner tonight was just as defensive if not more and outright lied to Tim. Bert just doesn't really seem that awful to me. You would think they would listen to someone who has all that experience.

[Smagu]

Such a douche.

[dirtybubble]

I still like him. As far as his attitude goes, what I think we all need to remember is not only is he a recovering alcoholic he also lost his partner of 18 years & 2 bffs to AIDS. I would think that when you have that much tragedy in your life its easy to become cynical and angry with the world. I'm not 100% sure if thats whats going on with him but I would think his dry & sarcastic humor might just be his wall the he put up to help deal with the b.s. in his life.

That and he was paired with a total douche bag last night that totally disrespected him so that doesn't help either.

[stinamaia]

From Designers Dish

Some of this was included in the other clip.

[chihuhua mama]

I think Bert's attitude is likely due to not wanting to deal with stupid shit; at least that's what I've found as I get older. Trivial, petty, time wasting crap drives me nuts. When I get fed up, I tend to be a little "brief" with people, which probably comes off as bitchy, but I don't give a rat's ass. Just shut up and do the job.

I also get irritated with people who don't know their ass about stuff, but try to sound smart by throwing out misinformed statements, or not bothering to look something up. Hence Bert's irritation about the lack of knowledge of which era the design was inspired by. Snotty nosed kids who don't bother to do the research would piss me off too. Good god, just google the shit before you speak.

[dirtybubble]

I also get irritated with people who don't know their ass about stuff, but try to sound smart by throwing out misinformed statements, or not bothering to look something up. Hence Bert's irritation about the lack of knowledge of which era the design was inspired by. Snotty nosed kids who don't bother to do the research would piss me off too. Good god, just google the shit before you speak.

I gotta admit I cheered for Bertzilla when he corrected Viktor on Mae West, Queen Victoria, AND Queen Elizabeth I! Good job dude!

[whc]

Remember when Bert first introduced himself, he said he was 102, then corrected it to 57. So yes, he feels old compared to everyone else.

I'm reminded of an incident I witnessed recently. A woman in her mid 40s was standing on the sidewalk next to her car, when a man in his early 60s started parallel parking into the space in front of hers. While doing so, his car's rear hit her car's front. When he got out after he finished parking, she said "your car hit my car". He replied "that's why they have bumpers" and walked right off. She was not pleased, and discussed this with her friends. I can totally see this happening with Bert and the younger designers.

Edited by whc, Aug 12, 2011 @ 4:53 PM.

[ScampKid]

I think Bert's attitude is likely due to not wanting to deal with stupid shit; at least that's what I've found as I get older. Trivial, petty, time wasting crap drives me nuts. When I get fed up, I tend to be a little "brief" with people, which probably comes off as bitchy, but I don't give a rat's ass. Just shut up and do the job.

I totally agree. Even with the pet store challenge he said something like "I'm going to leave the goofy stuff to the kids". I don't think that means he thinks he's above it all, I just think it means he wants to design clothes and not costumes. I can totally appreciate the sentiment because challenges like that always grind my gears. Bert's design last week was one of only two or three that was actually wearable.

Bert didn't come out looking squeaky clean, but Viktor came out look like a pile of shit. "My heart just dropped". Said in front of Bert and everybody else.

[IttyBittyFlavur]

I just think it means he wants to design clothes and not costumes

I'd be more willing to believe that if he actually designed some clothes in the pet store challenge. He wasn't hampered by any unconventional materials, so what's his excuse?

[VirginiBound]

Snotty nosed kids who don't bother to do the research would piss me off too. Good god, just google the shit before you speak.

Viktor not only didn't know there's a difference between Victorian, and Elizabethan fashion, the two seem to be diametric. That is at least in the amount of breast flesh that pops out of the corsets. Vertually none for Victorian, and plenty for the Elizabethan. And thank God for google, because within seconds I learned the difference.

[BeanyMalone]

If Bert didn't want to do goofy things, he shouldn't have applied for this show. He did, so he should shut up and start playing the game. Or at least design something. He made one cute little dress. In the pet shop challenge, even in punting the challenge, he made a boring little dress. And this week yet another boring design executed in heinous fabric.

I got a Robert Best vibe from him on the first challenge -- a journeyman designer who probably was emotionally "beyond" the shenigans of this show. Except Robert was pleasant. And Bert had 8 years of DVD's he could have watched to suggest maybe this wasn't the best forum for him to get his name out there.

[BoredEnough]

I can't be mad at him. I think the challenges are getting ridiculous. Early on they had ones where they had to make something from the supermarket or newspapers, but the pet store? Seriously? There's nothing unique about a pet store other than the animals, and they couldn't use those.

Edited by BoredEnough, Aug 14, 2011 @ 8:14 PM.

[Lamb18]

I have a feeling that Bert was cast to be the curmudgeonly old geezer with the heart of gold who is looking for a comeback, which would be a new typecast for PR. The geezer would show the young whippersnappers what's what as he pulls out a few tricks from his worn-out bag. (Similar to when an old gunslinger returns to town after years of absence and silences the disrespectful young kids by shooting a fly off the wall.) But I think Bert may be the curmudgeonly old geezer without a heart of gold. Maybe he has a heart like the Grinch's which can only be viewed with a magnifying glass.

I'm interested too see how this turns out. He might get bored and tired of crap and phone it in in order to get eliminated, or really compete to show the youngsters he can stitch with the best of them. I have a sneaking sympathy for him since I am closer in age to him than any other of the contestants.