MovieChat Forums > Under the Gunn (2014) Discussion > Anya is a worse mentor than Nick

Anya is a worse mentor than Nick

posted 10 years ago by lexi_jay
14 replies | jump to latest

Plenty of us have knocked Nick and his heavy handedness as a mentor(clearly an occupational hazard of all those years of teaching) but after watching last night's episode I've come to the conclusion that Anya is not that great of a mentor and the reason she still has designers left in the competition is because they are decent designer with Shan being one of the strongest this season.

With Brady she pretty much discouraged him from doing what he does best and then cast him aside once he landed in the bottom and then with Nicholas during the steampunk challenge she was rather demoralizing. I know that she didn't mean to be but there is a way push your designers while encouraging them at the same time. Tim does it all the time. She nagged the hell out of him. I've noticed that she has the fall back position of "do what you do best" with little to no constructiveness.

I find this surprising because early on this season I felt that she had the strongest team and would most assuredly produce a winner. Her only hope at this point is Shan because Blake is on his last leg.

[–] krakhouse 10 years ago

Nicholas acted like he didn't want it. Absolutely no enthusiasm or urgency to produce something that could impress. He didn't even really get angry when Anya was drilling him, show some passion buddy!

Anya was definitely hard on him, I think in the hopes of bringing something out of him but all for not. In team sports coaches often treat players differently for motivational purposes.

By the way Nicholas should have been gone last week, he hasn't even shown that he deserved to be on the show.

Any man that don't want to get killed better clear out on back.

[–] lexi_jay 10 years ago

The thing one has to realize as a mentor is that not every student is going to respond to that drill sergeant style of teaching positively. You have to tailor your style of teaching to fit the student because we all learn differently and in this particular setting with only 3 mentees I can't imagine it would be that difficult. It did little to boost Nicholas' confidence and when she saw that her nagging and nitpicking was having the opposite effect she should have changed course but she continued to dig in and question whether he even created his portfolio. WTF?! All she did was demoralize him. I found it very telling when Blake joked that when Anya came for her critique "...she's not going to say anything, she's gonna be like do what you want."

Anya's job as a mentor is to inject a morale boost when needed and to not only point the designers in the right direction when they go astray but to encourage them and make them feel as if they can indeed do it. Tim Gunn has helped to turn many designers' potentially elimination worthy looks around. In this regard Anya failed. Her approach was wrong and no one called her out on it.

On another note I agree that Nicholas should have been axed last week and I said as much but that's beside the point of my OP.

[–] Rogue-32 10 years ago

Totally agree - Anya was anything but helpful, inspiring or supportive, and Nick was way too passive, especially in the lunch room, when she even accused him of not designing the stuff in his portfolio. Low blow. She actually acknowledged that if someone said that to her she'd be crushed, but she went ahead and justified doing it anyway. And Tim backed her up, saying she had done all she could do, which I didn't agree with at all, and I usually tend to agree with him. She could have handled it any number of more constructive ways, like trying to open him up to the subject of steampunk, got him to express his genuine feelings/concerns about the challenge, rather than belittling him. I saw her in one of those x-rated blow job vids she did, and from the way she handled the guy's genitalia - totally matter-of-fact, no passion, almost like she was bored with it - I had the feeling at the time that she didn't have any actual rapport with men.

http://www.roguesreviews.com;Giamatti:movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/talkpaul/

[–] vilafire 10 years ago

Of course she'd be crushed! Because she'd be realizing the person asking her is insane!!!

"You don't think I designed this caftan which is identical to these caftans I designed?!"

[–] vilafire 10 years ago

True, but I have sympathy with all these contestants. Imagine trying out for PR with Tim as your mentor. Instead you get this, with Anya.

[–] Jonnydoe01 10 years ago

I'd rather walk than have that thing as a mentor.
She has not talent.
All she does is create resort wear with a different print.

[–] toonmili 10 years ago

Honestly, I thought Anya was in the right. Nicholas didn't care and there were people going home who wanted to be there. She tried being supportive, so she tried a firm hand too and he was just not responding. It was like he was dead.

He deserved to go home and it was not Anya's fault at all. If she didn't push him he may not have even had anything done.

Did you see Tim's reaction and the other mentors. That's how you know they too thought he was ridiculous.

Isabella was horrible but at least she cared.

[–] para_owl 10 years ago

Yeah, she knows he's on borrowed time. She has said a few things that make me think that she really understands people and how to manage them in this environment. She's just showing a little anxiety.

--Will.

[–] lexi_jay 10 years ago

Did you see Tim's reaction and the other mentors.

Who cares what the others thought. They don't necessarily see everything that we see as they are wrapped up dealing with their own designers.

Nicholas didn't care and there were people going home who wanted to be there. She tried being supportive...

How do you know that he didn't care? Not everyone reacts to stress the same way. It's very possible that he internalizes a lot of it and that's his way of dealing.

so she tried a firm hand too and he was just not responding. It was like he was dead

I didn't find her terribly supportive. What I saw was someone that didn't really believe in his concept from very early on and she seemed incapable of steering him in the right direction so her response was to nag, nag, nag. If your idea of support is to accuse your mentee of fraud then she can keep her lame ass "support" Not sure how terribly motivated I'd feel after a conversation like that. She basically told him that she didn't believe in him or that he was capable of producing. She called him a liar and unethical.

I still believe that she had some of the strongest crop of designers in Shan, Brady, Blake, and Nicholas but her guidance has been more of a detriment than a help to them. Blake is on his last leg and I expect to see him gone sooner rather than later.

[–] toonmili 10 years ago

It was his laid back attitude that was annoying her. He was called out for his construction and sloppiness and he wasn't doing anything to address it. That's why she was trying to get him to be more efficient. I don't know how you guys are reading this as her not caring. If anything she cared too much. I said he didn't care because NOTHING he did or at least that they showed gave any indication that he cared.

[–] viperaberus 10 years ago

She gave up on Nicolas when she put into question his ethics. That was really a hard thing to do and cannot be motivating for most people. That was the completely wrong moment to do that. She run him over and the next day she was avoiding eye contact and hanging over him like a crow. At that point I would be surprised he had been able to get anything worth out of him. She did not in the least tried to help him.

She has been the worst mentor, because the first one of hers out, was because of her advice and the second one, she made a point to trample him over. He was in danger, he was not being able to deal w/ the time constraints, and I don't think it is because he does not care. People have different ways to deal w/ stress. Some get into a frenzy, others get stumped. She did not try to understand him. She put his integrity into question. I was so utterly shocked when she started to speak w/ him. It was revenge. She is pissed she made the wrong choice between Nicholas and the other guy and she decided to get her own relief for that.

[–] cagneychick182 10 years ago

Tim was clearly annoyed by Nicholas' nonchalant attitude of eating lunch. But I have to think that he would have handled a conversation with him in a much different way than Anya did.

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] vilafire 10 years ago

Yeah, I completely agree. The only things I can think of:

1. She has no clue how to design and only knows what she either likes or hates so she can't actually mentor.

Or 2. She sees MEAL TICKET and has gone a little nuts.