Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn on Making The Cut’s massive prize money and how it differs from Project Runway

Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn have reunited for a new reality series – and contestants are vying for a massive cash prize.

Heidi Klum couldn’t stay away from her “TV husband” Tim Gunn for too long – two-and-a-half-years after the pair finished up on Project Runway, they’re back with a new, equally fashionable TV show.

And after 16 seasons together on Project Runway, Klum and Gunn knew their new TV outing – Making The Cut, which premiered on Amazon Prime Video last week – had to be bigger and bolder.

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The 10-episode fashion competition series, which brings together a diverse group of 12 entrepreneurs and designers to vie for a million-dollar prize, also takes contestants around the world, from Tokyo to Paris to New York.

Amazon Prime Video will premiere two new episodes each week – in the meantime, Heidi and Tim answered some questions from news.com.au about this new, very bingeable show:

Heidi and Tim in Tokyo.

It’s clear from episode one of Making the Cut that you are thrilled to be back working together – did you keep in close contact after Project Runway?

Heidi: Tim is my television husband, so we kept in touch the whole time. When I decided to leave Project Runway, Tim was the first person I asked if he would work on this new project with me.

Tim: Heidi and I were never really apart. We had extensive conversations about leaving Project Runway and launching something new. Then, we were engaged in intensive talk about what “something new” is. For us, there was no hiatus. But, yes, we were ecstatic to be back on-camera together.

Was it important to push things further with a new show, to go bigger than you had done with Project Runway?

H: We wanted to make a show different from what we worked on in the past and we had some very big ideas from the beginning.

T: It was essential to go bigger. Otherwise, why do it at all? We have had this vision for a number of years, but Project Runway was held to a rigid prescription. With Making the Cut, we break new ground and soar.

Heidi and her ‘TV husband’ Tim.

The prize money is huge on this show – $1 million. How much of a difference can a sum like that mean for a struggling designer?

H: I think it is a great amount to start a brand, but what’s even more important is that the designers are also receiving mentorship from Amazon Fashion. The designers will also be paid all the profits from each winning look that is sold online during this difficult time.

T: $1 million is life-changing. Our twelve designers don’t learn of that until episode one. It blows their minds!

There’s a real focus on wearable fashion in Making the Cut. Was that tricky for any of the designers to get their head around?

H: I think it was a hugely beneficial process for designers to design pieces that can be sold in stores and you can see that many of the designers had challenges with that. We did try to look at the bigger picture when judging and not just look at a single outfit that someone had created. We are all humans and can have a bad day, but if there was an idea or thought behind the garment that was not that well executed, designers were not necessarily sent home.

T: I believe that all of the Making the Cut designers struggled with the wearability aspect, as my fashion design students at Parsons did, too. It’s easy to design a T-shirt or a float in a parade. It’s very difficult to create wearable fashion that is creative and innovative. That’s why when we see it we want it.

This show has budget!

This show is coming out right when everyone’s at home and in need of a good show to binge-watch. How are you both passing the time – any tips?

H: So many of my friends have called me saying that they are totally bored at home. This has not been the case with me. I have been sick for the past 2 weeks in bed with cold and now that I am feeling a bit better I have to manage the house. Cooking three meals a day, dishes, laundry, vacuuming, mopping, dancing with my kids, getting my head wrapped around home schooling and we also have a puppy so I have been very busy.

T: True confession: I love nothing more than being at home alone. So, I’m fortunate that this period of self-isolation appeals to my sensibilities. When people say to me, “I’m so bored,” I fundamentally don’t understand it. Surely, there’s a book that you want to read, a hobby requiring catch-up, a closet to be organised. Bored?