It pains me to open this week's weecap with a reminder that Brig won last week's challenge, but there she is on the Allure Wall of Fame. And she appears to be celebrating by dressing even more cracked-out than usual, in a strapless, short, puffed-skirt dress that's part teal and part what looks like newspaper, fuchsia tights, and fuchsia wellies. Oh, and of course a headband with a bow the size of her face. If that was waiting for me when I got to the salon, I'd just head right back out. The guest judge this week is Kevin Mancuso, the Nexxus creative director, and he introduces the Shortcut Challenge: angular precision cutting with Asian hair. Six Asian models come in all holding a different shape and the stylists are to interpret the shape, doing something like you'd see on a runway or in a hair show. Kevin points out that Asian hair is gorgeous but also very difficult to cut because one needs absolute precision. Janine is a little worried because she admittedly doesn't have great precision.
They pair up, Janine has the model with the moon shape, Matthew gets the star (and is less than happy about it), and Brian gets what he calls a parallelogram and which Jon points out in an interview is actually a trapezoid. Thank goodness he's better at hair than geometry. Jon gets a diamond, April gets the heart she so desperately wanted and is talking a huuuuge game about it, and Brig gets the triangle. Camila tells them that winner gets first choice of model in the elimination challenge, and gives them 90 minutes for this challenge. Matthew says he wants to go really edgy, and his model seems terrified and reminds him she also wants it to look good. See, that might be a reason not to volunteer as a hair model. Poor Brian -- his model has to tell him that his shape is called a trapezoid and not a rhombus. This doesn't bode well. Matthew admits that for the first time he isn't confident, and we see him at one point using clippers to shave a star into his model's head, which seems questionable. Kevin checks out April's work and nothing she says mentions precision, and when Kevin brings it up she gets immediately defensive. I can see why -- it worked so well for her last week. She then interviews about how the precision aspect of it is freaking her out. How did this not freak her out from the beginning when they announced that it was the key part of the challenge? Ugh. She's now become the queen of, "that's not how I do things," which is so clearly just to cover for things she can't do.
Before we judge, let me just say that I love how Camila is always wearing something themed towards the challenge. Today it's a top with huge, structured shoulders and her earrings are giant disks. Very shapey. Janine is up first, and her poor girl has what looks like a bowl cut on one side, and then it's longer on the other, but everything is coming down in that crescent shape, so she gets full marks for following the challenge, especially since they basically told the stylists to go crazy with it. Kevin loves that she took the shape literally. Matthew is up and I'm not sure how to explain it. He somehow made layers corresponding to a star shape on her head, and he's got the one little shaved star... but basically it just looks like a long cut and when Kevin asks why he didn't put it up to show off the actual star shape, he admits he should have. Ugh. Brig tells us she thinks we're getting to the end of Matthew's repertoire. Can we get to the end of Brig's repertoire, already? Jon cut his model's hair into a bob with bangs that are in a diamond shape, sort of, but he's combed them to the side so you can't see it, and when he combs it down he's rough with the model's head -- Camila's pet peeve. The bob is messy; there's no precision. Brig has done each section of hair in a different angle to see just triangle-like angles all over, and then part of it is pulled up with a plastic triangle decoration. Kevin thinks it's a cop-out, Brig is PISSED, and Janine can't really hide her smirk. April did her model's hair much like last week -- it's shoulder length and a bit longer in front, I guess those are the points of the heart? It's then teased up with a bunch of volume, and it's cute (although not great for the girl's round face) but totally not what the challenge asked for and Kevin calls her on it. Cue the pissed-off, everyone-can-bite-me interview. Brian admits he didn't know the shape, but though he didn't know the name he did a really good job -- giving her a long bang cut straight across and then the long pieces on either side angle in to form a trapezoid framing her face. His problem is that his lines aren't very precise. Kevin's bottom two are April, who is angry, and Matthew, who isn't surprised, and the winner is Janine, which delights me -- not for Janine, but because it absolutely pisses off Brig.
Tiny apartment segment time! They sit around and talk, Matthew is disappointed, and Brig totally rubs salt in his wound telling him how disappointed she was that he didn't go for it. Brig apparently makes cupcakes all the time, with scary fluorescent pink frosting, and Matthew winds up shoving them off the counter, adding this week's episode title: "It's all fun and games until somebody gets annoying." Really, she got annoying a while ago.
Everyone files in to the salon for the elimination challenge. Camila is in a dress that starts out like a caftan but ends like a mini, so I have no idea how that is going to tie into this challenge. She ominously tells them that their ability to satisfy their clients might make the difference between whether or not their clients make the final cut. April speaks for us all: "Huh?" The models file in, all tall, long hair, and, well, model-y. They are all working actresses, and the stylists must give them a cut for their new headshots. Janine has the first choice, and picks the lone redhead. For the rest, the models are picking them. Brian is picked first, then April, Brig (who, lord help us, is in red tights and a kind of nurse-like dress, with a red feather inexplicably in her hair), Jon, and finally Matthew, who sadly has a whole lot of insecurities from being chosen last at things in school, so he's not a happy camper. Brig gloats, but seriously? These girls might wish they'd chosen differently depending on how their hair turns out. I feel confident Matthew's model will be okay. They only have an hour to cut and style, and the judges will be there at the shoot. The winner will be in a Nexxus advertorial in Allure.
Time to cut! Janine's model wants girl--door, but sexy. Matthew's actress works as a host on Telemundo, but also wanted big hair for possible soap roles. April's girl wants sporty California girl. Brig's client is actually the Obama Girl, and I didn't realize how happy I was that people had stopped talking about her until now that she's been brought up again. She wants to go for an action hero look. Brig then starts talking to Brian's model, who has had clown training. She wants to go for "hot geek" and Brian says he doesn't know what a geek looks like. This... too... easy... His idea is to have a brush stuck in one part of her hair. Dear me. Orlando comes in and visits April first, and when he offers some criticism about possibly making her model look too old, April starts making excuses, and Jon totally catches her though doesn't call her on it. He just tells his client and us, the viewing audience, all about it. Orlando visits Brian and isn't sure that Brian is actually making his model look like a geek. As they finish up, Brian interviews that he realizes he went in a different direction from everyone else and sounds pretty scared as he says it, though we don't yet get to see his work.
Janine's client is photographed first. Her girl door has long hair with big curls -- looks great, but the judges seem unimpressed, commenting that they don't really notice her face for the hair. This is one where I just am not going to be able to guess the winners, I think, because my opinion is that she looks great. That could be because I covet her hair, though, since I can't do mine in big, loose curls like that. Brian's model's hair is smooth on top and pulled back a bit, and then the bottom half is all teased and frizzy curls. The judges find her ridiculous, and the word "tumbleweed" is tossed about. April's model is up , and the judges all think she looks way older than her 21 years. April's excuse now is that the judges being there crimps her style, because they're throwing different instructions at her. April says she's over it, as am I -- but I think we're over very different things. Brig's girl has very sleek hair with long sideswept bangs and then curls in back. The judges think she looks great but then Brig starts fooling with it and it makes things worse rather than better. Jon is up and I somehow missed hearing earlier what his model is going for, which is the lingerie model look. Yet another long 'do with big curls, but they are really polished. He gets super-nervous once they are on set and says he doesn't like it, and seems really concerned with trying to hear what the judges are saying. Kevin seems to think he didn't do enough with the hair he was given. I'm just confused by how quickly Jon went from pleased to totally unhappy he was with his 'do. Finally, Matthew is up with his TV hostess. Long. Big curls. Kim loves how shiny it is, but then Matthew goes in to fix it, and winds up combing in some more hairspray and the judges seem to think he ruins his work. Honestly, I can't tell that much of a difference.
Camila brings them back into the salon, and they all think they are going to judging. But, surprise! The clients all want a different look for a second headshot. You've never seen six stylists with more blind panic in their eyes. Camila gives them all 30 minutes to change into something completely different. Let's hope this time they are also different from each other. Janine's model wants to look like a fashionable secretary. Matthew's model wants a rocker look, while Brian's wants to go "super-sexy bad girl." Jon's model wants a classic sleek look, April's model wants a polished sexy vixen look, and Obama Girl wants to look like a special agent.
They all go to work, and a lot of flat irons are whipped out. April decides to go "Bridget Bardot" on her girl. Psst, April, it's "Brigitte." April finally realizes, too, that she needs to look 21 this time. Brian is worried that his model can't pull off how sexy she needs to be. Nice. Brig isn't sure what to do for a secret agent and decides on some volume at the top of her head, with the hair pulled back. Matthew notices that it's very similar to what he is doing and he thinks his is way better, so we'll see. I certainly hope he's right. Curling! Flat ironing! Panic! And everyone is done.
Back up, there's a really short montage of the shoot and we don't get to hear what the judges are saying this time. Brig's is boring, the top piece pulled back and bumped up and the rest is straight. April's model actually looks okay -- better than her first look. (Well, at least I think so -- Kim seems to be shaking his head.) Jon straightened his model's hair, but it's not perfectly straight. Janine's secretary looks awesome with her hair pulled into an updo which is super sleek on the sides but then the 'do itself is a little piecey and tousled (as much as you can tousle an updo), and she also has the front part bumped up. Matthew's is a better version of Brig's -- he's pulled up all of the hair around his model's face though, not just the top.
Everyone gathers in the judging room, and Camila introduces everyone that we already know. First up is Janine with the sexy girl--door/fashionable secretary. Kim likes the girl--door look, but thinks she looks like she did her hair herself, though he admits that could actually work for that look. Kevin likes the updo, and Jonathan likes both. Brian is up with his hot geek/naughty villain. Jonathan compliments the looks being totally different but thinks they each are too much of a character to work for a headshot. Kim gives the vague but damning comment that he would have never done this in a competition, and Kevin thinks her geek look looks like she pulled her hair back to wash her face. Ouch. April's girl doesn't look much different at all, though her sexy vixen is better than her California girl. She's called out by Jonathan for making her look old, and Kim thinks photo 2 looks more California girl than her first one. Then we see Brig's work, and Jonathan loves her first photo but admits he has no idea what she was thinking with the 2nd, calling it "high and awkward." She pulls out the old excuse that she didn't know what special agent hair should look like, but Jonathan won't accept that and Kevin points out that there are approximately 1,000 shows on TV right now that feature women agents. He points out simple would have been better. Matthew is up to explain his TV host/rocker chick, and Kim couldn't love it more. Camila does say that there was a gap between her bangs and the rest of her hair that she noticed, but Jonathan also just heaps praise onto Matthew's work. A very nervous-looking Jon is up with his lingerie model/classic look. Kevin points out that there's no body (no pun intended) in his sexy look but likes the second shot. They ask Jon what he thinks and he agrees the first one sucks. Jonathan calls it mediocre and then points out that the judges (well, mostly just Jonathan) keep getting angry because people aren't stepping up to the plate when they need to. Camila dismisses them for eliminations and everyone except Janine and Matthew seems to think they might be going home.
Speaking of Janine, they talk about her hair first and really like both of her looks. After saying on set that the hair took away from the girl's eyes, Kim compliments how the hair sets off the model's eyes. I do admit it would get confusing to be judged like this each week because on almost every reality show I've ever watched, the judges to give conflicting advice. They discuss Brian , and everyone hates his nerd look, though Kim gives him that he won't forget the look. The judges all love Matthew's work without a single hint of criticism. As for April, Jonathan says it best that she made a gorgeous girl look just okay, and Kim actually says she now looks like a cougar. They comment that Brig isn't very good under pressure, having given a great first look she then fucked up the second completely. And finally there's Jon. Kim thinks his model looks too blonde, which I don't quite get. Jonathan thinks he played it safe and there's nothing interesting.
That said, the stylists are called back in and Brig gets a smug little smile that really isn't deserved. It's wiped off her face pretty quickly when Camila calls Matthew and Janine forward as the top two of the week. Honestly, Brig looks like she might vomit on the stage. After complimenting them both, Camila tells Matthew he's the winner. The bottom two are Brian and April, and I paused the TV just now to send up a little prayer that April has given her last excuse. She goes over both of their weaknesses, which boil down to the fact that neither of their clients is getting a job from those shots. Mercifully, Camila then tells April that she's through. April actually is rather cute as she says it's unfortunate she didn't get the chance to really show what she can do, and then she tells everyone that it's awesome that they all get to do hair and make people feel good. I do think she loves her job, she just should never be put in a position where she has specific instructions that are not representative of her own personal taste. Camila reminds the final five that they have to be good at absolutely everything if they hope to win, and as always sends them off with the inexplicable, "Hair is important." Even she can barely keep a straight face any more when delivering that line. April is totally classy and interviews that she learned a ton on the show and hopes that she can make the most of the experience when she gets home. Wow, as with Adee, if she could have been more like this and less of an excuse factory during the competition, I might not have been actively rooting against her. But now the question remains -- seriously, how long are we going to have to keep putting up with Brig?