by Chandra Clewely

On tonight’s episode of Shear Genius, Brig has immunity from winning last week. There are 6 contestants left, and the guest judge on this episode is Kevin Mancuso, Nexxus Creative Director. 

In the Short Cut Challenge, they will be judged on cutting skills. They must interpret one of the shapes that they are given on an Asian hair model for a precision cut.

Janine is nervous as precision is not her strong point. April wants the heart shape and gets it to her relief. Alas, as we have started to see A LOT, April’s model won’t let her do everything she wants and wants to keep the length. Brian is totally confused on his shape and at first thinks it’s a parallelogram, then a rhombus. Finally, his model tells him it is called a trapezoid. 

At the end of the Short Cut Challenge, April is off base according to Kevin Mancuso, to which April says she thought “they wanted an interpretation of a heart, not they want a carved in heart.” Kevin is lease impressed with April and Matthew, while Janine ends up winning the challenge.

For the Elimination Challenge, the cast mates meet their models. The challenge is to create a look for an actress for her headshot. They must capture the emotion and role that the actress is going for. The models, in this instance, pick the stylists and Matthew is picked last which reminds him of elementary school. Brig thinks Matthew’s luck is running out.

Each actress wants something different and the stylist-winner of the challenge will be photographed for a Nexxus editorial for Allure Magazine.

Once the team is finished with their models looks, the judges spring an additional challenge on them, to change the actresses looks completely in 30 mintues for a second headshot.

Janine’s model wants “sexy, girl next door” and “edgy secretary”

Brian’s model wants “hot geek” and “naughty villain”

April’s model wants “California girl” and “sexy vixen”

Brig’s model wants “sexy action hero” and “FBI agent”

Jon’s model wants “lingerie model” and “classic”

Matthew’s model wants “TV host” and “rocker chick”

Matthew and Brig’s "second looks" look almost exactly the same (see my amazing photo shop attempt above), but the judges love Matthew’s and hate Brig’s…what’s the deal?? They also bash Brian’s “hot geek” which looks similar to Gilda Radner’s teased, wild hairstyle. Honestly, I didn’t think it was that bad, and sometimes…maybe the judges are just looking for something and pulling stuff out of thin air?

In the end, Matthew and Janine are the top two, with Matthew taking the win and getting the photo shoot. 

Brian and April are in the bottom two, Brian for his frizz ‘do and April for her pageant queen interpretation of “California girl”. In the end, April gets the boot.