The morning after Meredith’s elimination from the competition, Nicole wakes up refreshed and ready to sabotage. Sorta, kinda. She finds a bowl of numbered flip flops and a clue for the next shortcut challenge and decides to choose her flip flops first without alerting the other contestants. Heh, heh. So, so devious. Well, I guess it would be quite slick of her if she were actually gaining an advantage. Every pair of flip flops is the same nuclear yellow and no pics of the models are affixed to them. The only differences are the numbers, which don’t necessarily indicate order of model choice; they correspond to the models the stylists will meet at the challenge site. And even if Nicole had thought the numbers indicated order of model choice, she didn’t pick #1 anyway! So, what’s the point?
The contestants find themselves at the beach for the shortcut challenge, to everyone’s delight. Jaclyn Smith introduces this week’s guest judge, celebrity stylist Oscar Blandi, who speaks in a barely decipherable Italian accent (between him and Rene Fris, I feel a migraine coming). The goal of the shortcut challenge is to transform their client’s hair from a long day at the beach to a clean, polished look perfect for a night on the town. Without washing their hair. Something tells me these clients don’t wear a swim cap in the water (or my choice, the economical and not-so-earth-friendly plastic shopping bag). These are not our stylists’ typical clients. On cue, a group of dripping wet surfers jog up from the ocean’s edge, toting their boards and baring their chests. The ladies (and Daniel) are pretty excited to get their hands on these hunks, but everyone is nervous about only being able to use shears, battery-powered clippers, and a spray bottle as styling tools. Everyone must work with salt water-saturated hair and no product.
Daniel aims for a Brad/Leo-like look, but he chops his client’s hair way too short so it resembles a spiky Alfalfa instead. While we’re on the topic of dweebs, Charlie successfully transforms his client from a twenty-something surfer dude to a thirty-something insurance salesman. They’re supposed to be heading out on the town, right? Not out-of-town to a business conference. Nekisa complains that her client keeps running his fingers through his hair and ruining her style; I think she needs to take all the help she can get. Dee and Glenn are the proud hair parents of baby-faced, straggly haired twin blondes. Dee achieves a rocker chic look, while Glenn’s style is a little less edgy and a lot more feminine – she even manscapes the poor boy’s eyebrows with her clipper. As all the stylists clip, snip, and spritz, I can’t help focusing on the fact that these guys’ heads must stink like fish and funky seaweed.
Oscar is a hard critic to please (and a harder person to understand – what was that, Oscar, 50 or 15 minutes left?), but he selects his top two: Dee and Nicole. Although everyone thinks she’s too green and despite her weak strategy at the top of the show, Nicole still triumphs with a textured, layered look for her client; she’s so elated, she does a cartwheel in the sand. Oscar’s bottom two stylists: Daniel and Glenn. For her girly surfer look, Glenn is deemed the loser of the challenge. It’s a good thing she has immunity for the elimination.
After our tanned and sea-swept stylists return to the studio for the elimination challenge, Rene introduces them to their new clients. In a striking twist, all the clients remove their hair to reveal perfectly bald heads. The women live with alopecia, an autoimmune disorder that causes partial or total hair loss. For this week’s touching elimination challenge, the contestants must cut and style a wig for their clients to give them a new look. Even before Nicole makes her first choice of model, Paulo is bawling. Nicole chooses Paulo to make the second model choice, not for his show of emotion but because he seems to have gotten the short end of the stick in previous challenges. She chooses Glenn last because…she doesn’t like her.
Nekisa doesn’t realize she can color her chosen wig to suit her client’s taste. Duh. The cut is too ‘80s retro for Kim Vo and doesn’t have much movement. Allure Magazine West Coast editor Kelly Atterton doesn’t appreciate how much of the client’s face is hidden. Nekisa cries a little out of supposed compassion for her client, but her eyes are dry. Charlie’s style is also thick and heavy, reminding Oscar Blandi of a “helmet.” And it’s painfully safe. Gail lengthens her client’s usual hairstyle and makes her a redhead, which apparently ages her – don’t really agree, but what do I know? Paulo goes crazy with his young client, giving her a flame-red, feathered, party-ready look that reminds Jaclyn of Farrah Fawcett. Of all the stylists, Nicole seems to take the challenge to heart the most. She fears disappointing her client, Leilani, who’s looking for a short, edgy, blonde look just like Nicole’s. Lots of tears fall. I’m sure it doesn’t help when sweet Leilani cries too. Forget what you might have heard, I am not cold hearted. Really, I’m not. But all this boo-hooing is really starting to get on my nerves.
At the end of judging, Glenn, Dee, and Daniel are told that they are safe. Top two stylists: Paulo and Nicole. Can Nicole achieve a clean sweep this episode? Nope, Paulo wins. But Paulo’s luck doesn’t fully turn – there’s no more immunity. Paulo, your timing couldn’t have been better. Bottom three stylists: Charlie, Gail, and Nekisa, who is immediately sent to safety (Are you kidding?! Who is this woman screwing to stay on this show?). Charlie’s starting to slip big time and lose a lot of those cool points he’d given himself at the beginning of the season. However, he dodges the bullet and Gail is eliminated.
Next Week: Guest Kate Jackson joins the judges’ panel for the Charlie’s Angels Challenge – we knew it was coming.
