Skin Wars Season 2 finale recap

Avi's feet painting Skin Wars season 2 finale

Ru Skin Wars season 2 finaleThe Skin Wars Season 2 finale does the usual finale stuff – we get a recap of each contestant’s journey on Skin Wars and each contestant gets a message from a loved one from home. The moments are weird with the judges watching them. It’s like “hey, we’re going to watch you have this emotional moment with a look of passive indifference.”

For the final mini-challenge, the artists have to paint something on the bottom of 2 models feet in an hour & a half. Some models are ticklish, which adds another layer of difficulty.  These paints should be inspired by their message home. Avi painted a hummingbird.

Avi's feet painting Skin Wars season 2 finale

Lana created Koi fish.

Lana's feet painting Skin Wars season 2 finale

Aryn created a bat.

Aryn's feet painting Skin Wars season 2 finale

Avi’s hummingbird is the mini-challenge winner.

So for the last Skin Wars challenge of season 2, each artist has to paint a design on 5 models that creates an illusion of a single image. They get 7 hours and 2 assistants to help them. Of course they’re some of the other painters. In the house now are Fernello, Kyle, Cheryl Ann, Rio, Rachel and Dawn Marie.

As mini-challenge winner, Avi gets to pick first, so he goes with Kyle. Aryn gets Rachel. Lana gets Dawn Marie. Avi’s second helper is Rio (damn Avi is lucky). Aryn gets Fernello. Oy. Ticking time bomb Fernello. And Lana gets Cheryl Ann.

Why not crown Avi now? Why put Aryn and Lana through this?

Aryn wants to do the metamorphosis of a caterpillar to a butterfly. Lana is doing a blue crab holding a pearl in its pincers. Avi is creating a chameleon that’s created from 5 different animals. Part of the challenge is picking a pose that the models can hold for an extended period of time.

Fernello thinks of himself not as a helper, but as an artistic consultant. Way to commit to your overconfident character. Cheryl Ann thinks Lana is headstrong. AHAHAHAHAHAHAH! That’s funny. She’s in charge, Cheryl Ann. Let it go.

Let’s cut to the paints.

Lana Skin Wars season 2 finale

Lana’s crab – hey guy on the right! Get your head up next to your arm. Or your arm up to your head. Be a pincher man! You did it in the workroom. Help Lana out. Craig Tracy also didn’t dig the pearl, since it wasn’t pinched in the pinchers.

Lana wants to win so she can open her own studio and spend more time with her daughter. I kinda doubt that opening her own business will lead to having more time for her daughter, but I wish her luck with that.

Aryn's caterpillar Skin Wars season 2 finale

Aryn’s paint in caterpillar mode. I wish the body models had tucked their heads a bit more so that the pink stripe was continuous up the back of the body.

Aryn Skin Wars season 2 finale

Aryn’s paint in butterfly mode. Craig Tracy wanted more of a butterfly shape with this pose. Aryn doesn’t get asked why she should win the competition, so I have a feeling she’s out. She mentioned earlier in the episode that she’d like to work fewer jobs but that’s never a winning answer.

Avi animals on reverse Skin Wars season 2 finale

Avi’s individual animals – a scorpion, cheetah, monkey, frog and a flamingo in the center.

Avi Skin Wars season 2 finale

Avi’s collective animal – the 5 become 1 big chameleon. Robin has issues with the center – she finds it confusing and unclear. Avi gets asked AGAIN what he would do with the money. He’s going to Israel! How many times does he have to say he hasn’t seen his mom & he wants to take time to go to Israel!

As I suspected, Aryn is eliminated first. The judges seem to be saying that Lana’s was technically better but Avi was more creative. In the end, the season 2 Skin Wars champion is Lana.

WHAA??!!!!??? After all that setup? After all that ‘he’s got to win to visit his mom in Israel’ stuff you DON’T give him the final prize? Seriously? I mean, I liked Lana too, but I think Avi was a bit more consistent.

What did you think? Did your favorite win? Did you enjoy seeing Fernello & Cheryl Ann again or did they make you batty? Will you be watching Skin Wars season 3, if there is one? Anyone interested in a recap of the one-off Skin Wars Fresh Paint happening next week?

14 Comments

  1. I think Avi should have definitely one. Lana had to fight her way into the Top 3 and when she got there she didn’t even win the first challenge. Avi basically won every challengeLana’s wasn’t more creative and in my eyes Avi’s was a lot better. I’m happy for her and she deserved it, but just not as much as Avi. I mean COME ON, Avi deserved to win and he deserved to see his family. 🙁 Go AVI!!!!! 🙂

  2. Aviation should have won… Lana was not consistent and had to be coaxed, corrected and challenged numerous times to get out of her sweetie pie cutie zone.

  3. Avi deserved the win. Lana’s was good as well but had some flaws too. Avi was great throughout, Lana had up and downs. Not at all pleased with the outcome.

  4. Ouch—-Very disappointed. Everyone knows Avi deserved the win hands-down. Shame on the judges. Very crappy decision. AVI—-#1

  5. Nope, I will NOT be watching Season 3. The ‘self serving’ judges say over and over and over that Avi was thee best. So, therefore the Winner is Lana … (?) WTF ??? I call B.S. DELETED from our TiVo with 3 RED THUMBS DOWN !!!

  6. I love your recap… Great work…

    My lovely and talented Co-Judge Robin posted this recently and I think it helps explain how Our JUDGING IS NOT CUMULATIVE. Just like the SuperBowl or the Olympics it’s all about the challenge at hand.

    Here is what Robin Slonina had to say about all of this in recent Facebook post…

    …A lot of Skin Wars fans are …shall we say “disappointed” (to say the least!) that Avi Ram didn’t take home the big win. Avi is an amazing artist, no doubt about that! And he blew us away many times, with the most wins of the season. Unless the judging is changed however, we must only judge on the FINAL challenge. It’s not cumulative, and we can’t take the other challenges into consideration on that final day. Our final judging criteria was 1/3 creativity, 1/3 technique and 1/3 final image. I think there’s no question who won creativity! Avi’s shape-shifting chameleon was pure genius. But as viewers know, we felt Lana won on technique and the final image. So basically it all just comes down to math. When judging, we can’t consider personal stories like who’s going to have an amazing family reunion because of the money. We have to simply do our job and judge what we see. (Lana also hasn’t seen her mother in Russia in over 5 years, and tirelessly works multiple jobs to take care of her young daughter – but again, that’s not what we’re judging on). The great thing about the exposure of a show like Skin Wars, is that it’s our mission to bring these amazing artists’ talent to light. Winning second place is also a launching pad for a spectacular career. Yes he didn’t win season 2, but one million viewers now know who he is. Many doors and opportunities will be opened to this incredibly talented, sweet man. I’m seeing campaigns to fund a trip to Israel pop up on the Internet, some created by people that Avi doesn’t even know. This is why I wanted to come out and officially support the campaign Avi tells me is 100% legit. I know Avi will live his dream of visiting his mother in Israel! And he will also go on to enjoy a successful artistic career, with the support of all his fans! Congratulations on an incredible season Avi! Your talent and spirit are a true inspiration!
    gofund.me
    gofund.me/avitoisreal
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    • I think this might actually be Craig Tracy! Thank you for jumping in & offering a judge’s insight. What you mentioned about Lana is interesting. The creation of a good reality show gives you reasons to root for contestants (and maybe dislike others). Skin Wars definitely has that.

      What I find interesting is that the show hit Avi’s storyline so hard but didn’t mention Lana’s lack of seeing her family at all. Both artists are extremely talented. But there was this build up of sympathy for Avi, and combined with his talent, I thought he was a shoo-in to win. Lana seemed to be portrayed as very likable, but at least for me, I didn’t get the ‘She’s anointed to win this’ vibe from her edit.

      Right now Skin Wars seems to be stuck in the middle of a reality show with a lot of drama (Drag Race) and a show that mostly focuses on talent like Face Off. I’m interested to see how Skin Wars evolves as a show if there’s a season 3.

      • I think it’s the real Craig Tracy and Woo-hoo to you for getting his attention and for his compliment on your recap.
        Huzzah!!

  7. Avi should have won. The judges are racists. From the time they sent Rio and kept Cheryl Ann who didn’t paint a robot I lost all faith in their judgement

    • Oh come on, they’re not racists. They sent home an artist you liked, that’s all. It happens in reality TV.

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