Skin Wars Season 2 episode 9 recap: The Semi-Finals

Aryn belly Skin Wars season 2 episode 9

Skin Wars Season 2 episode 9 opens with a reminder that Rio went off on Cheryl Ann as he was eliminated last week. Perhaps we’re being clued-in that her ride is about to come to an end?
Rio Skin Wars season 2 episode 8

After a random beach shot for no apparent reason, the artists have 4 models that have their backs to them. The reveal is 4 women with pregnant bellies. They’ve got to do a mother nature inspired design on those bellies. They are told to be unique, avoid cliches and NO AIRBRUSHES.

I think it would’ve been awesome to use the pregnant ladies for the robot challenge. Take that assumptions!

After being told to be unique & be aware of what other people are painting, 3 out of 4 artists create a tree of life design. Whoops. Lana’s the second person they talk to & she gets read for not looking around & changing her design when she saw Avi’s tree. And then Cheryl Ann is the 3rd tree of life. Perhaps a little unfairly, Avi never gets read for also doing a tree of life. He was also fully capable of turning around & seeing what other people were doing.

Aryn belly Skin Wars season 2 episode 9

And duh, Aryn wins the challenge BECAUSE SHE WAS THE ONLY ONE TO DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT! Why show Robin saying “I think we’ve made up our minds.” Really? Kill the unnecessary suspense, Skin Wars. The only shock would’ve been someone else winning. The artists get no heads-up on what the next challenge is, which is different & mildly suspenseful.

The next morning, the artists are outside on the coast. They have just 3 hours to create a body painting that makes the model disappear into a nature-based background. Oooh, hard. Mama like.

Natalie, the season 1 winner, returns as this week’s guest judge.

Aryn gets first choice of background as mini-challenge winner & selects the Zen garden. The others have to race to their background. Lana gets vineyard, Avi gets farm and Cheryl Ann gets the ocean view.

Cheryl Ann struggles with her model’s head & the bald cap – it ripped around her model’s ear. You can still see that in the final photo below, which is bad.

Cheryl Ann Skin Wars season 2 episode 9

It’s bugging me that Lana’s ‘vineyard’ is totally fake.

Lana Skin Wars season 2 episode 9

Probably because the models are outside, none of them really completely disappear as they did with the food table challenge earlier in the season. Of course, they also had 2 more hours to do that challenge. That’s a big factor too.

Aryn Skin Wars season 2 episode 9

Aryn and Avi are the top 2, so both of them will be in the finale. The winner of this week’s challenge is Avi, not that it matters so much because they’re both in the finale.

Avi Skin Wars season 2 episode 9

So we’ve got 2 blondes left & one is going home. Just like last year, since Natalie is here, the two are being given the opportunity to do a paint-off to earn the final spot in the finale. This season, neither of them is going to protest & say “I’m not going to paint against my friend.” These two are ready to go.

So for the paint-off it’s another blend challenge – they’ve got an hour & a half to blend their model into an LA cityscape image. Instead of watching them paint, we get a recap of the season-long battle of the blondes.

Lana is hung up on her model’s pose. Cheryl Ann is confident as she started painting before Lana. However, Lana’s a fast painter.

Lana vs Cheryl Ann Skin Wars season 2 episode 9

The judges toss between Cheryl Ann’s model disappearing more and Lana selecting a more challenging pose & using more parts of the background photo. In the end, Lana is in & Cheryl Ann is going home. It’s the end of the arc for Skin Wars. Ru tells Cheryl Ann that she’s made a name for herself. Um, perhaps not entirely the name she wanted to make for herself Ru.

We’ve got 1 episode left in season 2 of Skin Wars. Old painters will be brought back to assist the final 3 in their multi-body final paint. Do you care who wins? Do you wish Cheryl Ann had gone home sooner, or would’ve at least gotten a better edit so you weren’t rooting for her to go home? Talk about it below!

29 Comments

  1. I’m happy Cheryl Ann is gone, I felt like she got a free pass last week with that “Oh had a dream about a bear” non sense…I felt like this was a little bit justice for Rio! I’m happy for the top 3 and really can’t wait to see what they’re gonna bring, although I have to admit, I feel like Avi is gonna take the winner slot, he’s just been on a roll with all the challenges and has shown no sign of stopping! then again, Aaryn has been like a sleeper agent and has been quietly doing well this whole time and she might just be AMAZING in the finale ya know? Lana’s good, and she’s strong at painting and she learns real fast so who knows? But my top spot goes to either Avi or Aaryn! Excited for the finale only because I’m excited for this new steam punk show, I really dig the creative people!

  2. The Cheryl Ann hype is really too much. Too many cartoonish paints and “inspired” explanations – robot inspired for instance- allowed her to avoid the main criteria. Good painter but side-stepped the main goal too often. Painting kept her in. Aryn has been more consistent each episode but they will probably give it to Avi for the story factor.

  3. I think the show has been slanted to show Cheryl Ann as whiny and bitchy so that the viewers would dislike her, Avi has a boohoo story that the judges shed tears over, Lana is the look at me and my stories I’m a winner and oh so flirtatious and charming with my accent, Aryn is made out to be a bit of an airhead that is woohoo painting. The paint off is a perfect example-Cheryl Ann finally did a great job and gets cut. Lana did a horrible job, but she is still oh so cute and flirty so we like her-let’s keep her. This show has become like some many other reality shows-don’t let us actually think slant the show to have us like or dislike the person and judge based on that instead of whether or not the painting is good.

    • I think it was more good camouflage, super easy pose vs not great camouflage, more challenging pose. Cheryl Ann does have good camouflage skills, but that’s why she should’ve done something more challenging with the pose or placement of the model. I think that’s why she got eliminated. Plus they’ve been setting up the ‘annoying Cheryl Ann’ all season so you’d want her gone. I wish the show had a bit more of the judges deliberations. And I hate to say it, I love RuPaul but I don’t know what he adds to the judging panel. He knows transformation, but a lot of times his comments aren’t specific enough about body painting. I want to know more details about why things are done a certain way or judged a certain way. I can tell for myself if something looks cool.

      • don’t like Cheryl Ann just think that like many reality shows Skin Wars shows slanted sound bites to make her look bitchy. don’t really like any of them because I don’t know these people or care about any of them-it’s a reality show that shows sound bites to make you root for or against certain people-just pointing out the personality that the show is assigning to all four persons on this episode.

  4. YEAHEAHEAHAHAHA!
    FINALLY!!!
    Cheryl Ann FINALLY got the axe!
    Oh, I knew she wouldn’t make it to the finals! Avi! Avi! Avi!!!!
    *ahem* Sorry ’bout the outburst.

    • I agree with Ruth that Avi, Avi, Avi is what Skin Wars wants you to think. No negatives on him just nice guy with a sob story. From day one Cheryl Ann was made out to be the “bad guy”–apparently Skin Wars feels in needs to create DRAMA not art. Avi is good, but it seems that he gets points not only for being a good artist but for also being a nice guy.

      • Who the F cares about their back stories!!!! I don’t even KNOW what their back stories are because I never watch that first show and don’t give a crap! So if I hate Cheryl Ann and love Lana because she’s good and really love Ari because he’s a total bad-azz its because THOSE ARE THE FACTS!!!! Not because I am ditzy enough to feel what the show is trying to make me feel! You are reading way too much into it Justin! Plain and simple Cheryl Ann is not that great a painter and is a BITCH! End of story!! Lana is a nice person and can paint! End of story!! Aryn is a great painter and Ari is phenomenal! End of story!! WTF does any of their backgrounds have to do with what people feel about them? Get over yourself…You are over analyzing everything!!

        • whoa, who is not involved in the characters/personalities/back stories of these people????? seems to me you have major opinions on them. wow-what venom…..talk about over analyzing. I actually was routing for Aryn, but she didn’t have a chance due to all the other drama….

  5. ithink avi or lana should win. sheryl ann should have gone home a long time ago she was a one trick pony an all her stuff looked the same

  6. I wish I saw the first season of Skin Wars since I don’t get the references to last season and it sounds like it was good.

    I would love to see Lana win but Avi is really good.

    I didn’t care for the blonde vs blonde competition. I’m normally not like this but I found it obnoxious. Cheryl Ann’s model from the landscape challenge was clearly the loser with the ripped bald cap but that wouldn’t have been as suspenseful.

    Having said all of that I do think that the landscape challenge showed some great painting. I loved Avi’s and Lana’s models the best but they all did really well.

    Who do you think will win the $100,000?

    • Last year Natalie had to paint off vs. Gear. Gear was like “no way, dude! I’m not painting against my friend. This is bogus!” Natalie just did the assignment & so she won. It was good, but his reaction was a little over the top.

      I think it’ll be Avi, but they might try to ‘surprise’ us & give it to Aryn.

      • I think it will be Avi as well.

        I will ve disappointed if it goes to Aryn. I think Avi is a better painter.

        • They’ve also kind of set up the “Avi wants to visit his mom” so now it’s almost cruel not to give it to him. If he were a weak painter, that would suck, but he is one of the best if not the best so, I think he’s going to take it.

  7. THIS IS DISAPOINING ,THE COMPITITION BETWEEN CHERYL ANN AND LANA, WAS CRAP THEIR FIRST COMPITITION CHERL ANN LOST BY ONE MISSTAKE(THE HEAD). LANA HAD THREE PLUS MISSTAKES ( THE BUT ,FOOT ,ARM ,NOT BLENDING) THEN THE SECOND COMPITITION WAS TO MAKE THIER MODEL DISAPPER & CHERYL ANN WAS TOLD SHE DID JUST THAT, IM DISAPOINTED IN THIS SHOW. YES AVI WILL BE THE WINNER.

    • I think this is one of those challenges that’s really hard to armchair quarterback. What you see in those photos is so dependent on light & the size & where you’re sitting. I could see any one of those paints looking better or worse just depending on where you’re sitting where you see it. Basically, it was Cheryl Ann’s time to go. Her storyline was done and for some reason the robot bear didn’t take her down, so a bum bald cap did.

  8. Very disappointed in this episode,between Lana,and Cheryl Ann,in the camo compitition . I think the judges should have been the ones to be sent home.This makes me not even won’t to watch the show anymore. The main object of this was to make their model disappear into the painting.Lana’s model could be seen from the waist up by a blind man. Cheryl Ann’s blended in perfectly,and could not be seen. Maybe you should explain to your judges what the definition of camouflaged is, cause they clearly missed he mark on this one. This was clearly unfair to Cheryl Ann,as she succeeded in doing what she was told to do. Disgusted viewer, James.

    • I didn’t think anyone did exceptionally well in this challenge, but then again it was a really hard one. I do hope the judges step it up if there’s a 3rd season & show more personality. Or at least explain more why they’re judging the way they’re judging.

    • Agreed. They told Cheryl Ann that she should have posed her model’s head in a position that allowed it to disappear, and then when she did that in the paint-off they penalized her for it.

      • Well she posed the whole body so that she wouldn’t have a challenging paint. That’s what did her in. Granted, I probably would’ve done the same thing, but a paint-off wasn’t the time to take the easy route.

  9. Cheryl ann should of been gone, kyle should be there, lana should win. But you know avi will so boring and not fair

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