Face Off had its semi-finale center on a new attraction at Universal Orlando Resort; “Skull Island: Reign of Kong.” With a grand prize of the winner being among the first people to go through the new “ride” and an all expenses paid trip to Orlando, stress was the keyword for all four contestants.
The challenge was laid by McKenzie Westmore with help from the executive producer from Universal Creative whose team will bring the giant King Kong to life for the new attraction; Mike West. After explaining the background to the island and it’s occupants, the contestants moved on to develop their evolved “dinosaurs.”
Each hopeful had issues this week with their creations. Either because it was the finale or because of the immense task in front of them. Mel had to start over (twice), Rob ran out of time, Walter broke his creature’s wings and Mellisa may have been the only hopeful who did not exhibit any symptoms of stress.
The Orlando attraction is due to open this summer and West was quite excited about the project and the challenge itself.
One day one, Mel started over and suffered from a case of constant “second guessing.” Rob spent so much time on his creation of scales that he ran out of time for other things on his character. By the end of day one, Mel had not completed her groundwork. Day two saw her start over, again.
Melissa was the only contestant who was not unhappy with anything to do with the progress of her creation. Rob worried that the amount of time spent on scales had left him little time to paint and finish off his creature. He was right.
Walter manages to overcome his annoyance at the broken wing spring and Mel, despite starting over twice, almost managed to stay in the competition.
All of the hopefuls stepped up to the bar and even though Rob did not finish his creation, his prior three wins and the brilliant sculpt work on his character’s scales keeps him in for the finale.
The judges had a tough choice this week as all the contestants did well. All agreed that Melissa’s creation was top-notch, so much so that she won the prize of the Orlando trip.
Before sending Mel home, Glenn Hetrick explained that the quality of her work on the latest challenge made it very difficult to pick who was sent home.
One comic moment was the monster noise made by Walter’s creature. Glenn loved the squeaky roar and declared it his favorite. After sending Mel home, the remaining three were told a little about the next challenge and a very special guest.
Melissa was almost was excited at this week’s Face Off challenge as she was at the last one. This time, however, she was in the groove and knocked it out the park. Rob managed to impress the judges enough that despite his not finishing the work, he stayed in the contest and drew massive praise from the panel.
In reality, all four of the finalist were praised at the quality of their work and it should be interesting to see what will occur in the last episode/challenge of the season. Each one thus far has stretched the artists and their capabilities.
The season 10 finale airs next Wednesday on SyFy.
Mikes Film Talk 
You must be logged in to post a comment.