Shear Genius rolls out the red carpet,Design star gets a suite deal and the winner of Hell's Kitchen is..

The stylists on this season's Shear Genius are certainly getting really hard Shortcut challenges-first,they had to cut hair blindfolded and this week,each one was given a person with very long hair to style and add accessories to,but were not allowed to cut any of the hair off. Meredith had to work with a gal who had hair that was 68 inches long(she had to separate it with her hands and feet!)and did a good job there.



Matthew took the Shortcut win and was given first choice for the Elimination challenge,plus getting to decide in what order his fellow stylists would go in(they do that a lot on this show-pretty crafty advantage,I must say). Matthew then began the first in a series of mentions about his wife,comparing the win to the time she told him she loved him for the first time.

That's nice,(I guess)but he kept going on and on about how much he loved her and how he misses her and they worked together at the same salon...yadda,yadda,yadda! All I can say is that if Matthew received a dollar for every time that he mentioned his wife,that cash prize Shear Genius hands over to the winner would look like chump change to him.



Anyway,on to the challenge which was to style hair worthy of the infamous Red Carpet. Two guest judges were appointed for this round,celeb stylist Mark Townsend and Days of Our Lives actress Alison Sweeney. Each person had to choose a dress before seeing their client to inspire their look and Matthew took his time,saying that he wanted to pick one suitable for his wife. "Your wife's not here" Rene Fris reminded him(Rene is the Tim Gunn of this show)and got a big laugh for that.



There were several good styles but Charlie won yet again,for his sleek retro waves that he gave a nice coloring to and all within two hours. That's some damn fast work there and it's a popular red carpet look(I remember seeing Cate Blanchett at the Oscars one time with a similar hairdo)as well. Keep it going,Charlie!



Matthew made the mistake of not listening to his client and was sent home for it. Despite the fact that she told him that her hair didn't curl,he attempted to make her locks do so and gave her what Alison Sweeney called a "My Little Pony" look. Dum,de dum,dumb! Well,I'm sure that Matthew is happy to be reuniting with his wife so he's not walking away empty handed there.



Design Star had a celebrity client this week,country music singer Sara Evans,and were given a team challenge to create a suite in the Opryland Hotel based on her personal tastes. Each team had a one on one session with Sara to talk about what styles she likes-her preference was for shabby chic.



The annoying Tracee worked with Trish and Mikey V and shockingly enough,managed to make a couple of good choices,including picking weathered old doors as headboards,that helped her team to win. Sadly,Stephanie was sent home for choosing a sofa at the last minute that was too big to go upstairs into the suite,leaving a big hole in the floor plan. At least her team mates didn't throw her under the bus and seemed rather reluctant to do so:





The winner of Hell's Kitchen for season four was Christina,which disappointed some folks(including my mom),and while I do like Petrozza,he wasn't as focused as she was in the leadership position. Petrozza had Jen on his team which left Matt to Christina,a plague on both of their houses.

Christina did her best to coax a good work effort out of him that bore mixed results;Jen kept sulking and even hit up Ramsey for a letter of recommendation at one point(talk about nerve!). I haven't liked or trusted Corey at all but one thing in her favor that I can truly say about her is that she did give Christina some good support in the kitchen and was a real help to her:



Petrozza's first sign of trouble was when his kitchen started to run out of key ingredients like the blue cheese for the salad and lobster for the ap. Not only was he at fault for that but so were the chefs in charge of those stations,in my opinion. Louross got backed up and Christina sent Matt over to help,which wasn't a bad idea except that Matt was more of a hindrance. I swear,Louross was this close to using flash cards to instruct Matt on how to make the salad!:



Jen was no joy to work with either;she took forever and a New Year's Day to make a decent onion ring for an order that was waiting to go out. Hell,even I could cook a crispy onion ring and I don't eat those things. Matt had monkfish troubles combined with mumbling "shut up" to everyone during service. I think Ramsey was tempted to clock him one and I don't care how big Matt is,Ramsey could knock him down quicker than you can sneeze:



So,while Petrozza did a good job and is a nice guy to work with,he's not the strongest guy to work for. No doubt that being on this show will give him enough good PR to do well in the restaurant business and best of luck to him. Congratulations to Christina and I hope that the next season of Hell's Kitchen is just as entertaining to watch as this one was. Onward to Kitchen Nightmares this fall!:



RANDOM NOTES:



THE NEXT FOOD NETWORK STAR:

The Final Five had a big challenge this week,giving a cooking demonstration on Rachel Ray's talk show with a Girl Scout as their partner. The dish was supposed to be healthy and based on what the little girl liked to eat and could cook. Lisa was super snotty,hoping that her partner would have a "sophisticated palate" and whipped up a steak with horseradish,not very kid friendly to me. She also froze up during the demo,leaving Rachel to fill up the dead air.

Shane failed to connect with his partner,which cost him a plane ticket to Vegas and a place amongst the Final Four. I would've given him another chance. Aaron and Adam were the best presenters in this challenge and that helped them out a lot here. Those guys have been in last place quite a bit:



Project Runway: The Season 5 premiere is next week and since this will be the last time the series is on Bravo(so far),we might as well make the most out of it. When the show moves to Lifetime,it will be a horse of a different color: