Shear Genius Recap: And the winner is...

Well, here we are at the finale. We've come so far together. The show turned out to be not half bad after all. In fact, I rather enjoyed it. Although, it's a shame they wasted their two most talented stylists two episodes ago. I still maintain Tabatha and Tyson shouldn't have been sent home before Ben and Boogie. Instead, we're left with a final three of Anthony, Daisy, and Ben.

Now, don't get me wrong. I like all three of the finalists. Anthony, our sole remaining gay man, is quite talented. He definitely deserves to be there. Daisy, the sole remaining lesbian, is also very talented. She's won more challenges than anyone. You can't argue that she doesn't belong to be there as well. Ben, on the other hand, I can argue against. He's never won a single challenge, but he's somehow managed to always be "not the worst." He skated through most of the show based on that alone. He really doesn't deserve to be there. He's a nice guy and all, but come on.

But enough of my kvetching... On with the show. The three finalists enter the Nexxus Salon where they are met by the ever-annoying Rene. He recaps the entire season and again I ask, why is Ben here?

Daisy tells us she's visualized herself winning from the very beginning and that why she's done so well. So it has nothing to do with talent? Maybe Ben's been doing some visualizing too, and that would explain his presence.

The final challenge will be to create three distinct looks using color, cut, and creativity. One look must include color, one look must be the "Nancy Kwan" bob made famous by Vidal Sassoon, and the final look is stylist's choice. They also have to pick from three fashion collections, from which they will select three outfits for their models. The hairstyles have to compliment the outfits, and also tell a story.

Speaking of Vidal Sassoon, he's there. He's like a god to people in the hair industry, apparently. My hubby didn't even know Vidal Sassoon was a real person. He thought it was a brand of hair care products. Vidal seems like someone's kindly grandfather. He gently dispenses words of wisdom and I just want to give him a hug.

Fact for the Day: Vidal Sassoon is a real person.

The stylists draw scissor boxes to see what order they get to choose from the clothing collections. Daisy says that when you really want something, the Universe will work with you to make things fall into place. Really? 'Cuz that's not been my experience in life. But who knows? She draws the first choice so maybe there is something to her new age hippy dippy dribble. Anthony gets second choice, and Ben brings up the rear.

Back when the Universe and Daisy were still on speaking terms.

The collections are from Luca Luca, Cynthia Rowley (gag), and Dina Bar-El. Daisy chooses the Luca Luca which is mostly black and white. Anthony inexplicably picks the horrendous collection by Cynthia Rowley, which leaves Ben with Dina Bar-El, which, quite frankly, is my favorite.

The next day, they meet their models, who have been assigned to them based on their collection selection. Hey, that rhymed. They only have three hours to create all three looks, so they get right to work.

Ben's story is From Outer Beauty to Inner Beauty. Mmkay. His idea is to show someone going from Hollywood glamour to a $10 cut at the Midwestern Wal-Mart salon he works in at home. He doesn't actually say the Wal-Mart part, but I think that's what he means. One of his models doesn't want him to cut her hair. Excuse me? Whiner, please. Then why are you here? It's a show entirely about cutting hair. There is no way some whiny brat would cost me the title. She'd get her hair cut whether she liked it or not. Cry your ass down the runway. See if I care.

I'd cry too if Ben was doing my hair.

Anthony's story is Modern Movement. That's a story? More of a theme, but whatever. I'm not a judge. One of his models doesn't want her hair cut either, but Anthony handles it the way it should be handled and tells her that won't work for him. He manages to talk her into letting him cut it.

Don't you just wanna pinch his cheeks? (The ones on his face!)

Daisy's story is also not really a story: The "S" Shape. Her looks sound like the most ambitious of the group, but it's a lot to tackle in only three hours. Her bob looks cute, until she decides to add this strange bump in the side that she calls a Marcel curl. Her irons didn't heat up though, and the editors try to make this look dramatic, but she seems to have an extra already hot at another station so it's really not a big deal.

Then, she drops her bowl of color on the floor and, as these things are wont to do, it lands upside down. Splat. She scoops it up and keeps on trucking though.

Oopsy Daisy!

Rene starts bugging Anthony, but Anthony is having none of it. He actually shoos Rene away. I love it. I would just keep a can of cockroach spray at my station and any time Rene came near, I'd give him a good dose in the face.

Anthony is doing three precision cuts. That seems impressive to me, but Daisy and Ben kind of dog him for it, each bragging they're doing three very different looks. We'll see which strategy turns out to be better.

Ben is doing an up-do. Why? He sucks at up-dos. He's also doing a free-form razor cut that seems much more like his speed. His up-do comes out looking quite shaky, despite the fact that he uses about four cans of hairspray on it.

There goes the ozone layer.

Daisy's pin curls don't dry in time so she has to change her look on the fly. Her middle look, the big S wave, took longer than she expected, so she runs out of time. I can't tell how bad they look just yet.

Judges: We have our regulars, Sally and Michael, plus Vidal is back to judge his signature cut, or as it turns out, to be really sweet and encouraging to everyone.

Hair Show: Daisy is up first. I think her bob looks quite nice except for the odd little Marcel curl. The color is gorgeous.

Her S wave style is also hot. Very glamorous and sexy.

The last look... ouch. The pin curls really look awful. It's like a rat's nest.

But we're talking about hair, not the clothes, so Anthony's second cut, with the straight bangs, looks very nice too.

The last cut is his asymmetrical look, and I don't really like it. I don't think it suits his model's face at all. I suppose the cut itself is well-done, but it just isn't flattering. Kind of like Cynthia Rowley's trash bags she calls dresses.

Last and, yes, least, is Ben. His craptastic up-do is out first. It looks fine from the front, but just wait until she turns around.

His bob is also nowhere near as good as the first two. I think it's longer on one side than the other, but maybe it's just an optical illusion.

The last look is the razor cut, and in my opinion, it's the only one of the three that looks halfway decent. Even then, it looks like something you could get in pretty much any mall in America. In his defense, that was sort of the look he was going for, just not sure that screams Shear Genius.

Critiques: The judges don't get the Marcel curl. In fact, none of them have ever heard of it. I think Daisy made it up. Vidal makes everyone shake their head. It's kind of hilarious. The judges love that Anthony's hair has movement. Michael isn't crazy about Anthony's blond look, however. Everyone hates the back of Ben's up-do. Michael says it looks like an embryo or a prune. HA!

Deliberations: They love the movement and color of Daisy's bob, but hate the curl. They strongly disliked the pin curls, and actually prefer her before picture. Ouch. They don't even mention the big S wave. Odd.

They think Anthony's bob was the best, but would have liked to see it stacked a little more (shorter in the back, longer in the front). They also didn't care for the color he gave her. They found it mousy. They loved the bangs and thought it was a huge improvement. Vidal says it makes the model look like she's had cosmetic surgery. I'm sure she loved hearing that. They don't seem to like Anthony's last cut. They like the color, but wish it were more asymmetrical.

They think the front of Ben's up-do looks nice and is flattering to the models face, but the back is a disaster and it doesn't go with the dress. They point out that the bob is, in fact, lopsided, so I wasn't imagining that, but they all think it was an improvement over the before look. They love the razor cut. I think. They kind of cut Vidal off as he's saying "deconstruction can be wonderful when done right," and I'm not sure if he was saying Ben did it right or not.

The Final Cut: They bring the final three out one last time. Jaclyn says some lovely things about how talented they all are, but unfortunately, there can be only one Shear Genius. And she was sent home two weeks ago. Oh, sorry. (Waves to Tabatha...)

Wait. What?

Are you really trying to tell me Ben was one of the two best hair stylists on this show? The guy with the crappy up-do and lopsided bob? The guy who can't do a polished look to save his life? The one who lucked into any decent hairstyle he did throughout the entire show and was in the bottom more often than not? The one who didn't even do any work at all two weeks ago when he was paired with Dr. Boogie? You're kidding, right? Man, I just lost a lot of respect for this show. Anthony damn well better win. That's all I'm saying.

And the Shear Genius is... Anthony! Whew! I was scared there for a minute. Anthony is a very deserving winner, and Bravo finally gives us another gay reality show winner. The last one was Jay McCarroll from the first season of Project Runway.

So what did you think of the first season of Shear Genius? What did they get right and what did they get wrong? Did the right person win? Will you tune in for the next season?