On the Job(s)

Last night, I was able to finally watch "America's Toughest Jobs". It was an interesting contrast to "Project Runway" and "Shear Genius". They are all competition shows that deal with types of work, but the two Bravo shows take creativity while the latter is mostly muscle and endurance. The shows were also at different stages. It was the "Shear Genius" finale, the "America's Toughest Jobs" debut and the middle of the competion on "Project Runway".

I've been watching the stylists go at it since the beginning of "Shear Genius" and two of my favorites were in the final three. Their challenge was to each create hairstyles for four women depicting stages in a character's life. They also created a little story for their woman. The women were aged 18, 30, 45 and 60. Dee, who I've been pulling for since early on won. Nicole seemed delighted to have gotten so far in the show since she had the least experience. Charlie was a good sport about it. Seemed to me that he already had a great career.

I'm starting to know the fashion designers on "Project Runway" and to develop favorites. There are several, Leanne, Korto and Terri. Stella is fun to watch, but she seems to be faltering. Her leather orientation may limit her scope as a designer. I probably should like Kenley, since she is so stylish herself in a Betty Page sort of way. She just has an annoying laugh and tends to meddle too much in the designs of others. Plus, she sort of reminds me of my son's ex-girlfriend. That's certainly not her fault. I'm surprised that I haven't become a fan of any of the men. It's not a sexist thing. Chris was my favorite last year and Nick another on an earlier season.

The challenge last night was kind of weird. I've never really understood tearing things up to turn them into clothing. The time they designers had to make clothes from anything they could find in their apartment was outrageous. Last night, making clothes from automobile materials was almost as bad, although I think they were provided with a lot of the things, rather than having to tear them out of the cars. Seatbelts became a popular item and were used to create everything from a stylist coat that almost won to a poorly-molded dress and a poorly-made skirt. Keith, who has been skating on thin ice for a while ended up going home. I was delighted to see Leanne's remarkable dress win.

It's too early to know who I like on "America's Toughest Jobs", but I did find the show more interesting than I'd anticipated. They worked on crab-fishing ships in the icy northern ocean. It was physically challenging work. The 11 contestants were split into two groups, each going on a separate boat. It was up to the captains to decide who did best and who the worst two were on each boat. The bottom 4 then had to go out to sea again, together, to try to prove themselves. The one who did the worst job was sent home.

The best chosen were two women. That was a surprise! The worst four were mixed, two men and two women. I think the oldest man and woman of the contestants were in the group. They had made many mistakes on the first round. The younger man had held back when they were working in larger teams. On the second go round, he did a great job. The younger woman spent the whole second outing saying she couldn't do whatever she was trying to do, or asking for help. She ended up being the one sent home. Hopefully, by next week I'll know some names.