By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Sunday, March 6, 2016
Metro Atlantans are participating in multiple reality competition shows right now, though "American Idol" is not one of them. I have already spoken to the two locals on the 10th season of "The Voice" who made the cut last week (Nick Hagelin and Angie Keilhauer) and will post something tomorrow.
Let's check up on how they're doing so far:
Cydney Gillon (CBS's "Survivor: Kaoh Rong"): She has endured three rounds of "Survivor" without a single sign of being danger of going home. This despite being on a "Brawn" tribe that has lost two of its six members after losing the first two challenges. Darnell, in the first episode, came off as incompetent in the first challenge (and pooping in plain sight of everyone did him no favors). Result: first out. In the second, dopey Alecia was a major target but Jennifer idiotically talked her way into elimination by telling Jeff Probst during Tribal Council that her original alliance wasn't so solid after all. Cydney quickly voted her gone.
Cydney to date comes off as strong and capable. And she stuck with the two big guys Kyle and Scot in an alliance. In the third episode which aired this past Wednesday, she helped her team win the challenge, just beating the Brains team by seconds.
Short term, she's safe. But when a merge or a change happens, it's hard to say how things will play out for her since her team is now short on numbers.
STATUS: Okay
"Survivor," 8 p.m. Wednesdays, CBS
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Ken Laurence (Lifetime's "Project Runway: All Stars"): During his first run on "Project Runway," the Atlantan created a lot of unnecessary conflict and mayhem that had nothing to do with his design work.
This time around, after four episodes, Ken is clearly more focused on his designs. He has been safe twice and has been one of the top three designers twice. His opening dress and the one he did this past Thursday were especially sharp.
He is looking like a solid player who could go far, certainly further than he did his first time when he came in eighth. Right now, 10 designers remain.
STATUS: Strong
"Project Runway," 9 p.m. Thursdays, Lifetime
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Corey Davis (Spike TV's "Ink Master"): This past Tuesday in the season seven opener, eight newcomers and a former participant were featured on the show. Entertaining, arrogant St. Marq came back from season six and created a challenge for the rest of them: the seven deadly sins thematic using only shaders, no liners. Apparently, this is makes inking much tougher.
Christian Buckingham, who won the flash challenge, was able to decide which tattoo artist matched with each canvas. He did not give Davis an easy one. He said he wasn't sure how good or bad Corey was; he just wanted to test him out.
Corey's canvas wanted her tattoo on the skull. Yikes. He couldn't convince her to move her tattoo to a more amenable part of the body. She squirmed in pain. "This is a nightmare," Corey said. He designed a snake with a face.
Ultimately, the final result did not impress the judges. And the human canvas jury didn't like it either.
"It's got a rough feel to it," said host and judge Dave Navarro.
"This one got the best of you," said judge Chris Nunez. St. Marq "rattled you."
Despite the fact the judges hated St. Marq's tattoo, two of the three disliked Corey's even more.
Oliver Peck and Nunez voted against Corey while Navarro would have preferred booting St. Marq.
So Corey had the ignominious honor of being the first one out. On the show, he said he didn't think he should have been axed. And his opinion, months later, hasn't changed.
"St. Marq designed the challenge," Corey said today in a phone interview. "He deserved to go home."
He acknowledged doing a tattoo that small without a liner was especially challenging. "I couldn't get any detail in," he said. "That made it more difficult than usual. I would have been better off tattooing myself. [People have done that when they had difficult human canvases.] But I'm not he type of person to turn down a challenge. I enjoy pushing myself to the limit."
Corey, who has 10 years experience, currently works at City of Ink on Sweet Auburn Ave. in Atlanta.
STATUS: Gone
"Ink Master," 10 p.m. Tuesdays, Spike
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