Giacomo Was Scared

Bravotv.com: For this Elimination Challenge, the stylists had to create styles based on food. Joel of Warren Tricomi Salon was the guest judge.
We did the food thing, which I thought was a little Barnum & Bailey, but I just kind of went along with it. Again, Camila and Kim were really focused on the challenge -- how does this hair speak of food? How did food inspire the hair? That's the challenge, so I'm adhering to the process. I couldn't help, by default, kind of pushing that out and looking for the most creative, the best execution, and the most work put into it and the highest level of skill involved. That's what I was looking for.

Bravotv.com: Brig made the interracial snowman and you didn't like it because it wasn't really styled.
It was just like an ice cream cone of hair. Again, kind of safe and boring and no skill involved. There was none of her model's hair actually in the piece.

Bravotv.com: Jon won with the scallop hair.
First of all, let's take making the food like hair out of it and then I'll comment on that. I really felt like her hair, if she was going to an Oscar party or doing a red carpet event or even a hair ad campaign, would have worked. It was perfect, it was clean, it was consistent all the way through with the colors, and it was very well-executed. There was a lot of her own hair worked in with hairpieces. I thought it could not have been done any better. With regards to looking like food, I really feel like he worked that food in as much as he possibly could have. Listen, I hadn't eaten that day so if it looked any more like the food I probably would have stepped over to the model and taken a bite out of her head. He did a great job and kept it very simple. It was done well, it was well-executed, the skill level was really high and everything was perfect. There was no frizz and it was perfect symmetrically. For me, it really worked.

Bravotv.com: Arzo ultimately went home.
I think, again, nerves got in the way and she got lost and had no direction. She took too long in the beginning and her time management was really off. She took too long in the beginning with the color and was just thinking color, color, color and wasn't thinking any shape. She really didn't have a game plan. Arzo's a great stylist and a very talented girl but it was completely off-kilter in this challenge. She didn't have all the wheels spinning.

Bravotv.com: Amy did the hamburger.
She tried to go with that '50s thing. Her hair just looked like a plate of mud. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't becoming and if this was a meat company that would have had 50 models looking like that serving... If I were contestant I would have thought about it as if this were a hamburger company or if this were a tuna company or scallop company and I had to do 50 models serving and promoting this food and they were all going to be photographed to represent the food, what would I go with? How would I use this hair as an extension of that brand? That's what I would have been thinking prior to the challenge to then come up with a plan of action and a creative direction. I don't think any of them even thought that. I think Jon, maybe. But it's unlikely if even he did. You have to have experience to understand that building of a brand. That's basically what every single challenge revolves around it's where everyone fell short. You think of Amy's hairstyle -- 25 models walking around serving hamburgers and their hair looking like that -- you probably would have run out of the party. It would have scared you to death instead of thinking, "Wow, look at how hot they are and I love their hair!" You build that little movie in your mind. Think here we are, with a hamburger company and they're doing this huge party to launch this hamburger and the makeup, the hair, the clothing all have to take their inspiration from the brand platform. The hamburger, the meat. What question do we want the clients who are going to buy this meat at the party to ask? They should  be walking up to the models and asking, "Excuse me, is your hair supposed to be kind of like the hamburger? It's amazing because you're making me hungry but it looks beautiful." That's what you're supposed to get from the client when you're working with a company like this. I didn't get any of that. There was no direction and the color was way off. They all tried to do too much. It really makes it once you have that clear picture of what you really need to do. Then it takes all the bullshit out of the way, the nerves out of the way, and it just nails it down. Then you just do it. Even though you get scared and you get nervous it doesn't matter because you finish it and you go all the way through with it. You stick to your guns and generally you'll stick around.

Bravotv.com: What did you think of Giacomo leaving?
I'm sure some of the viewers recall that I had an episode of Blow Out where one of my stylists took his shirt off. It was a kid with an attitude that I fired. He took his shirt off and he was kind of looking at his abs in the mirror. I told him you're out, you're sickening, and how lame could you possibly be? You do something with cameras around then how pedestrian can you possibly be? It just shows such lack of skill set and talent because he's using something else to steal the light and to me, it's just weak and pussy. Then he used his children as a reason. Guess what? I have a 2-year-old and 3 1/2 year old during the show (now they're older) and I was gone just as much. Only difference was I was able to go home and sleep with them and go back to work the next day, but I didn't see them for six weeks. You do these things for your family. That's what it's all about. You don't use your family as an excuse to quit. Quitting is never good. Quitting is always bad and it's always weak. Here's the bottom line. He was scared. He showed up and he saw the level of skill and he got scared because he knew there wasn't a way he would win. There was no way in his wildest dreams that he was going to win. Mind you, those are the people who do win when they stick it out and stay. I've always been in that situation as a stylist. I've always been the least likely to succeed. In beauty school growing up as a stylist, a heterosexual stylist, I was always the least likely to succeed because I just didn't have that edge that a gay man had. I didn't have that communication with a woman like a gay man had. I just didn't have that. I communicated with women differently. I was never on the same plane, and it was a give and take thing. I was always the underdog. No matter what I always stuck it out and I always fought tooth and nail to the end no matter what. I never lost and I always won every competition I was in. I was hoping the same for Giacomo. You knew that you couldn't win and you quit. It's bad enough to think that you can't win, and I've thought that before, I always go in with a defeatist attitude. It's always, I can't win or I'm not going to be able to do this, but fuck it. I am not leaving and they're going to have to cut my arms off to beat me. He just didn't have that killer attitude. So, good, he made it easier for all the others.

Bravotv.com: To Joel Warren of Warren and Tricomi:
Joel, you got to check your partner. I think Joel's great but he's really got to check your partner because his partner looks like a clown. If you're working with someone like that, it rubs off on you. I thought Joel was a good dude -- good, stand-up, solid guy. The only thing that bugged me is he's working with a zombie as a partner. That's your other half in the world of building a brand you've got to do something about that first. Don't come on my show bitching about how wonderful you are if you've got the dawn of the dead as your other half.