The filming of Shear Genius Season 1

Shear Genius Season 1 consisted of 8 episodes and a reunion show. For a complete list and general overview of each episode, click here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shear_Genius_season_1 Considering I was the runner-up on the show, I was in all 8 episodes of competition and the reunion show. This means I was on every week the show aired for 9 weeks. Filming the whole season took a little over a month. The entire time we were filming, we only had three off days, and on one off day, I went longboarding with Tyson in Venice Beach. Another time, I did Bikram yoga with Daisy. When we were down to the final four, we had an off day where I, Dr. Boogie, Daisy, and Anthony watched the Bears play the Colts at the iconic LA club "The Abbey." I'll never forget Prince playing the halftime show. Outside of those three days, we filmed constantly—day in and day out. It was a lot of work, and the pressure at times was heavy as hell.

When I was first given this assignment, I thought I would break down each episode. Lol, nope. Honestly, it was such a long time ago; it's difficult to remember the details and any drama that might have occurred. The thing I'll tell you about making a reality show is that there's definitely a system and a routine to each episode. Each episode would have a "short cut challenge." These would be shorter, less involved challenges. The winner of the short cut challenge would then have some sort of advantage for the elimination challenge. Basically, we had an 8-10 hour turnaround after a day of filming. Sometimes our day would last 16-18 hours. We'd film, and then while awaiting the results for the elimination round, we'd be isolated in our own trailers to build up the anticipation. Shear Genius was our world. We ate together, shared sleeping quarters, and every time we left for a day for an elimination challenge, there would be one less person in the van.

Paul-Jean was the first to go. It was episode 1. We were asked to create a statement piece from various tools and props. In my opinion, Paul-Jean could have easily been the winner. He had an eye for detail and was a great finisher. I think he worked at a super nice salon in Beverly Hills. Paul-Jean actually let me borrow one of his designer suits, which I returned after filming. The guest judge was a guy named Frederic Fekkai. I had heard the name before and knew he was a Beverly Hills guy. I found him arrogant and kind of a douche. I placed in the middle of the pack and then went back to the living space. When you have zero communication with the outside world, your reality becomes your surroundings.

And then you'd wake up, shower, and get ready for the day. Breakfast would appear, and the remaining contestants would hop in the van to whatever adventure awaited.

The place we were living at was pretty drama-free. One day after filming the episode where Evangeline used the hedge trimmers to cut hair, there was some drama. I remember Tabatha and her getting pretty heated off camera. It was easy to fly off the handle. The heavy workload and isolation were a total mind-fuck.

Each day we'd head out and come back minus one.

I instantly vibed with Anthony, Tabatha, and Daisy. The rest of the contestants were all super cool in their own unique ways. But I really liked Tabatha.

When we signed our agreement to be cast on the show, we agreed to not have any contact with the outside world. This was new for me. At the time we were filming Shear Genius, I had a physically handicapped mom, and my grandma was on her way out. Their well-being was always in the back of my mind.

I'd always do well in the short cut challenge. The elimination challenge, however, I was on the chopping block a few times. The first time I thought I was going to get sent home was episode 4, "red carpet challenge." The challenge was to get our models ready for a "red carpet" look. I got one of the last picks. I picked a super pretty African American model. As soon as I picked her, she told me that all of her hair was sewn-in extensions. I acted cool, but as soon as I tried to apply heat to her extensions, nothing would hold. I remember thinking to myself, oh yeah, this is gonna take me out. Then I started looking around, and all of the other looks were stunning—except mine and Evangeline's. My model looked like she just got done having breakup sex and riding a horse. Evangeline's model looked crazy as well. I remember the guest judge was Vanessa Williams, who sang the song "Save the Best for Last," which was my senior year prom song. The winners were announced, and just as I thought, me and Evangeline were in the bottom 2. When you're on the chopping block, there are a lot of emotions. All I remember was laughing. At this point, I was ready to get off the show. But as fate would have it, I was safe from elimination, and Evangeline and her hedge trimmers were out. I was always putting out work that was good enough to keep me from going home. Every episode, I'd survive to the next challenge. One by one, the contestants were all going home. The waiting and anticipation to see if you were going to be sent home was f’n thick. Thick as hell, lol. I was after that 100 grand. In the challenges I didn't feel strong at, my strategy was to see who was struggling and just take it from there. If I'm not going to win the challenge, I still wanted to stay on the show. I played it safe and had a “good enough” approach. As I wrote this, I still have the same approach to my work: “I’m not going for the best, just better than most.” After it was all said and done, the final three were myself, Daisy, and Anthony. For the final challenge and the chance for 100 grand, the guest judge was Vidal Sassoon. We had the challenge of creating 3 looks on three different models. We needed to tell a story. I did an off-the-face updo, a bob, and a disconnected razored layered haircut. My story was outer beauty to inner beauty. After the models were done, it was back to our trailers to await the results. At this point, I was cool with not winning. I couldn’t stop thinking to myself, holy shit, I’m gonna be on all 8 episodes!

While I was awaiting my fate, there was a knock on my trailer door. To my surprise, it was Vidal Sassoon. “Would you mind if I came in?” he said. So in he went. I was eating chicken chop suey carryout. I offered him a plate, and he accepted. What happened next was a pivotal moment in my career. We talked for over an hour. I got to ask him how he became recognized. He asked me questions about where I’m from, and we talked a lot about my parents and upbringing. He told me that I had a lot of raw talent and needed to refine my skills and become an educator. I challenged his words; I said, “Are you just saying that because you are who you are?” He laughed and smiled and said, “No, I mean it.” At this point, I felt like I won. Daisy was the first to go. So there I was, me and Anthony. We grabbed hands and awaited our fate. At this point, we had been filming for a little over a month. Sometimes we’d start at night and finish in the morning. It was day in and day out. We’d be irritable and hungry at times. There was no contact with the outside world. Only once was I able to call home. Even that was filmed and used on the show. When Anthony was called the winner, I felt a sigh of relief. I was genuinely happy for him. I love Anthony and still very much look up to him. That night we sipped champagne and let our hair down. The next afternoon, I was on a flight back to Chicago. Holy shit, I was the runner-up on the first season of Shear Genius.

The fact that no one knew where I was and what I was doing was nuts. The whole time I stayed on the show, I kept thinking, “People are gonna freak.” Boy oh boy, was I right.

Okay, so now that you’ve made it this far, here’s my honest, unfiltered opinion on the hosts, contestants, and the special guests. Let’s start with the contestants.

There were 12 of us who were selected out of the tens of thousands who auditioned. Here’s a list of who they were, their ages at the time of filming, and their hometowns.

Anthony Morrison 40 Manhattan Beach, California

Ben Mollin 32 Chicago, Illinois

Daisy Duchens 31 Hialeah, Florida

Danna Sachs 37 Santa Monica, California

Dr. Boogie 33 North Hollywood, California

Evangeline Pesci 32 Reisterstown, Maryland

Jim 49 Buffalo, New York

Lacey Wilson 22 Miami Beach, Florida

Paul-Jean Jouve 29 Beverly Hills, California

Tabatha Coffey 39 Ridgewood, New Jersey

Theodore Leaf 22 Canton, Ohio

Tyson Daniel 31 Salt Lake City, Utah

Let’s start with Jim. I didn’t really get to know him super well, but he was a total pro. As the oldest contestant on the show, he was wise and always dressed the part. His work was classic, and he was a super likable guy.

Paul-Jean was a stylish dude with the accent to boot. A total pimp on style. He worked in Beverly Hills and had a high-end vibe. He was gone first, so I really didn’t get to know him. My gut felt like he could have won the competition. He was a fancy man.

Lacey I sat next to once on the way to film. She was the youngest and the least experienced. Miami vibe. We didn’t really talk that much.

Danna was talented as hell. I believe she was originally from South Africa. Her work was clean. At times, she seemed to have high-maintenance tendencies, but we were always cool with each other. The night we filmed the reunion show, we all went back to her house and watched the show. She was pissed that she was sent home. Her mom was there, and she was super nice.

Theodore was awesome. The youngest in the group. He was a great energy. Super cool guy.

Daisy was an instant friend. She had a great voice. I had my guitar, and we would sing songs. I'll never forget when we had a free day and did Bikram. She was a Miami firecracker.

Dr. Boogie. Oh Boogie. We had some beef early on, but off camera, we hashed through it. Dude was a solid hairdresser and had a massive celebrity clientele. He was my partner on a couple of challenges. We had a similar work ethic. One night back at the loft, we smoked a joint. Cool dude but was high maintenance.

Tyson was a good hairdresser. We went longboarding and day drinking on a day off. He kind of had a homeschool vibe, lol.

Tabatha was and is a pro. I love her. We stayed in contact throughout the years.

Anthony, same thing. I fucking love that guy. The moment we shared at the last episode I'll never forget.

And now for the judges.

Frederic Fekkai I didn't like. He seemed arrogant and a total dbag. Fun fact: I fixed a haircut he gave Dana Delaney once while working on a movie set in Chicago. Frederic, if you’re reading this, I thought you were a dick, lol. Okay, so I’m sitting here trying to find a list of all of the judges, but I can’t find it after googling for 10 minutes, so here we go.

Ken Paves, this guy was awesome. Super kind and down to earth. I found it fascinating that he wore a hairpiece. Handsome dude and very clean, polished teeth. Garret was the guy who did Madonna's hair. Dude's a legend and also gets a similar dick award to Fekkai. He went out of his way to tell me he hated my haircut, even though I had to do it with gardening shears and while being filmed. F U dude, lol. Alright, hmmmmm…Roy Teluk (possibly not spelled right) by far the coolest dude ever. Super kind and relatable even though I had no f’n clue who he was. Vanessa Williams, still not sure how she got on the show. I laughed in her face when I thought I was getting eliminated with Evangeline. And of course, Vidal Sassoon. The coolest dude on planet earth. Period. Loved him and continued to see him on the road for a few years. I cried when he passed. He’s the only reason I got into education. Hmmmm if I can think of more people, I’ll jump back, but these were the ones that I still remember. Oh wait, Matthew Ralston? Super famous photographer in LA, I think Smashbox Studios. He was intimidating, but I respected the hell out of him. We got some pretty cool shots, and the studio experience was awesome. I remember at the elimination, he said I was talented but wouldn’t trust me on set styling celebrities.

On to the hosts and cast. Let’s start with Rene Fris (again, I think I’m butchering these names). What a handsome son of a bitch. I guess he was on the Dutch Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. He loved me. He’d often come find me on set breaks, and we’d just shoot the shit. His tagline “go shake it” was stuck in my head for years after the show. He used skin lotion in his hair instead of products. I’m pretty sure he wanted me. 😂 Sally Hershberger reminded me of Steven Tyler from Aerosmith. I also fixed one of her cuts in Minneapolis on the model she gave the shag to on the show. I saw her in Florida, and she didn’t remember me, which I found hysterical considering we made a television show together. Michael Carl was a fashion editor, I think for a magazine. I didn’t like this guy at all. He had a lot of sugar in his back pocket and wouldn’t look you in the eyes when you’d cheers him. Never trust a man that doesn’t look you in the eyes. 👀 And Jaclyn Smith. Oh Jaclyn. I love you. She was gorgeous and had a heart of gold. She loved all of us contestants. She offered me a place to live at her guest house if I wanted to stay in LA. She loved me, and on occasion, I’d get a call from a Beverly Hills salon asking me to come work there per her recommendation. Oh yeah, how can I forget! Another judge, Jose Eber. Think of Zorro if he were gay. That’s him. Jose and Jaclyn were great friends. I’ll never forget coming down the escalator at the mall dressed as a ninja. Jose Eber was the guest judge for that quick cut challenge. The looks on their faces were priceless. Jose offered me a job also, but I declined. I needed to go back home. That was almost 18 years ago. Wow. Wow. 🤯

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