S11.E13: Gargoyle Guardians

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

The last four create gargoyles inspired by different styles of architecture.

Sneak peek:

[sourpickles]

Architecture. Yum.  This could go really good, or really  bad.  Can't wait to see........

[Primetimer]

Some architectural styles are more gargoyle-appropriate than others, it turns out.

View the full article

[Canada]

Wow, I hated Cig's gargoyle!  It was awful.  I'm very disappointed that Tyler was eliminated.  I thought he and Emily would be a shoo-in for the finale, with the final spot being taken by Cig or George.  Disappointing.  Somehow, I don't think they made a decision based on what the designers did in this episode.

[Frozendiva]

Too bad it couldn't stay a final four.  Any of the remaining face-testants could walk away with the prize. No clear winner.

What I didn't like about the Russian one (Cig's) was the wings reminding me of a picnic tablecloth. Yes, he referenced the Byzantine onion dome style, but there are also steep spires. I also didn't really care for the face colour scheme. Maybe it looked better in other photos.

Emily's was very reminiscent of the Art Deco style - the feathering, etc. worked.

George's was okay but the horn colour scheme was jarring. The wings just looked like a rectangle-shaped piece of cardboard.

I was hoping to see gargolyes like you see at Notre Dame or even the Dr. Who weeping angels.

[enoughcats]

When George's ultramodern with the big ear o'corn/big ear o'horn  appeared, Mr. Ecats and I said the judges would love it, because they'd go through the "WTH would I do if I had to do an ultramodern gargoyle?"  And then Glenn said he would have run away, if he had been given that assignment. (And for the Flying Nun reference for George's wings!)

That's when we figured George would be advanced. 

The golden gargoyle was obvious.  Beautiful.  Art deco, even. Figured Emily for the win.

Cig....oh, Cig.  First time I haven't liked what he's done.  In my youth I spent time around churches with onion domes and he may have gone too much with the domes and too little with the rest of the architecture.  His interpretation was too literal.  Glen grasped the nose bridge as bringing it together.  Really?  Just say it was a great colorful explosion.  

But I like Cig well enough not to wish him gone.

All the Victorians I know from three or four historic districts in different states.....would be almost as difficult as the deconstructed.  The problem with 'young'ish competitors may be that they've never been faced with painting a true Victorian, which could have been as colorful as onion domes. 

[mjc570]

I liked the challenge, but the only creation I really liked was Emily's - it was gorgeous and truly Art Deco.  I thought all the rest were flawed in some way - George's would have been fine, if he had left off that stupid gold horn and made the wing look a bit dented, Cig's was just too literal, it felt like he took the easy way out and the judges were right, Logan's just didn't have any Victorian aspects to it, although it was clearly a gargoyle.  I thought the suggestion made by one of the judges that the wings could have been stained glass was a good one.

[Maelstrom]

First, I want to point out that technically these were all grotesques, not gargoyles. A gargoyle must have a rain spout. Brought to you by Obscure Facts No One Except Me Gives a Sh*t About.

Yay for our three finale contestants! This was so tough because Ireally would've loved to see all four of them in the finale. That being said, I can understand why they let Tyler go. Even though it was beautiful and well put together, it seemed more generic gargoyle to me than Victorian-inspired gargoyle.

Somehow when I think of Victorian architecture, I think of "gingerbread house" kind of look - very ornamental and filled with detailed bits and bobs. Then again, here in the southwest where I live, you don't come across too much (or any) Victorian architecture so maybe I don't know what the hell I'm talking about, lol.

Emily was lucky to get Art Deco, because it's such a distinctive and iconic style (and also my personal favorite of the four shown tonight). She made some great choices that were boosted by a beautiful paint job. Yay Emily!

Cig had a tough one with Russian architecture, for sure. I actually kinda liked it, though not as much as the judges, just because he really dove into it and went with it despite the bright colors and busy patterns. Also, I can't be the only one who thought the hat-dome looked like a Hershey's Kiss while he was sculpting it.

George, yeah, I probably would've been with Glenn running away and screaming, lol. I really liked what he did with the face and the paint job (barring the horns) was beautiful. He should've scrapped those damn horns. As for the wings, I think I would've taken a sheet of material and given it one twist in the middle - just enough to imply the wings joining the body without actually having to spell it out. Nevertheless, he did well with what he was given.

Glenn's hair looked like someone lopped off the top with gardening shears. The season can't be nearly over! What will I do when I can't make fun of Glenn's hair anymore?!

How cool was it that the other three took time out at the beginning of Day 2 to give Emily their opinions? That's why I love this show.

Also, I had to chuckle when George got up and danced in his TH and nearly lost his pants.

The Kung-fu-nale looks pretty cool next week! I like all three of them, and want all three to win. But if I had to pick, I think I'm leaning slightly toward Emily - she was my choice to win in her original season, and I'd love for her to get the win that IMO slipped out of her fingers the last time. We see, though! Should be good.

[Quilt Fairy]

1 hour ago, Maelstrom said:

Somehow when I think of Victorian architecture, I think of "gingerbread house" kind of look - very ornamental and filled with detailed bits and bobs

I agree, and I wonder if somewhere along the way Tyler misinterpreted 'Victorian' to mean the era of Queen Victoria in 19th century England.

[GaT]

Tyler's was my favorite, so of course he's gone. For some reason, I just didn't find this challenge that interesting. 

[niklj]

Um...that sucked. Is it too late to use Judge's Save??

I wish all good things for Tyler. Dayum. 

[DEL901]

I thought it wasn't just his misinterpretation of Victorian that hurt Tyler (he should have concentrated on the diagram that MacKenzie gave him.  His photos included the British Parliament buildings!?!?!...  During deliberations, Vee mentioned that his face shapes were all starting to look the same.  I also wondered why no one mentioned that he did a stone face (again) when Victorian architecture was wooden.

Cig took things literally, but I still liked it and thought he was going to win.  And poor George.  Deconstructivism?  Really?  He did a good job and if he'd had a little more times, I think those wings would have worked.

Loved how they all rallied around Emily when she was stuck.  I also thought she was smart when everyone congratulated her on choosing the bird form... she didn't mention that she looked at photos and a lot of the buildings had eagles.  She didn't pluck the idea out of the air.

I'll miss Tyler, but I think it was the right call if they HAD to get rid of someone.  I had kind of hoped they'd say no one was going home.

[Toaster Strudel]

I hated, HATED the Russian gargoyle.  It was terribly literal and not at all creative.  I don't know what the judges were raving about.  It was just a bunch of Russian domes with slapdash painting (though I appreciate the time constraint in trying to make them correctly) with a dull, pasty, uninspired face that didn't match the rest.  I was sure they were going to comment on the ears, they were just awful.  They looked like giant skin tags.  Repeating the architecture on the face totally didn't work for me, it was more literal interpretation.  This architecture had so much potential, Cig really let me down.

I was disappointed that Tyler didn't go the wooden, pastel-painted route on this one.  I agreed with the judges that the curves on top of the head felt a little off.  The lack of stained glass was a missed opportunity.  On its own, it looked great.  Much better than the Russian hot mess.

George's eventual enthusiasm for the deconstructionist architecture was a breath of fresh air.

Emily's eagle was spectacular, steps above the rest.  Breathtaking.  During the judging the model was looking down like the contacts were bothering him, I felt sorry for him!

[Sister Spooky]

I thought Cig's gargoyle was horrible, ugly, and garish.  It was way too literal and the colors were horrible, especially the color used on the skin parts.  I love Cig, but it had no imagination at all.

[starri]

Aside from Emily's, I didn't think any of them were that great.  Frankly, just based on this work, I'd have booted Cig.  He just literally copied the domes.

I also think that they were unfair to Tyler.  There is no one "Victorian" style.  He seemed to be going for a Gothic Revival style, which is perfectly legitimate Victorian movement.  He got the forms for that a little off, so I understand that point of the criticism, but if they wanted him to do a Queen Anne style makeup, they should have specified that.  I also have no idea what Ve was talking about called it more Art Nouveau.  Beaux-Arts, maybe.

I give George a lot of credit for being able to pull out a good, appropriate sculpt.  Frank Gehry is an incredibly overrated hack, who designs buildings that are flat-out eyesores.  Particularly the Walt Disney Concert Hall, which was the example on the blueprint he got during the brief.

Ve was 100% correct about Emily's gargoyle though.  It looks like it could have flown of the Brill Building.

[Percysowner]

8 hours ago, GaT said:

Tyler's was my favorite, so of course he's gone. For some reason, I just didn't find this challenge that interesting. 

He was my favorite too, so I am sad right now. I'm rooting for Emily to take it all now.

[Merneith]

Honestly, I thought George's wing was the single cleverest thing on the stage. Just a big slab of something sort of vaguely curved to suggest motion is exactly what a deconstructed gargoyle should have. Admittedly, that gold horn did slay me.

Everything else was both too predictable and still fell short. The Russian gargoyle looked all wonky. The Deco eagle with the curved, fluffy, feathers wasn't geometrical. The "Victorian" gargoyle was just your basic garden variety gargoyle.

Finales are always my least favorite part of any reality show. Everyone feels so burned out by this point. No real complaints about the three finalists but it really was anyone's game.

[starri]

As an aside:  Goodness, did Mackenzie rock her dressed-down outfit during the brief.  They need to put her in pants more often.

[Rammchick]

Cig's wings looked like checkered racing flags.  Why the judges fawned all over that was beyond me.

[enoughcats]

21 minutes ago, Rammchick said:

 

Cig's wings looked like checkered racing flags.  Why the judges fawned all over that was beyond me.

 

Come on, now.  How many people on that stage have ever watched even a little part of a race (NASCAR or Indie or otherwise) much less the end of the race?

[Rammchick]

enoughcats, I didn't mean to imply that the wings were made to look like that deliberately, but come on, didn't they say Indy 500 to you? ;)

[frenchtoast]

I did not get the love for Cig's at all. That smudge on the bridge of the nose was a good thing? I was shocked he was a top look. And I even though that as much as Deconstructivism would be difficult to do, the Russian one would be really difficult, too. And maybe that's what they took into consideration? But it was fugly to me. Maybe if the face had been a blue or something, or some sort of patina. I don't know but it didn't work for me at all.

I was really impressed with how George turned it around. If he had had another few hours, he would have figured out better wings. Even so, I think those wings did match deconstructivism, I just wish they had matched the sculpt better. And what he was trying to do would have, he just ran out of time. 

And yeah, Tyler was turning in a lot of similar stuff. But, it was still a good piece, and it was a gargoyle. I was sad to see him go. He was always positive and excited and I really enjoyed him. And he was talented to boot. 

I always appreciate and applaud when the contestants help each other out. Even if it is a long job interview, it just seems like this creative field brings out the best in people. 

[Pepper Mostly]

1 hour ago, starri said:

As an aside:  Goodness, did Mackenzie rock her dressed-down outfit during the brief.  They need to put her in pants more often.

I love it when Mackenzie is dressed simply--to me she looks a hundred times prettier in jeans and a cute top, with her hair in a ponytail, than she does in one of those sprayed-on, glittery dresses she favors, with makeup spackled on. It ages her too. Come on Mackenzie! Go for a more natural honey blond hair color and dress down sometimes!

I join the chorus of hating Cig's. I was thrilled to see George make it. I just love him. I love his good humor and fun personality. I bet he'd be a blast to hang  out with. I love and adore Emily, she's insanely talented and seems like such a nice person. I want her to win.

[Lovely]

I hated Cig's look. I was so surprised the judges were in awe of it. It looked like a demon with some domes slapped on top of the head and shoulders. Could you get any less creative? George's wings looked so cheap and hokey. Emily's was really the only one I liked.

I'm really bummed to see Tyler go after putting in so much great work this season. Personally I think either George or Cig should have left.

[Eliza422]

I also said these were really grotesques!

 

i really thought Cig was a goner, I thought his was ridiculous. Tyler really does seem to know only one face. Kind of like the guy seasons ago who made every face like his? All I can remember is a shot of him looking in a mirror making faces. He made big, rubbery looking faces.

[Black Knight]

I knew Tyler was the one who was eliminated as soon as I saw the talking head where he practically snarled "not Victorian enough." It's interesting; for ten seasons I've never been tipped by a talking head, and now it's happened twice in this season (Melissa was the other one). If anything, I would expect new contestants to be worse at doing these talking heads in a way that don't tip the outcome.

More than just "not Victorian enough," I think the things that worked against Tyler were that his was the only traditional looking gargoyle and that it was the same facial sculpt he's done multiple times. The judges were looking for creativity and going outside the artists' comfort zones, and while Cig's and George's gargoyles are polarizing, there's no doubt that they aren't what Cig and George usually do. And Emily has stayed away from her trademark hair for weeks now, and until now she hadn't painted anything metallic gold. Tyler was one of my favorites too, and until very recently I'd been sure that he would be a finalist, but I think he fell into a bit of a rut creatively. Maybe in that aspect, he was the contestant most hurt by going from teams to individuals.

[Mabinogia]

2 minutes ago, Black Knight said:

Tyler was one of my favorites too

What makes this season so great, and so sad at this point is that, yes, Tyler was one of my favorites as well, but Cig, George and Emily were my other favorites. lol Basically, whoever wins I'm going to be thrilled, and I'm going to be devastated at each of the others not winning, starting with Tyler.

This is, for me, the best final four of any competition show I have ever watched. I love them all.

[DEL901]

5 minutes ago, Mabinogia said:

What makes this season so great, and so sad at this point is that, yes, Tyler was one of my favorites as well, but Cig, George and Emily were my other favorites. lol Basically, whoever wins I'm going to be thrilled, and I'm going to be devastated at each of the others not winning, starting with Tyler.

This is, for me, the best final four of any competition show I have ever watched. I love them all.

Ditto.  I had hoped the judges would say "to hell with the rules, it's a final four!", but realistically I knew that wasn't going to happen.  From their comments, I thought Cig might win it.  I liked his detail, even if the outcome was kind of literal.

Poor Tyler.  I did like him, but he got into a face shape rut. And it wasn't just the shape, but the material that made his gargoyle "not Victorian".   I wonder if he was afraid to do wood after getting beat up for it last time he did wood, but with Victorian, here was an opportunity.  

[LoneHaranguer]

4 hours ago, Merneith said:

Finales are always my least favorite part of any reality show. Everyone feels so burned out by this point.

I noticed that they were cutting between two Emily's after she was declared the winner; one on stage too tired to show much reaction, and one with more energy, presumably having has a chance to rest before shooting the TH's and fill-ins.

[treeofdreams]

When I hear Victorian architecture I think of the "painted ladies" houses that are wood, painted  pastel colors like blue or pink or green or yellow and with all that scrolly wooden trim, usually painted white.  I wish Tyler had done something with that.  Also, Victorians were really into angels, and perhaps his gargoyle guardian could have been an angel rather than a demon. 

[Maelstrom]

3 hours ago, Eliza422 said:

I also said these were really grotesques!

 

i really thought Cig was a goner, I thought his was ridiculous. Tyler really does seem to know only one face. Kind of like the guy seasons ago who made every face like his? All I can remember is a shot of him looking in a mirror making faces. He made big, rubbery looking faces.

Glad I'm not the only stickler for details ;)

You're probably thinking of Rod from season 3 who kept making the same rounded, fleshy face every week. I remember even after the judges explicitly pointed it out to him that literally could not see the similarities in his makeups.

[Eliza422]

34 minutes ago, Maelstrom said:

Glad I'm not the only stickler for details ;)

You're probably thinking of Rod from season 3 who kept making the same rounded, fleshy face every week. I remember even after the judges explicitly pointed it out to him that literally could not see the similarities in his makeups.

That's exactly who I was thinking about!

[SherriAnt]

21 hours ago, Maelstrom said:

Obscure Facts No One Except Me Gives a Sh*t About.

Hey I belong to that club too!

 

11 hours ago, starri said:

Aside from Emily's, I didn't think any of them were that great.  Frankly, just based on this work, I'd have booted Cig.  He just literally copied the domes.

I liked George's too, except for the wing. Cigs really was just bad. I think it's his enthusiasm getting away from him.

8 hours ago, enoughcats said:

How many people on that stage have ever watched even a little part of a race (NASCAR or Indie or otherwise) much less the end of the race?

I think Ve could get down with a race, just give her a tailgate party! She always reminds me of a fun Aunty.

[Kyrielle]

Cig's was a big NOPE NOPE NOPE. Beyond the obviousness, the proportion problems drive me nutty. He made an onion gnome, not a gargoyle. That said, Tyler never had a chance. The writing was on the wall last week when Nigel damned him as competent. Which is a shame because his gargoyle was my second favorite of the night. And it was Victorian - it just wasn't Queen Anne/Gingerbread. If they wanted that, they should have specifiied and not mucked it up with the pictures in the brief. I respected more than liked George's deconstructed gargoyle but Emily's was my favorite by far.

[Caria]

I was really glad to see Tyler again this season. I remember being incredibly impressed at how well he worked to execute his concepts and how he constantly and graciously spent time helping others.  He was the same again this season.  I do agree with the judges comments on his work overall for this challenge, but like many others here I just don't understand how he went home instead of Cig. There really was no concept with Cig's creation. He just made his gargoyle wear the architecture directly, which was easy to do because the particular style he chose happen to be full of ready to wear pieces. The red makeup wasn't all that great and the overall word that came to mind when looking at this creation was "lacking". It just looked very lightweight like it should be inside a jack-in-a box. I've liked Cig all season both his personality and his work, but this elimination was just wrong.

I was really impressed with Emily's beautiful creation. The girl is truly talented. But I do think she benefited all season from being paired with Tyler. I think she got more benefit from that partnership then he did.

Edited to say how impressive George's sculpting/painting was. Terrible wings and horn of course, but wow!

Edited April 20, 2017 by Caria

[morakot]

I get what Ve was talking about when she described Tyler's gargoyle as almost Art Nouveau. The curving lines of the head piece were similar to those in French Art Nouveau.

[RedRockRosie]

On 4/18/2017 at 8:24 PM, Maelstrom said:

 Also, I can't be the only one who thought the hat-dome looked like a Hershey's Kiss while he was sculpting it.

Hey, great minds think alike. How can you ever go wrong with chocolate as inspiration?  ;-)

Edited April 20, 2017 by RedRockRosie

[ElectricBoogaloo]

On 4/18/2017 at 8:24 PM, Maelstrom said:

I can't be the only one who thought the hat-dome looked like a Hershey's Kiss while he was sculpting it.

In elementary school, I had to play a Hershey's kiss so I had a giant aluminum Hershey's kiss on my head. That's what I was thinking about when I saw the shape of his sculpture.

Once it was painted, I felt it was just too literal but without really integrating the elements into a makeup. Instead, it looked more like, "Where can I fit a human head in between these mini replicas?" They looked better from a distance because up close you could see how sloppy the paint job was.

[Red Bridey]

HATED Cig's.  The face color was awful and the colors were far too garish.  Car race checkered flags are not gargoyle-ey at all.  Very disappointed!  I loved Emily's. 

[Mabinogia]

Much as I hate to say it, because he's my favorite, but I hated Cig's too. I thought the face looked splotchy, didn't care for the color of the "skin" and the domes everywhere felt too literal. But I am soooo grateful the judges loved it because I would be devastated to lose him now. Much as I love Tyler, and I do, I am more interested in seeing what Cig, Emily and George can do with the next challenge. I did think Cig doing different patterns on each dome was impressive and those domes were beautifully made. Tyler's was extremely predictable and showed little creativity. George had a very daunting style and his face and head was stunning! Emily's was in a whole other ballpark. That was absolutely breathtaking and perfect for the challenge, though for me Art Deco would have been the easiest of the four styles to do I think she really did an amazing job.

[hincandenza]

Jeez, who was the asshole who put "Deconstructivism" into the list for iconic gargoyle architecture styles?!?  I mean, when your own judges say they'd have run screaming from that choice, and given that we know they are allowed very limited research opportunities... well, it just seems unfair having any of these challenge themes include choices that are wildly imbalanced in terms of clear and distinct look/elements to draw from memory.  Either give them the ability to research unimpeded during the design phase (because no one in the real world is told they're getting a job doing movie makeup on the strict condition they can't ever use the internet as a resource), or make sure the choices are all on fairly equal footing in terms of "would an average facetestant be reasonably expected to know the key elements of these architectural styles"?

Honestly, I think this was a pretty decent outcome, even though it wasn't my favorite challenge.  Cig, Emily and Tyler, were all runners-up who made the finale in their original seasons, while George went out fourth in the same season Cig was in, so it was good to see George make it this time.  He did about as well as could be expected (I absolutely adore @Maelstrom's suggestion to have twisted the rectangle to express a wing shape as minimally as possible; such a beautiful minimalist way to suggest wings) with a difficult theme, and presumably was graded on a curve.  

While I also wasn't wild about Cig's, he did have some nice detail work even though I thought his facial sculpt was overpraised; I swear I've seen variations of that nose style in some other pieces of his work.  Plus, until Emily won this week Cig was the most awarded contestant this season and in my book I'm okay if the judges let a little momentum buoy exceptional performers into the finale (I'm still a little cheesed that Nicole won her season over better facetestants after basically getting a nice little vacation in the middle of the show), if not to a win.  

Emily was hugely improved this episode over her last couple of weeks, rolling with the punches on that mold cleaning issue and delivering an admittedly safe but very well executed art deco eag(argoy)le.  I think I agree with Michael Westmore that I'd have liked the beak even more pronounced- but even so, if it had been on stage any longer, I worry I'd have fallen under the Riefenstahl spell and declared my unwavering allegiance to UberGrouponFuhrer Smith. :)

That left only Tyler, who gave us a nice gargoyle, but I think Ve was right about his common facial sculpt style (not anywhere near "Rubberface" Rod levels, though) and combined with the lack of a real push to tie the design back to the architecture made him the odd one out.  I think with his skill if he'd found a way to make the architectural elements of Victorian houses more apparent in his sculpt- without just overtly Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V on pictures of St. Basil's Cathedral like Cig did- it would have been George going home this week.

[enoughcats]

I thought I counted five rolls of paper at the beginning.  If I did, then I wonder what the un-chosen architectural style was?

[Linderhill]

I agree completely with every poster that hated/disliked Cig's onion dome-o-rama.  The bright colors didn't bother me much, just on those picnic tablecloth wings.  I just did not see what the judges were looking at.  Despite liking George, that awful gold horn and the crappy wings should have sent him home.  The same with Cig's too-literal sculpts.  The face did nothing to tie the three domes together.  It reminded me of a Thai dancer more than Russian.

[enoughcats]

3 minutes ago, Linderhill said:

 The face did nothing to tie the three domes together.  It reminded me of a Thai dancer more than Russian.

Nope, it was obviously modeled after my next-door-neighbors miserable dog who earned the name "Trouble" and was adopted by him because nobody else wanted it.  Blessed with the underbite of the century and ears that flattened for some genetic reason, and a short taupe coat that was never clean, it was good to see that miserable hound immortalized, however briefly.

[LittleIggy]

On 4/19/2017 at 0:42 AM, Quilt Fairy said:

I agree, and I wonder if somewhere along the way Tyler misinterpreted 'Victorian' to mean the era of Queen Victoria in 19th century England.

Misinterpreted? That's what Victorian means - of the era of Queen Victoria!

Edited April 23, 2017 by LittleIggy

[Quilt Fairy]

16 minutes ago, LittleIggy said:

Misinterpreted? That's what Victorian means - of the era of Queen Victoria?

I didn't phrase my original post very well, and perhaps I'm just not very well informed.  That style of architecture flourished during Victoria's reign, but I think of it as a style for people's houses.  By the time Tyler was explaining his creation, he was talking about castles and moats, i.e., buildings actually for royalty.

[starri]

He was saying that Victorian architecture had castle-like features, which is correct.

 The Palace of Westminster, where the British parliament meets.  It was was built in the mid-18th century after the original palace was lost in a fire, in a Gothic Revival style.

When you think of the gingerbread Victorian houses, that's Queen Anne Revival.

Both are Victorian schools.

[Mabinogia]

Thing is, I didn't see much Gothic Revival in his piece either. It was more "generic" gargoyle.

I am so curious what the fifth option was. I do appreciate that this show has an extra choice so that even the last person to pick has a choice and isn't just stuck with the last option. This really is the anti-reality show reality show. Along with Great British Baking Show/Bake Off, this is the best reality show on TV.

[Canada]

I think this show has its moments, like any other reality show.  I really believe that Tyler was going home this episode, no matter what, because that's what the producers wanted.  Cig was destined to be in the finale, even with the crap he made this episode.

[call me ishmael]

4 hours ago, Canada said:

I think this show has its moments, like any other reality show.  I really believe that Tyler was going home this episode, no matter what, because that's what the producers wanted.  Cig was destined to be in the finale, even with the crap he made this episode.

I think that this is right.  I much preferred Tyler's creation and I tend to think that "didn't quite meet the challenge" is one of those things they trot out when they want to justify a decision on other grounds.  Emily's was clearly the best but to be honest I could have seen either George or Cig go with their creations. George had a harder one to do.  But they both were sort of messes (Cig entirely, George on the wings).