Episode Recap: Judge Match

It's a knock-out, drag-out, no holds barred Judgematch! No, that isn't a typo and yes, we can say our R's just fine, thanks. We said "Judgematch," as in "Ve, Neville and Glenn competing against one another in the name of their favorite charities." To help them DESTROY the competition, they've brought in some of the finest vets Face Off has seen: Anthony (Season 4), Miranda (Season 2 and 5), Conor (Season 1), Roy (Season 3 and 5), Laura (Season 3 and 5), and Wayne (Season 4). The judges take their pick from the crème de la crème of past contestants, and McKenzie reveals the challenge: each team must take two chess pieces and reimagine them in a magical world of fantasy of their own devising. Oh, and just in case that seemed too simple, one of the characters must be evil while the other is pure of heart.

Glenn, who chose Laura and Wayne as his teammates, cracks open a concept of an evil king and the knight who dares to battle him. Glenn plays to one of Wayne's strengths of creating massive amounts of work in a small amount of time, and gives him the life-sized horse head to create for the knight-horse hybrid. Laura, meanwhile, uses her stellar eye for detail and use of form to work on the face for the evil king. When the time comes, Glenn will be able to apply his particular form of expertise – painting, detailing, and getting all manner of high-concept artistic choices – onto the two characters.

Conor, who's on Ve's team, thinks the trope of Evil Queen has been done too much recently. But Ve wants it, and she's the queen, and the queen gets what she wants! And with talent like hers, who would ever want to stand in her way? She lets Roy take the Rook makeup and run with it – good move, since he uses his prodigious fabricating skills to create not just a castle character, but an entire castle – plus a chariot to carry it around the fantastical chess board! On application day, Ve is able to execute a stunning makeup on her queen that's both beautiful and fearsome, and the other judges get a little nervous for their own prospects!

Neville relies on his Z-Brush skills to do a lot of the conceptualizing (his forte in the professional world) and trusts Miranda and Anthony's stunning talents at sculpting and painting to pull off an evil bishop and valiant pawn, both citizens of a faraway planet prone to a marine aesthetic. Since Neville is accustomed to the conceptualization world, but has little to no experience with actual application, his team runs way behind when it comes to last looks! Fortunately, Miranda and Anthony have had a ton of experience with pulling off eleventh-hour miracles, and the threesome makes it through to the end.

All of the judges got a taste of what the contestants go through in those final precious moments, and they're relieved to see their work onstage, complete, to be judged by McKenzie, Lois Burwell, and Mr. Westmore. They get high marks from these three, as expected, but are knocked off their feet when McKenzie announces that each contestant will be voting for their favorite work to decide the winner. Wiggidy-what? That’s right – they can't vote for themselves, but they each cast a vote for someone in the ranks. If Glenn wins, North Shore Animal League (dedicated to companion animals) will receive $5,000. Ve's playing for the charity, A Window Between Worlds, which helps women and children affected by violence and trauma, and Neville’s beneficiary is the Orangutan Foundation.

And the winner is… Neville and the Orangutan Foundation! Not to mention Miranda and Anthony, who also score $5,000 in reward for their participation. It was a great challenge for charity, and a beautiful showcase of the work of some of the best makeup artists in the biz.