Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge | |
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Genre | Reality |
Presented by | Gigi Edgley |
Judges |
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Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 8 |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Production company | The Jim Henson Company |
Original release | |
Network | Syfy |
Release | March 25 – May 13, 2014 [1] |
Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge is an American reality television game show on the Syfy cable network. It premiered on March 25, 2014, and ended on May 13, 2014.
A group of Creature Designers compete against each other to create puppets and animatronics such as those found in science fiction, comedy and kids' and family shows.
Actress Gigi Edgley from Jim Henson's Farscape serves as the show's host.
The judges will critique the creature designs that the contestants make where the featured puppeteers will perform the creatures on the Henson Sound Stage. The contestants wait in the screening room for the verdict and the least worthy contestant will be eliminated by Brian Henson. The winner gets prize money and a contract to work with Jim Henson's Creature Shop for a combined total of $100,000. [2]
The judges for this show consist of:
The show also features mentorship from the Creature Shop's staff ranging from:
Source [3]
Contestant | Episode | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | |
Robert | LOW | WIN | IN | HIGH | IN | HIGH | IN | WINNER |
Ben | IN | HIGH | WIN | WIN | HIGH | LOW | WIN | RUNNER-UP |
Melissa | IN | HIGH | IN | LOW | WIN | WIN | IN | RUNNER-UP |
Jake | IN | HIGH | LOW | HIGH | LOW | IN | OUT | |
Russ | LOW | LOW | LOW | IN | IN | OUT | ||
Lex | HIGH | HIGH | IN | IN | OUT | |||
Ivonne | IN | LOW | HIGH | OUT | ||||
Josh | WIN | HIGH | QUIT | |||||
Tina | LOW | OUT | ||||||
Chaz | OUT |
Teams | Sea Creature |
---|---|
Ben & Melissa | Scuttleslurp |
Chaz and Robert | Floyd |
Ivonne and Jake | Shellrock |
Josh and Lex | Devil Prawn |
Russ and Tina | Ethel the Gutter Tuna |
Teams | Skeksis | Foreign Land |
---|---|---|
Ben, Jake, and Lex | skekGeth | Frozen Wasteland |
Ivonne, Russ, and Tina | skekTaro | Arid Desert |
Josh, Melissa, and Robert | skekSith | Decaying Forest |
Teams | Junk Creature |
---|---|
Ben and Ivonne | Swarf |
Jake and Russ | ZZ867 |
Lex and Josh | Subject H2735 (nicknamed "Hungry Horace") |
Melissa and Robert | Pickles |
Creature Designer | Revived Fantasy Creature Head |
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Ben | Sherman Oakmeyer (made from a horse mold) |
Jake | Fenrez the Frost Troll (made from a bear mold) |
Robert | Jasper the Party Planner (made from a warthog mold) |
Ivonne | "Aah!" (made from a honey badger mold) |
Melissa | Orson: Cousin of Loch Ness Monster (made from a sheep mold) |
Russ | Cecil the Minotaur (made from a cow mold) |
Lex | Chupacadabra (made from a bobcat mold) |
Teams | Large Believable Creature |
---|---|
Lex and Jake | Tiny the Dinosaur |
Ben and Melissa | Longneck Loon |
Russ and Robert | Lady Caw-Caw |
Creature Designers | Camouflaged Swamp Creature |
---|---|
Melissa | Phil the Long-Bladed Swamp Fowl (disguised as grasses) |
Ben | Boulder Munch (disguised as a mossy boulder) |
Jake | Root Breaker (disguised as old, gnarled wood) |
Robert | Mildred (disguised as a lilypad) |
Russ | Green Gene (disguised as weeping juniper) |
Creature Designers | Alien Diplomat |
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Melissa | Ambassador Basithe from the planet Kita |
Ben | King Karg from the planet Kargon |
Jake | High Warlord Abiden |
Robert | Reginald Marklar from the planet Marklar |
Creature Designers | Eliminated Creature Designer Assistants | Mystical Creature | Stories |
---|---|---|---|
Ben | Jake and Tina | Solee | He is the last of his kind due to a deadly virus that has affected him as well. He carries an embryo in his lantern in order to restore his future race and to keep it from getting exposed to the same virus. |
Melissa | Lex and Chaz | Abernash | He has the Elixir of Life which enables anyone to live for 100 years until the character gives up to another character before it absorbs their lifeforce. |
Robert | Ivonne and Russ | Vlorkof | He comes from the treacherous foothill of the Dark Mountains. He carries a little chest containing a crystal ball where he must find the person that can gain control of its power before it destroys his kind. |
In a review of the series' premiere episode, Newsday rated it with an A−, saying: "We don't just watch art being made, we come to understand the process." [4] Entertainment Weekly awarded it an "A" rating, calling it "Wildly refreshing…" and saying "...you've never seen a reality show like this." While TV Guide's Matt Roush complained the series often felt like a copy of Face Off, he concluded: "What Creature Shop may lack in originality it makes up for in creative energy. The climactic "Screen Test" reveals are fun to watch, and the critiques are smartly constructive." [5]
Upon its premiere on March 25, 2014, Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge became Syfy's highest-rated unscripted premiere among Adults 25-54 since July 2013. During the premiere broadcast, the series averaged 1.12 million total viewers, excluding DVR viewing. Proving especially strong among female demographics, the series was Syfy's highest-rated Tuesday night reality premiere ever among Women 25–54. [6]