PREDICTIONS

Five episodes have aired by this point, but I've only seen four. But I'd like to take a moment to make some PREDICTIONS...

I think Erik might be my favorite. I'm pulling for him because he's the underdog. But if he's going to win, he needs to stop telling everyone how he's untrained as an artist and suck it up and do some good work.

Miles is probably the front runner, the most obvious horse to bet on to win it all. He's done a smash-up job so far, so all he has to do is stay fresh and keep coming up with good ideas.

Ryan definitely has some fine arts skills, and I think he'll go to the finals. His instincts always seem to be dead-on, and it's all going to come down to his execution.

I think Peregrine is going to come up from behind and surprise people. I think she's just having a bit of trouble acclimating herself to the competition atmosphere, and once she does she'll do some good work.

Nicole's work has always sort of hung around the middle - not the best, not the worst. Hard to say whether she'll be able to pull it out or not.

Jaclyn will go all the way to the finals if she can keep up her ferocity - and hopefully do something other than take pictures of herself naked.

AND NOW, THE CHOPPING BLOCK:

I was going to say Jamie-Lynn is sure to be voted out soon, and I accidentally had the ending of Episode 5 spoiled for me, and so I know that she goes home. I'm sad to see her go because she seemed so open and friendly and confident and sure of herself, but I was never impressed by her art. Her sculpture with the vacuum cleaner was uninspired, and I did not care for her white trash Last Supper rendering in the 'shocking' episode. Sad to see her go, but not surprised.

Next up is Mark. I like the stuff he's done, but I think he's limited in this competition since his focus is on photography. I think that the judges will end up siding with one of the painters in the bunch over his photography.

And then there's Abdi... I like Abdi a lot, and I think he is probably the most deserving of the grand prize because he's so full of ideas and energy, but I worry about how he is always rushing to finish at the last possible minute. We saw him build his Frankenstein sculpture and then abandon it with only a few hours left. He was unable to fully complete his sculptures in episodes 2 and 4. He might be out of his depth in this competition. I hope he keeps going though.