Oklahoma native is contestant on new Syfy reality competition series “Face Off”

FACE OFF -- "Welcome to the Jungle" Episode 101 -- Pictured: Tate Steinsiek -- Photo by: Isabella Vosmikova/Syfy

New reality competition series, “Face Off,” premiering at 9 p.m. Jan. 26 on Syfy, will include Henryetta native Bryan “Tate” Steinsiek as a contestant.

The show will introduce 12 up-and-coming make-up artists who will face off in Los Angeles in a series of elaborate challenges that will determine just who has the steady artistic hand to be the country’s next great SFX artist, according to a Syfy news release.

For their first spotlight elimination challenge, contestants have to use their imagination to come up with an entirely new species, a human/animal hybrid, based on one of three exotic animals brought into their workspace lab – a beetle, an ostrich or an elephant.

Then the contestants will work in teams of two to execute their creative visions, making use of special skills such as molding, sculpting, prosthetics and an involved application process on live models.

Other elimination challenges will include applying full body make-up to nude subjects, coming up with a concept for a creature that would inhabit a newly discovered planet, making an original horror villain and converting a “bride” into a “groom” and a “groom” into a “bride.”

McKenzie Westmore, who is a member of a multi-generational family in the make-up effects field, is host of the series.

Judges are three-time Academy Award winner Ve Neill, special make-up effects artist Glenn Hetrick and creature designer/film director Patrick Tatopoulos.

Throughout the competition, some of the industry’s most experienced artists will appear as guest juges, including Sean Cunningham (“Friday the 13th”), body painter Filippo Ioco, Greg Nicotero (“The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”) and Michael Westmore (“Star Trek: The Next Generation.”)

The 12 “Face Off” competitors will face elimination each week.

The winning SFX artist will collect $100,000 and a year’s supply of make-up courtesy of Alcone.

The list of contestants is as follows:

-        Megan Areford, 24 – Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA

-        Marcel Banks, 24 – Hometown: Tacoma, WA

-        Samantha “Sam” Cobb, 32 – Hometown: Decatur, GA