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Syfy’s “FACE OFF” Under Fire In New Exposing Documentary

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Producer’s of Syfy’s FACE OFF will come under fire in a new documentary from Double Power Studios that will expose the truth behind one contestant of Season 3 and how casting and executive producers used degrading ways to treat this contestant and manipulate him into signing contracts on the spot and participating on a show where the judges were supposed to determine the winner.

FRANKEN // FAKE will tell the story of special effects artist, Joe Castro, who began to see a series of events from producers that led him to decide that he was not part of a true competition.

When Joe left the show, he was degraded, humiliated, pushed and chased by executive producers and crew for 4 miles by car and two camera crews.

The incident took place on May 5, 2012 but is now being told by documentary Producer and veteran reality television editor, Steven Escobar.  “I work in reality television and in my opinion, I have never seen such twisted and grotesque behavior from the show’s producers on any show I’ve worked on,” Escobar states.  “It’s incredible how these executive producers [of FACE OFF] would go to every extreme of trying to harm someone who suffers with ADHD (Adult Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) while not allowing him to take his medication. But there’s no way they would show you that behavior in the finished cut of the show.”

FRANKEN // FAKE will contain actual footage of the events that have taken place, interviews and re-enactments of some events, which led to Joe’s departure from the show and how the network and executive producers of FACE OFF have tried every attempt to keep Joe from speaking out publicly (including attempting to file temporary restraining orders [Superior Court of Los Angeles, ES015688]) all because the executive producers refuse to give him copies of all Joe’s signed contracts even after a judge asked why they had not provided him with those copies.

The documentary will also dive into the world of reality television shows and examine how “wanna-be” contestants sign legal contracts without realizing their consequence.  “Joe has not been able to work in the special effects industry due to these actions,” states Escobar.“They haven’t even picked up the phone to call him and see if he’s okay. EVER.”

FRANKEN // FAKE is currently in post-production and is scheduled to be finished by the Fall of 2013.

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About Double Power Studios, Inc. Double Power Studios, Inc. is based in Los Angeles, California and headed by Steven Escobar.  Steven is an Emmy® award winning editor in reality television.  He also produces and edits feature films and documentaries, which have gone on to win over 25 awards at various international film festivals as well as broadcast on cable networks.

About Joe Castro

Joe Castro is an award winning Special Effects Artist, Director, and Visual Effects Artist with over 23 years in the film and television industry.  He grew up in Helotes, Texas right outside of San Antonio.  Joe has directed over 16 feature films (low and micro-budget) which have all had domestic and international distribution since 1994.  

Mitchell Wells

Founder and Editor in Chief of Horror Society. Self proclaimed Horror Movie Freak, Tech Geek, love indie films and all around nice kinda guy!!

18 Comments

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  1. Heard similar stories from a friend who was on a “reality” show. He said the footage one sees on air is carefully edited to provide the reaction that producers want. Always suspected that the final show doesn’t really give the viewer the real story.

  2. Everyone who goes on reality television knows that it’s scripted to an extent, point blank. You’re a fool if you don’t know that. Joe was also visibly the least talented contestant on his season of Face Off. While he may have been mistreated by producers and blackballed with their contracts, this all sounds like an attempt to get even with the show from a contestant who wouldn’t have survived the first elimination based on talent anyway.

  3. I’ll shave my head and wear glasses if I can play Roy Wooley in the re-enactment footage. Hope he takes it all in this new season. And yeah, the whole “Documentary” sounds pretty questionable. Not saying the show is totally legit, but it’s not “Quiz Show” either.

  4. Oh puhleez, I can already see a mile off exactly what this is even before seeing a single minute of it. It’s all just attempted ‘payback’ by a bitter disgruntled (& thoroughly delusional!) contestant that can’t quite swallow the fact that he was the first in that year’s line-up to be booted off. (And rightly so too !! – as it was obvious to all BUT him it seems.) As he was indeed, & without a shadow of a doubt, most definitely the weakest contestant of the bunch – with a skill-set, talent & creativity level highly questionable at best.
    So basically, he was very legitimately & fairly kicked off the show, which he left in a total huff in a completely unprofessional & embarrassing (to himself!) manner. Right there & then we could see he was bad news, with a totally delusional belief in his own level of talent – & would be hellbent on doing something about it. Any person in his right mind would’ve instead just accepted he was nowhere near good enough for the competition & just got on with his life with ‘tail between his legs’. Instead of doing himself no favours by bringing this, I bet totally unwarranted documentary out, which will only further highlight his ridiculous & childish bitterness. I’m amazed he’s even found someone who’d waste the time to film it. Obviously just another equally disgruntled ‘wannabe’ stupid schmuck looking for a little attention. – What a waste of time & effort !!

  5. … Ah ok, now it makes better sense – after a little digging just discovered who & why time was wasted on this so called “exposé” poor excuse for a documentary. This ‘Escobar’ guy who’s produced it is none other than Joe’s own boyfriend ! (Ah ha !) – Plus if u bother to look around the web it is positively littered with accounts of how absolute batshit crazy Joe is & what a nightmare he’s to work with. He really is a laughable character. He’s thoroughly in need of more serious medication (& not just for his supposed ADHD !). – Unfortunately it’s rotten delusional & untalented people like this that give the industry a bad name (not to mention homosexuals!)

  6. The plot thickens. Not only is the producer/director, Steven J. Escobar, Joe Castro’s boyfriend. This fella is also the editor connected to the Big Brother series, which is another reality show. In fact, he has been an editor working steadily on “reality” television programs as far back as 2010! Are you getting this now? The man trying to convince people that reality television is evil and that it victimized his boyfriend has been profiting generously from working in the reality television industry himself on a show (Big Brother) that has been accused of doing the very same thing to the people who agree to be on THAT show! Does anyone need to learn anything more about the Escobar/Castro dynamic duo to figure out what the truth is and what these two are REALLY trying to do with this “documentary?” Last word was also that Escobar is helping Joey by producing and editing his latest micro-budget horror flick. We all saw Castro’s outrageously unprofessional behavior on the Face Off show. Why anyone who claims to have any professional standards would attempt to defend him, let alone make this farce of a documentary in the process, is a mystery. Looks like Joe is not the only questionable character here.

  7. The episode he was on showed this guy definitely has some mental illness and not much skill, so overall I felt kinda sorry for him. To see he’s still so obsessed to do this years later shows he’s even worse off than I though.

  8. This guy clearly had no talent, making a mask out of TP and paint that looked like shit, then when he did a lousy job for the main challenge he walked off the show before the judging started. He never should have been on the show, and the treatment he received from the producers was probably a result of him screwing up their procedures. The fact that this ‘documentary’ is resorting to reenactments proves it’s at least as fake as the show they are accusing of being fake.

  9. Just saw the episode (yeah I’m behind. Just found this show) and this is probably all old news at this point, but I’d like to point out the fact that the documentary is being directed by his boyfriend. And if someone’s significant other is the only one I can find to argue for him on the internet, then that should be a sign.

    • Face-Off, like most reality shows, is manipulated by the producers and editor to create something along the lines of a soap opera style drama instead of focussing on the point (in this case, special effects make-up) It’s not hard to edit people entirely out of context and I believe this was the case here. I’ve talked with Joe quite a bit and even done a little work for him and he has come across as both extremely nice and very humble. Just think if it happened to you? If you watched completely different events on tv unfold than what actually happened? To top it off it can also damage your reputation and chance of work? I just think well yes, i’d probably want to set things straight too, but the people here are right, 2 episodes later and nobody cares about what happened with Joe, how many drama’s have the producers created since then?

      • Face Off is probably the ABSOLUTE LEAST drama filled reality competition I have ever seen. Contestants regularly help out their competitors and there is VERY little animosity and cattiness.

  10. This poor, poor man. Anyone else would have just moved on, yet here he is years later, still obsessing and broken by a tiny event that people who saw it (keeping in mind Face/Off isn’t exactly the biggest of shows, and he was only on one episode) stopped giving a shit or completely forgot about. He didn’t learn anything about Face/Off or the nature of reality TV in general that any of the other contestants didn’t, but they’re not devoting their post-Face/Off lives to “exposing the shocking truth!!1”. This documentary, if anyone outside his tiny echo-chamber ever sees it, has Streisand-effect written all over it.

  11. I wonder how long Joe has been friends with the person who wrote this hatchet job piece of crap story.

  12. Oh, I see. He’s not working in the industry because the show “made him” look bad … as opposed to his complete lack of talent. I’m sure.

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