‘Blown Away’ Season 4’s Kooky Glass-Blowing Legend Karen Is Reality TV Gold

Legend. Trailblazer. A living god. There are but few competitors in reality TV history that inspire such awe: Sandra Diaz-Twine, Christian Siriano, Shea Couleé, Michael Voltaggio, Kelly Clarkson. Blown Away Season 4 has another name to add to that list — and unlike the aforementioned icons, this competitor earned her legendary reputation before she appeared on TV.

Her name is Karen Willenbrink-Johnsen, and she’s the Sasha Colby of glassblowing. And yes, Karen was called all of those things on Blown Away.

A veteran of glassblowing with 40 years of experience, Karen entered the Season 4 hot shop to much fanfare. You know how the show puts a competitor’s profession or area of expertise in the lower third, like “glass educator” or “conceptual artist”? Yeah, Karen’s literally said “glass sculpting trailblazer.” You know you’re a legend when the show you’re on isn’t even hiding the fact that you are the one to beat.

But Karen Willenbrink-Johnsen isn’t just a master of glass. Blown Away Season 4 finds her discovering a new, untapped talent as a reality TV competitor. Karen Willenbrink-Johnsen is fantastic television.

It’s not even a contest. Karen’s a natural in front of the camera and drops catch phrases with the same flawlessly ease that she has when sculpting a bird in flight. Karen is, through and through, a primo example of why reality shows need to cast more 62-year-old woman who proudly spent a good chunk of their lives living alone in the woods!

Karen delivers every time she is on camera, but never more so than when she tells the story of Zombie Foggy. Tasked with creating something dark and macabre out of glass, Karen pulls from her real life wherein a rooster that her husband killed showed back up five days later “only to terrorize us all the more.” Karen tells this story to host Hunter March, who has the only appropriate response.

With Karen Willenbrink-Johnsen, it’s like Blown Away found the lady who sells sugar gliders and tie-dye t-shirts at the flea market and gave them a one-way ticket to Netflix stardom. She feels larger than life, partly because she actually taught some of her competitors and partly because she has the aura of a one-off Bob’s Burgers cartoon character. Like, if Linda Belcher wanted to make glass babies to play with her porcelain babies, a 2D Karen Willenbrink-Johnsen would absolutely be her instructor. I love her.

But really, it’s the totally unique contrast between Karen’s kooky aunt energy and the reverence that everyone holds for her that makes her so compelling. Karen is absolutely a character (she wanted to literally be Mother Nature when she was a kid!), but her eccentricities are not held against her or used to undermine her absolute genius, passion, and artistry. She’s great at what she does, she’s unabashedly herself, and everyone around her respects the hell out of her.

Karen Willenbrink-Johnsen: glass sculpting and reality TV trailblazer.