‘The Pit’s’ make-up boss reveals the show’s most harrowing moments

After the success of the show’s first season, Miriam Arrogeti, head makeup artist for The Pit, knew she needed to step up her game for season two.

The first season featured a heart attack, third-degree burns, and emergency open-heart surgery. The challenge for Season 2 was to push the boundaries and increase the drama for the doctors at Pittsburgh Trauma Hospital.

Arrogeti worked on another open heart surgery, a scalp laceration after a fireworks injury, and a Margarita burn. In episode 2, a patient’s cast cracks, revealing a maggot infestation. “The maggots were bad,” she laughed.

“It’s always exciting to touch people’s hearts in a different way,” Arrogeti told Variety. Here, she reveals the makeup secrets behind this season’s most harrowing moments.

Bivalve Thoracotomy – Episode 1

When the new shift began, there was no resistance. A patient who was stabbed in the chest with a knife is taken to a trauma center in a wheelchair. When his heart stops, it’s Dr. Garcia (Alexandra Metz) who has to perform open-heart surgery.

“We’re keeping everything open,” Arrogetti said. However, the challenge was making it look realistic in terms of skin quality. “There are a lot of adjustments made to the design to make sure the silicon has the right flexibility,” she explains. Arrogeti says that although the torso is fake, she wanted to use as many real body parts as possible. “The head and arms are there. But it’s all angles. The actor is hidden inside this fake stretcher.”

Margaritas Burn – Episode 8

In episode 8, a patient with “Margarita burns” is brought in. “I didn’t know that would happen. It’s scary,” Arrogeti jokes.

But it’s very real. Margarita burn occurs when areas of skin exposed to both citrus fruit and sunlight develop an extreme sunburn.

Arrogeti spends her time looking at photos, thinking about what the design will look like, and admits this was something that threw her off. “There was nothing practical about it, just makeup, and it took hours to apply,” she says.

The blister was made from silicone by Autonomous Effects. “We wanted different sizes and different shades of opacity. Then it’s the paint job, which involves airbrushing and hand-painting. We use little things like Vaseline and KY jelly to give it a little shine and give it different dimensions and textures,” she says.

The challenge was walking a fine line between making it look realistic without looking comical. “We do a lot of testing. With this particular makeup, we added little elements at the end that the doctor wanted to see. And when it set, I was like, ‘No, it’s not working. It doesn’t look right.'” They said they needed 10 minutes, but they were able to make adjustments, which was great. ”

Head Flaps – Episode 12

Arrogeti asks, “Do you remember our head flapping? That was pretty bad.”

She’s not wrong. In episode 12, Dante (Shane Nelson) suffers a head injury when a firework explodes inside a warehouse. “He had lacerations all over, revealing this large skull,” Arrogeti said.

The make-up involved blood gushing from an artery into the doctor’s face, requiring hair to be shaved and stitches. Arrogeti says it was a little difficult. “We put that (flap) part on the actor. We wanted to stitch it up in front of the camera, so it had to have enough protection to not poke him. Again, it took a lot of testing and brainstorming to achieve that physique so we could do that gag in front of the camera.”

How long did it take to build something like this? A whopping 6 weeks.

“We make a mold of your head, so it has to fit. Then you have to punch the hair and match it with your real hair in parts. It’s a long process and it takes time. You can’t hide it.”

Brandon’s Knee – Episode 6

In episode 6, Brandon (John Squires) is brought in with a lacerated knee. The idea was to create a blended piece in the actor’s lap.

“It was a gag where they tested you to see if there was any nerve damage. They inject you with a glow-in-the-dark liquid. If it comes out of the wound, it’s bad and you have to have surgery. If not, you’re fine. Just stitch it up and you’ll be fine.”

Arrogeti explains that what really scares people is when the needle penetrates the skin. However, Noah Wyle decided to change things up a bit. “He wanted to see the giant syringe go in. Of course, that wasn’t possible, so we had to quickly create the leg, rerun the device, and place it on top of the fake leg.”

The challenge, however, was that because the fake legs were made of foam, Arrogeti said, “we had to build a channel inside that leads to the injection point and have the liquid go into that channel. Otherwise, this real fluorescent liquid would be stuck in the foam legs.” She goes on to explain, “We created this channel, and the actors had to poke in that exact spot to get into that liquid.”

The sutures were also difficult because they had to be made in a figure-eight pattern. The silicone needed to be hard enough to hold all the open wounds, but “soft enough that you could press down the middle and create this 8.” She added, “The key is the flexibility of the silicone.”

Tongue Cleft – Episode 8

The key to this makeup look was the retainer. “We made multiple sizes of tongues and sewed them onto the retainer,” she says. Because the tongue was placed against the retainer, the actor was able to move and react. When the doctors cut her open, it was because she had a long tongue. “They were able to sew it up,” Arrogeti says confidently, “nothing can hurt her.”

Disastrous Birth – Episode 15

What better way to end the season than with a wild pregnancy? Nicole had swollen ankles and high blood pressure and was transported in a wheelchair. When she started having seizures, doctors decided to perform an emergency C-section on her.

Makeup required multiple elements. “In all the scenes leading up to the actual cut, she had a blended prosthesis glued to her stomach,” says Arrogheti. But because the patient was always rolling over on her side, “we had to be strategic about where we placed the ends so it wasn’t noticeable.”

In addition to my abdomen, my ankles were also swollen. “She sat in the makeup chair for days. It took five hours to treat her stomach and swollen ankle.”

Multiple tests were needed to determine what to do if the stomach was cut and fluid oozed, Arrogeti said. Babies also need to be covered in a slimy white substance known as vernix, making cream cheese the perfect duck. But the challenge was that the entire pregnancy had to be reset after each take. “We had six or seven people, and each person had one specific job: filling the uterus, scooping the baby, closing the uterus,” she added, “It was crazy.”