America’s Next Top Model Blog

I like when they do the makeovers because then you get to see what Tyra sees when she’s actually picking the models for the competition. Even after 10 season, I don’t have the skill to see past girls’ ugly hair and bad outfits until they get made over.

Of course, I also hate the makeovers because then I don’t recognize half the models anymore and I have to spent another episode or two recalibrating.

That said, here’s the deal: The odds on favorite for Cover Girl of the Week from here on out is Claire.

And speaking of Claire…

Fantasy Team Update: I stuck with Claire, Marvita, and Anya for this week. Not too bad… I got 6 points for Claire winning the challenge, and 1 point for Anya calling herself ‘fierce.’ Of course, that was only good enough for 641st on the night, putting me at 380th overall (13 total points). I’m switching out Anya for Whitney this week, since I don’t think Anya is going to be calling herself fierce any time soon, and it looks like Whitney might get some points for fighting. It was hard to tell from the preview if she’s actually involved in the fight, but I’m actually thinking she could start winning some challenges and moving up in the panel judging. I’m still hesitant at this point, but right now she seems like the most promising plus size (or, normal size) model that’s been on the show yet.

Here’s your quick breakdown:
- Aimee: The makeover did her well. She looks like someone who could pull it off now.
- Amis: Too crazy. We’ll see if she can reel it in.
- Anya: Not gonna happen. The judges already don’t like her, and I don’t think she gets that enough to turn it around.
- Claire: Another promising model. I would be a little surprised if she won, but also think they might give it to her to make up for not picking Heather last cycle.
- Dominique: Should have gone last night. She’s obviously the next to go, and I think Allison actually had a chance of turning things around, where Dominique certainly does not.
- Fatima: She’s definitely a lot better with the makeover… not sure if she can keep her head in the game long enough to win it.
- Katarzyna: She’s a dark horse… but also she’s probably “too sexy” to win it. If she makes it far enough, she can probably get some good modeling deals with Sports Illustrated or Victoria’s Secret, though. There may be more money in that anyway.
- Lauren: Not sure if she can break away from the “rebel” background to become high fashion enough to win. It’s possible though. The judges are positive on her.
- Marvita: She’s in my Top 3 with Whitney and Claire. I think they all have a chance to win it, and Marvita is as good as any of the models there, especially with the makeover. I would be happy to see her take home the prize.
- Stacy Ann: No way. Her voice is way too far from anything Cover Girl would even consider. She can probably be a model, since she has the bone structure for it, but she’s not going to be America’s Next Top Model.
- Whitney: Like I said above, very promising. I would be happy if she was able to pull it out. It’s about time that they got a plus size model worthy of being America’s Next Top Model. I’m glad the judges recognized they totally styled her wrong last night. There is hope!

Other thoughts:
Like I said, they should have kept Allison instead of Dominique. At least Allison had some promise, and she was a better character for the show. She had the attitude that viewers can love to hate. Dominique doesn’t have the same kind of TV-style interest going on, and it’s clear she’s not going to win, so why keep her? I’m surprised the other producers didn’t step in to tell Tyra a little something here.

1. Why did the get rid of Atalya instead of Stacy Ann? Yes, I’ll give them that Stacy Ann had a better photo… this week. But with her voice, could she ever really be a Cover Girl? I don’t think so. I hate that as much as Tyra et al try to make it about being High Fashion, it’s still about who can be the best Cover Girl… and then who can be the best High Fashion Model.

2. We all knew Kimberly was going to be cut first anyway, thanks for saving us the trouble. Good thing they took 14 girls this season instead of the usual 13.

3. I’m going to try a real quick hit rundown…

Aimee - Okay.
Allison - Sarah Silverman
Amis - Lisa++
Anya - Meh
Atalya - Peace out
Claire - Julia Stiles… but not
Dominque - Draggish
Fatima - Serious
Katarzyna - Not really America’s Next Top Model
Kimberly - Beauty Pageant
Lauren - Brittany clone
Marvita - Growing
Stacy Ann - Peace out… oh, right, well, maybe next week? Hopefully…
Whitney - Plus size who could maybe actually win it

4. How come Fatima just assumes Marvita is a [not-actual-quote]stupid, black American girl[/not-actual-quote] until she finds out that she’s been raped and molested, and then all is good? I mean, I know she’s been through a lot, but as Marvita points out, you can just be nice to people like “Hey, what’s up?”

5. I had Claire, Marvita, and Anya on my Top Model Fantasy Team this week. Not bad picks considering I made them before I saw even the first episode where they narrowed them down to 14. I think I’m going to stick with them for next week too.

I have another blog where I write about fantasy basketball. So, of course I was excited to find a site that is running a Top Model fantasy game. I considered writing one myself for several cycles, but never had the inspiration to really do it. I’ll be picking my Next Model Team Fantasy Team shortly.

The new model bio page doesn’t really make it easy to get all the models names… I’m going to go in alphabetical order, but if I miss someone, I blame the CW for not just having a list of the models. And, there’s 5 models whose names start with A!

If my calculations are correct, Aimee is first. Aimee is an 18-year-old Hostess from Spanway, WA. Actually, according to Google Maps, it’s Spanaway (yeah, I had to look it up), and it’s a suburb of Seattle.

Ah, the Model Portfolio page has everyone listed in alphabetical order. In her photo she’s working the skinny jeans, but I’m not sure sure about the top. From her video, though, she looks like she could be pretty fierce, but at the same time, soft enough to play well into the Cover Girl angle. I’ll be interested to see how tall she really is; she looks like she’s got height from the picture, but there’s nothing in there to give any sense of scale.

Overall, I’m going to say, for right now, she doesn’t look hard and/or edgy enough to be the winner. Nothing unique enough about her to go all the way.

You like how I’m so judgmental after looking at 2 pictures and a 12 second video? Ha!

(Here we go again!)

I was aware that Cycle 10 was starting on February 20th, but didn’t realize until last night that Feb 20 is only a week and a half away! Time to get excited for the new season! And with nothing to do on Wednesdays this time around, I can devote my full attention to ANTM. Hopefully it’ll be worth it this time around, because Cycle 9 was definitely one of the lesser Cycles of ANTM.

I hope to pump out some quick snap-judgment reviews of the model hopefuls over the next week and a half, but if you look at the posting dates for this blog… well… we’ll just have to see…

It’s a good thing that the CW finally has online replays of their shows. My wife has an art class on Wednesday nights, and the Bears play some games on Sunday nights (when the Top Model reruns are on).

Since I won’t be “reporting” on the episodes as they air, I’m not sure what the future of this blog will be. Of course, I never intended this to be a “news” blog, but a place for me to air my opinion that’s a little bit higher up the food chain than in general forums.

So, if you’re looking for the “latest” in Top Model news or something, you’ll probably want to click over to somewhere else. But if you want to read and leave some comments, that’s cool.

About.com’s Reality TV section has full photos of the 13 finalists. The pictures on the CW site cut off about half way down, so with the About.com one you can examine legs and shoe choice. Some of the girls have a lot of posing practice to do.

Probably don’t want to look around the site too much, but NS4W.org has some promo pictures of Tyra for Cycle 9.

The Yahoo Group Reality-TV reveals the Name, Occupation, Age, and Hometown of the 13 finalists. I’m pretty sure that was pasted from a press release, but I haven’t seen it anywhere else.

BuddyTV is reviewing the models based on their promo shots (Ambreal, Bainca, Chantal, and Ebony - I think they’re going in alphabetical order). It’s not much to go on, but it’s a start for those who are looking for early ideas. There’s a part 2 with 4 more models here (Heather, Janet, Jenah, and Kimberly). There’s a little more info on Kimberly (Leemans) at Ocala.com (Florida):

Last year Leeman, West Port High School graduate, was the winner of Ocala Magazine’s inaugural Ocala’s Next Top Model contest. She was featured on the cover of its June 2006 edition.

In the issue, the magazine wrote she was a “world traveler” who spoke French and Spanish and was learning Mandarin.

Her parents are also named, but that seems to go a little too far to me. You’ll have to click over if you really need that info.

It was going to be 2 hours. Alas, it will now only be 1.

CW has taken a look at their schedule and decided that the Cycle Nine premiere needs to slim down - drastically.

The show will still premiere on the same day and time, but it will now only be a normal one-hour episode as opposed to the two hours originally planned.

Hopefully that means they’re cutting out the part where they start with 30 girls and then they all bumrush past Mr. and Mrs. J to find their photos. Sure, it’s interesting to see what kind of girls made the cut and got that far, but really, since we never see more than half of them again, it’s kind of a waste of time.

And I kind of want to see Gossip Girl. Sure, it looks like it’ll probably end up as a generic OC-type show. But it could be good for a while. And if it’s on right after Top Model anway, I’ll already be sitting in front of the TV…

Right now, the Cubs are preempting the “full night” of America’s Next Top Model advertised on the CW and CWTV.com. Granted it’s Cycle 7, but still, it’s kind of fun to watch the old episodes every once in a while. I mean, I would love to watch Cycle 2 again (it’s not out on DVD yet). Also, weird that Project Runway comes out on DVD so quick, but ANTM still only has one season out. Is that because Project Runway is on cable, so they want people who don’t have cable to get hooked on it? Cause if so, it worked!

Anyway, the point of this post was originally that the Cubs are preempting Top Model. So, when Top Model Cycle 9 start on Sept.19th, are the going to preempt the Season Premiere for the Cubs game that night? And - even worse (sorry Cubs fans) - if the Cubs make the playoffs and end up playing on a Wednesday, will the once again preempt Top Model?

Well, my guess is that the playoffs will be on cable and/or a station that isn’t the CW, so it won’t be a problem, but you can see when it comes to the Cubs and Top Model where my priorities are. Now, if it were the White Sox, that’d be a different story…