America’s Next Top Model came back from hiatus right when the competition was revving up. Down to the final six and on the edge of going international, the show still had yet to bring back a competitor and had more than enough time to continue the gelling at panel. The cycle had been more about getting used to the changes that had been implemented before the season began, but now that we’re halfway through, it’s time that tentativeness gave way to Top Model insanity.
But did the return episode, “The Girl Who Comes Back,” keep the momentum going? And, well, who came back?
Teams for Two and Two for Teams
The girls head to Smashbox where they meet Kelly, who tells them that they will be doing go-sees this week, go-sees that will be for actual jobs. The catch is, though, each of the five designers (Guess, Whitney Port, Charlotte Ronson, Cecilia Cassini, and Lulu Guinness) can only book one girl, though each girl could book more than one designer, with the winning girl booking the most designers. The final six are split up into teams of two (Brittany and Kristin; Kiara and Victoria; and Laura and Nastasia) and given cars to drive around the city to each location in their five-hour allotment.
Brittany and Kristin are the least dramatic of the bunch. They get along fairly well and both make good impressions on the designers, though Brittany proved to be a little too sweet for some and Kristin had more consistent praise. Kiara and Victoria were a hot mess; the two already didn’t get along and had gotten into drama at the house, but Victoria just tried to do too much the entire day. At Whitney Port, she kept trying to talk over Kiara in an effort to “stand out”, while Charlotte Ronson didn’t take to her look, Lulu Guiness didn’t appreciate Victoria trying to relate to her through her heritage, and Cecilia Cassini could tell that the bubbly act that she tried to put on wasn’t natural. Laura and Nastasia had a little bit of tension (Nastasia not actively helping Laura with directions) and featured the only crying fit of the day, as Laura was desperate to make it to Guess by the end of the day. With only 20 minutes left to make it back to the studio, she decides to give it a go, impressing the designers and making it back in time for the judging.
At the judging, Kelly goes over the pros and cons of each girl’s performance at the go-sees (e.g. Nastasia read quite well in a photo, but her personal appearance was lacking) before getting down to announcing the bookings. Kiara booked Cecilia Cassini, the 13-year-old designer that she talked to like her little sister; Nastasia booked Lulu Guiness, she of brightly colored lips and even brighter heels; Kristin booked Charlotte Ronson, the All-American line from JC Penney; Laura booked Whitney Port and, yes, Guess and took home yet another challenge win. Laura won clothes, scholarship money, a couple jobs, and a tie for the highest challenge score with Kiara for her trouble. Meanwhile, Victoria and Brittany were bummed not to have booked anything.
Bad Girls – Talkin’ ’bout the Sad Girls
In a photo shoot that first appeared on RuPaul’s Drag Race, the remaning six Top Modelers are bussed to a prison where they go through the booking process before heading to jail. All the crimes against fashion, good taste, and social mores have come back to haunt the models and they’re going to have to serve it during their 50’s bad girl fashion mugshot. Even before heading in front of the camera, Kiara’s noticeably overwhelmed, having actually been arrested before for shoplifting a bracelet at 18, but there’s no crying in fashion and to stay in the competition, she’ll have to put her past behind her.
With styling that reminded me vaguely of the movie Cry Baby, all leather, big hair, skin, acid wash jeans, and bandana fabric, the show was made for Victoria to go over-the-top. And go she did, turning out a less fully fleshed out character (this one’s defining trait: her loud southern accent) that took the shoot a bit away from being model-esque. However, once Johnny gave her a note about her performance, she noticeably loosened up. Laura failed to give a lot of energy on set, relying on an ugly-pretty facial expression, while Kristin had problems with her eyes, Nastasia managed to bring the length once again in her chola set-up, and Brittany shrank amid a sea of pearls and bangs. It was Kiara that had the most noteworthy performance of the shoot, beginning things noticeably reserved and lifeless due to her fear at being back inside a prison. After Johnny called her out on not giving enough and lacking the type of energy she typically brings, Kiara exploded in front of the camera, screaming out her anxieties and gaining confidence as a result.
Panel
Receiving the best reaction at panel was Laura, capping off a pretty stellar comeback week for the frontrunner. She came out with a photo that leaned less toward caricature and more toward model, reading like an album cover with her defiant facial expression and effortless cool. However, Bryanboy isn’t a huge fan of the social media darling, who comes to panel every week clashing with his high fashion background due to her make-up. Once she gets a wash cloth and does away with the eyeshadow, she truly does look younger, fresher, and prettier.
None of the other five had a decidedly positive response from the judges. Kristin had a photo that improved on her typical output, but her lack of H2T modeling (and excuses for a limp shoot) kept her from being totally in the clear. Nastasia may have brought length, but her eyes were looking too far up in order for the shot to fully come together, while Brittany was a deer in headlights and Kiara looked old (and still has no social media support to speak of, minus Bryanboy). Victoria’s critique, meanwhile, took a U-Turn rather quickly; first, there was her roundabout way of telling the judges that she didn’t book any go-sees and then there was the talk of bullying. Victoria mentions that she feels attacked by other girls in the house, which brings Kelly to send out a warning that the other five need to focus on the competition/themselves rather than each other.
The bottom two ends up pitting Victoria, whose photo turned out to be both over and underacted, against Brittany, the most inconsistent girl of the bunch. Brittany gets the ax by over 2 points (aka not that close), only…there’s a twist. Tonight’s when one girl will be coming back to the competition thanks to her social media scores, so Brittany’s still in this. Do it for Mickey, Brittany!
But Who Came Back?
Nobody. Yet. Tyra brought out (and reintroduced) each of the competitors in the running to jump back into the competition (RIP Maria) before heading to commercial just as she was about to make the announcement. Who will it be and honestly, will they last any amount of time once they return?
America’s Next Top Model Weekly Leaderboard
1. Laura – 41.0
2. Kristin – 35.8
3. Kiara – 34.8
4. Nastasia – 33.3
5. Victoria – 32.6
6. Brittany – 30.3
Additional thoughts and observations:
-Bryanboy was giving me all types of “Take a Bow” with his veil at panel.
-Say what you want about Victoria (I know I have), but I couldn’t help get sad hearing her talking about how her mom taught her to embrace her weirdness and accept herself for who she was after having to deal with Kristin’s bullying.
-Can we talk about how much I loved Tyra knocking Kiara for being a no-neck monster? Ms. J is smiling somewhere, I know it.
–Cycle 20! In the summer…With boys! Oh, the confliction.
-I liked how they did panel this week. Not many interruptions, a lot of comments running on screen without having to be read, a video with some personality – good stuff.
-Next week on America’ s Next Top Model: The girls head to Jamaica, where they participate in a dancehall dance off, float on a river raft, and express a love triangle with Rob and a local male model. What, no love hexagons?
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