After ten rounds, the talent pool in America must be getting thin, because I swear the quality of the girls just seem to get worse. One girl, Kimberly, managed to make it into the house and ended up quitting during the first elimination because she doesn't get the whole designer thing and wasn't interested in fashion.... um hello, wrong industry? It was unbelievable. And really, how can ALL the girls screw up their Covergirl commercial in Italian when 9 seasons of girls before them have done it, if not perfectly, at least passably? 
Looking pass the comparison though, it was not a bad show. There was just enough drama between the girls to keep it interesting (with alarm clock episodes, passport dramas and lots of ganging up) and the photo shoots continue to be fun to watch. And Rome was nice. I want to go around in a segway too! But is it just me, or did they already go to Rome? Didn't they do a photoshoot at the Colosseum once, in the season where Shandi was in and she had that whole thing with the Italian guys?They made an effort to spice things up though- and it was good. They got rid of the legendary style icon, Twiggy and replaced her with the legendary supermodel, Paulina Porizkova (even though I've not heard of her until now). It was a good move. She has Twiggy's grace and elegance but she also has Janice Dickenson's bluntness. It was hilarious (and so true) when she told Dominique that she looked like a transvestite. Plus, I was SUPER SUPER SUPER impressed that Versace deemed them worthy enough to sponsor. It is not quite an official Versace show, with dresses from last season, but its still quite a step up for ANTM.
Behold the newest America's Next Top Model- Whitney a *gasp* plus size model! I do think that it is about time a plus size model won and Whitney is not a bad choice. She is very gorgeous and well proportioned. And out of all the plus size models who have ever graced this show, she is the most confident about her full size figure and never had those rather annoying "oh no, I feel so depressed because I feel so fat compared to the other girls here" moments. Also, she did have the best Covergirl shot and did a good job on the runway (comparatively anyway, her walk was a bit too jaunty for my taste).
As much as I applaud them for finally choosing a plus size model to win though, I honestly didn't think Whitney deserved to win. Besides the last haul, she did not consistently do a good job. In fact, I thought she was quite mediocre and I really don't see any improvement in her photos. Does her model face not look the same towards the end of the competition (right) as she did at the beginning (left)? I also did not see how her personality got any less fake (one of the judges biggest criticism of her- and I agree) in the end either.
I thought Anya (who came in second) deserved to win much more. Her accent was a bit annoying at first, but in the end, I grew to really like her personality, its always very optimistic and infectious. She also consistently did a good job, winning loads of competitions, and taking really great model-y photos (very effortlessly too!). Her only downfall was her Covergirl photo and her runway walk, which was really not that great. Talk about bad timing.
Some of her more amazing shots. On a side note, I thought the idea to take photos underneath a plastic screen with water was really stupid. You can hardly see the model. They just look like blurry blobs. What's the point? And the photo shoot with the raw meat was just really disgusting. I'm not even going to post a picture of that.
Who goes into ANTM without a passport anyway, knowing that they will need to travel abroad? I was surprised she wasn't eliminated just for that. Fatima had her moments, and I do admire her for going through so much in her life (being a refuge and having underwent genital mutilation and all- talk about too much information!). But most of the time, I thought she played the victim a bit too much and she reminded me a bit of that very vacant looking model from last season (Ebony?). Admittedly, she does look remarkably like Iman and did improve in the competition. But looking at her last photo shoot, where she got extra frames (right), she didn't improve quite enough....
I was surprised Dominique (the transvestite), made it so far in the competition. That girl in the competition (remember Jade?), the only thing going for her is that she REALLY wanted to win and she tried REALLY hard. She really did improve a lot throughout the competition. This last photo of her (right) actually looks cool. But she really didn't have much talent. Even after the makeover, she looked old and unmodel-like. She can't dress for her life. And she is kind of strange with her alarm clock thing and habit of referring herself in the third person.
Some of my favourite girls were Katarzyna (left) and Lauren (right in green). I did not find Katarzyna boring and lacking in personality at all. I thought she was really likeable and really pretty! And as for Lauren, she really did take lovely photos. I kept on waiting for her to make a miraculous improvement on her absolutely tragic runway walk, but it just never happened. Doesn't she looks SO cute in that green coat in the jet setting photo shoot? She is the only one that pops out for me in this picture.Amis was crazy. Aimee had a great makeover. She looked lovely with her straight bangs and auburn hair color. I don't usually comment negatively on people's looks because I know that beauty is supposed to be in the eye of the beholder and all that, but did anyone else thought Marvita looked really scary and wondered how she ever made it onto the show at all? No matter what angle I look at her, I just don't see it. As for the rest of the girls.... they were not terribly memorable. I think I have the show figured out now though. Up until the last four girls, it was really obvious at the beginning of each episode which girl is going to be eliminated, because they'd focus more on them at the start about their struggles and all. When Amiee got eliminated they focused on her struggled with being too young. When Katarzyna went off, they emphasized how she had no personality.
I wonder what they will do next time......they can have a competition for America's Next SUPER Model soon and have all the current "Top" models compete!
Image Source: CW
