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Top Model Premiere: The Girl Who Won’t Stop Talking
By Edie Rowland
Thursday, March 01, 2007
The media coverage of Tyra Banks’ weight gain has us even more eagerly anticipating the premiere of this cycle. Would she now qualify as a “plus-size” model? (Apparently being over a size 4 is “plus” in the modeling industry, so I’d say yes.)
I’m pretty excited about starting this blog for Top Model. I normally watch the show anyway, so it will be fun to be able to comment on it to someone other than myself. Of course, it will force me to watch more intently, keeping me from flipping over every so often to catch tidbits of that “other” reality show on that “other” network. It’s a singing competition. You’ve probably never heard of it.
The show starts out with a brief, kind of cool Tyra retrospective showing her career as a model, along with shots of each previous cycle of Top Model. It also includes audition clips that were sent in by hopefuls that are pretty funny. Hey, maybe they should have eight episodes of auditions spanning a month like that other show does. I’m sure people wouldn’t get tired of it.
The 33 semi-finalists are flown in from all over the country to L.A. and end up at a military museum where they are treated to Mr. and Mrs. J very regally wheeling in on a military jeep. Cute quote from Natasha, a native Russian: “I can’t believe I’m seeing them alive!” The girls are then treated to a “Top Model Boot Camp” that starts off with Mrs. J giving some sort of drill sergeant speech that includes calling them “Model Maggots.” Note to Mrs. J: It’s kind of hard to take someone seriously who is wearing camo shorty-shorts.
Since Heather’s dad is a former boot camp instructor, she thinks this will be all about physical training. But this isn’t typical boot camp, of course. It includes marching in high heels, striking model poses and answering questions about fashion. One question concerns a man by the name of Richard Avedon. Jay asks the group if anybody knows who Richard Avedon is. The only one who does is Sarah, a photographer herself, who I assume is going to be the group “know-it-all” after she says he is “one of the most influential photographers on portrait photography.” She gets a cute little badge for her knowledge. Could she not have just said he’s a photographer? It rubbed me the wrong way and I think she’s already getting under the skin of some of the other girls as well.
As they take the measurements of the girls, we find out that there are actually two plus sized models in the group so far. (Think that has anything to do with Tyra’s weight gain?) Oh, and Natasha informs us that she’s pretty. Thanks for the info, Natasha.
Tyra comes into the picture soon afterward, doing “stepping,” something that is apparently popular with some college fraternities and/or sororities. She gives a cute little speech that includes movie line rip offs such as “I love the smell of hair and makeup in the morning.” Clever.
Each of the girls are called in for individual interviews with the judges. Kathleen, who is from Brooklyn, then informs us that Tyra is pretty. Thanks for the info, Kathleen. In other interview notes: Sarah is very confident (and annoying). What is up with Cassandra’s outfit? (Tyra called it “Little House on the Prairie meets Superman meets Wonder Woman.”) Brittany is really loud and admits as much. It was funny because Tyra asked her if it might be a hearing problem and she said, “Pardon?” Natasha tells the panel that she was married when she was 18 to a 40 year old who brought her from Russia to the United States. I’ll give her one thing - she’s very patriotic. If only we all loved and appreciated our country so much. Later on, she makes some funny comments about how masculine some of the girls are. Is it just me or should she go to the TV show “Look-A-Like” if she doesn’t make it on Top Model? With brown hair, she’d be a dead ringer for Angelina Jolie. (It took me the whole show to figure out who she looks like.)
We then go to a commercial break that includes last cycle winner Caridee’s first Cover Girl shoot. I’m so glad she won! When we come back we see more interview footage, some of which is amusing. Micheline’s outfit is quite interesting and she has a lot of tattoos - 20, she thinks. Samantha is from Alabama and has an accent that makes a South Carolina girl proud. I found myself saying, “Wow, she’s skinny!” on a lot of these interviews, but Samantha’s hip bones jutting out make me hurt. Melissa’s outfit makes her look like she should model on the cover of a biker magazine. Dionne, another Alabama native, tells us her life story, which was a funny moment because they set it to music. Natalie loves Audrey Hepburn, especially in the movie “Dinner at Tiffany’s” (her words, not mine). Jaslene is back after being eliminated last year and, again, “Wow, she’s skinny.” Somebody needs to tell Helen Hunt that Jessica stole her face. Renee has the abs that I want. And after I find out she just had a baby seven months ago, it makes me so sick I almost lose my Mahi-Mahi.
They show some interaction between the girls - I can already tell this is going to get catty. Kathleen likes to burp and thinks it’s okay. Natasha thinks it’s disgusting and not like a lady. Cassandra does dead-on impressions of both Kathleen and Natasha. I hope she stays. That could be fun.
In the final interviews, we are introduced to Diana, another plus-sized model who’s father is very cruel about her weight gain over the years. What a great father. I’m glad I have a good, supportive father. (I love you, Daddy!) On a side note, it’s good to see somebody who probably enjoys a good cheeseburger every now and then. Felicia is brought out. She says her friends call her “Baby Tyra” and I can see a resemblance.
I must mention that I just love Kathleen at this point. She’s funny, she has a great personality, she’s confident, but not cocky, and she respects her competitors. I hope she sticks around.
The girls are taken to a room and told that they have gift bags waiting for them with photos attached. Only the 20 girls with bags will be going on and will be attending a party later on where they will have pictures taken. Unfortunately, the road ends for 13 of the girls, including the girl with all the tattoos and the girl with Helen Hunt’s face, neither of whom is too happy about it. The girls who do make it end up at the party, posing for photographers and hobnobbing some (sort of) celebrities.
The judges then go through each contestant one by one to decide which 13 will be the finalists. When Tyra calls Brittany’s name, she says “Really?” Great confidence there, Brit. Jael does her best Lara Flynn Boyle impression by wearing a tutu. BOTH plus-sized models make it through. (Yay!) Whitney, the other plus-sized model, is stunningly beautiful, by the way. On a side note, no matter what anyone says about Tyra, she looks great!
The 13 contestants’ first photo shoot will be an interesting one (as always). They will be illustrating different political views. Anti-fur/pro-fur. Pro-choice/Pro-life. Death penalty/Life in prison. Straight marriage/Gay marriage. Vegan/Meat-eater. Anti-gun/Pro-gun. Definitely one of the better photo shoots I’ve seen. And the photographer is none other than Nigel Barker. According to Kathleen, every model wants to date Nigel “because he’s so tall.” Yeah, Kathleen and the hot looks and sexy accent don’t hurt either.
The photo shoots are okay to watch, but I don’t think they did enough with such an interesting topic. Jael is very sick. For somebody who is supposed to be illustrating a pro-life stance, she looks like death warmed over. Did I mention I don’t care for Sarah very much? “I think they expect more of me.” What a snob! The “Meat-eater” shoot was one of the best. I’ve been on a somewhat strict diet lately and haven’t had a cheeseburger in weeks. Those cheeseburgers look good!
The girls go to their new digs, which turns out to be a “Top Model Hall of Fame” theme. It has pictures and quotes on the walls from different Top Model winners. I kept looking for Adrianne to see if they put her up and didn’t see her. That doesn’t mean she isn’t there. Even though it seems she’s been forgotten. No worries. She’s married to a Brady now, so she’s set, right?
The challenge was really cool this time. The girls end up in a Goodwill store, which surprised me. It’s nice to see the Top Model folks seeing how the other half lives. The challenge is to find an outfit in the store in three minutes. After they find their outfit, they participate in a charity fashion show, after which their outfits will be auctioned off. The girl’s outfit who makes the most money will be the challenge winner and all the money made on the show will be donated to Goodwill in her name. (Does that mean she gets the tax write-off?) There were some interesting outfits, some boring outfits, and some in-between. The best, I thought, were Kathleen, Felicia, Diana, and Jael. The winner ends up being Jael and the $286.50 that was raised goes to Goodwill in her name. Jael has a hard time after she wins the challenge because she’s afraid the other girls won’t like her. Wow, talk about insecure!
Everyone comes before panel for their individual evaluations before the first cut is made. In Kathleen’s words, “You may think you’re hot, but does panel think you’re hot, sweetie?” (Just love this girl!) Tyra comes in wearing a biker-looking do-rag. After the evaluations and some interesting comments from some, the judges deliberate. The girls are brought back in, as usual, and one-by-one, the photos of the girls making it through are displayed. It comes down to Jael (the girl who wants everyone to like her) and Kathleen (the girl the judges feel is clueless). In the end, Kathleen is sent home. It’s a shame - I really thought her personality would have spiced up the show and she’s a very pretty girl.
So the Top Model 8 Premiere is over. It was one of the better episodes and I think they’ve put together a fun, diverse, interesting group of finalists. I think Natasha will bring a lot to the cycle and Sarah seems to be this cycle’s Melrose/Jade/Lisa character. It’ll be fun to see two plus-sized models in the competition. Visit http://www.cwtv.com/shows/americas-next-top-model for more Top Model information, including message boards and photos of this episode (including the “interesting” outfits I mentioned and the cool political photo shoot). Then tune in next week on WYCW to see what happens next! (It’ll be a lot better than that “other” reality show on that “other” network. You know, the singing competition you’ve probably never heard of.)
COMMENTS
I don’t care if Tyra is a plus size or not. She looks fabulous and all of the cry-babies/finger-pointers in the media world are just trying to take her down a notch. This show looks like it will be the best yet, and I am glad your station is giving us an opportunity to talk about it here.
Keep up the great work!
Did you see Tyra’s picture on the cover of People magazine? She looks amazing! Thanks for stopping by, Barney! I agree this might be the best cycle yet. There are some very interesting contestants this time around.
Just when I though TV couldn’t get any dumber…..