America’s Next Top Model: Three Strikes and She’s Out Of There!
The ever anticipated make-over show didn’t have too much drama to unfold. The only thing I could say was thank goodness they did them. All the gals looked more like models after the salon worked their magic. Meanwhile Victoria struggled to make the switch in her head from Yale nerd to Top Model since it wasn’t even her dream a mere three weeks ago and Saleisha vowed she would never be in the bottom two. Well, with video snippets like that you had to wonder what would be going down with those two as the minutes ticked by. Then what about Bianca? Bad girl Bianca I couldn’t wait to see go home was brought low with a make-over malfunction and had me suddenly behind her encouraging her and hoping for the best. Those editors at Top Model know who to yank my emotional chain.
I really couldn’t wait. It was metamorphosis time for the girls and Chantal kissed her hair “goodbye” as an expression that she would be willing to do whatever the judges deemed necessary. All she cared about was winning and making modeling her career anyway. Tyra made a personal appearance at the salon and man did they have their work cut out for them! Tyra wanted Ambreal’s hair much shorter, Bianca’s plan included a golden/blondish weave. Then it was Sarah who was getting her hair CHOPPED off and Victoria was getting a more edgy style. Chantal’s proposal included a blunt bang and weave while Lisa like Sarah was losing her hair. Jenah was going long and blonde while Janet’s look was going shorter and darker. Ebony has a mess of a head with her weave so she was losing the wig and getting a new head of long straight hair like Naomi Campbell. Saleisha lost her locks in favor of a bob since she looked too commercial and Heather’s hair was pretty much perfect as it was. A little trim and some chestnut brown added to her and she was even more stellar than usual.
Bianca didn’t know how she felt going from her red bangs and black hair to a platinum blonde streetwalker. Victoria felt pretty with her new style and Ebony was lonely and sad with her hair weave gone that she had GLUED onto her HEAD. I had never heard of such a thing. Heather’s hair looked great and Janet looked really hot with her new dark look. Ambreal was regal and gorgeous with her shorter crop and Jenah? Wow did her look really change her. Poor Bianca, her hair had major issues. Her damaged hair was just too badly damaged to do anything with it so they shaved it off and offered the use of a medical wig in shoots. Even though the tears flowed she actually looked stunningly beautiful with her head shaved. I really, really liked her new accidental look. Saleisha complained about her head being swollen from her braids and Lisa felt like a poodle. Her make-over was not quite what she expected and not what I expected either. Out of all the make-over’s Lisa’s was my least favorite. Maybe they’ll go back and fix her hair.
The next day the girls arrived in the fashion district and Nigel Barker and his wife were there with a Covergirl consultant. They were going to compete in a make-up challenge. They had three stations to put on make-up and then they had to put on an outfit and shoes labeled with their names and hit the runway. The winner got their look uploaded onto the Covergirl website and then they got to shoot a video on how to use the new make-up tool on the website. That would be a pretty cool reward. The trick was they only had five minutes for all eleven girls to go to each station, apply make-up and then dig through racks of clothes to find their outfit labeled with their name. Victoria freaked out because she didn’t usually wear make-up and Bianca hated her shaved head so her mind wasn’t really into the challenge. Then there was Saleisha who talked about how great she was. Frankly I was now sick of hearing Saleisha talk about anything.
All the girls made it to the end of the challenge but Janet couldn’t find her dress so she grabbed whatever she could find and made it work. Too bad for her because she would have won with her finished product! Instead Sarah won the prize and I was so happy for her! I like her so much. Lisa was glad Sarah won it instead of Saleisha. I think Saleisha keeps on alienating everyone with her “I’m so amazing” comments.
For the next photo shoot Tyra wanted to know if they were ready to be deflowered. Oh my! All the girls thought they were going to have to get naked. But instead it was a shoot with them as various flowers in a beautiful wooded glen. Jay met them and might I add that Bianca looked fierce as a sunflower in her photo shoot! I was so proud of her and Jay said it best. She needed an emotional melt down to make it work for her. Finally a new side to the ”make-me-cringe” Bianca. Janet was amazing as hydrangea and Chantal was baby’s breath and lost it emotionally on set. Heather was a weed and was freakishly beautiful. Heather or Jenah better win this cycle Tyra! Do you hear me out there?!! Lisa struggled a little as bamboo and Saleisha donned a lovely tulip costume but couldn’t bring it to her eyes. Sarah was stunning as ivy and Ambreal was a rose who got the body language right but not the face. Victoria was a cactus who thought high fashion modeling was a little ludicrous and seriously overanalyzed her shoot. Jenah was moss and gorgeous and Ebony was a striking bird of paradise. I think they should do fresh make-over’s every week. Everyone seemed to do so much better and look much more like models with this shoot. Well, the make-up and backdrop was amazing so it was kind of hard to take an utterly terrible picture. Back to Chantal and her melt down. She blamed Jay and the photographer for talking to her too much and giving conflicting directions. Oh for the love, she can pull a great picture out of that if she wanted to. That was a beautiful shoot. Saleisha felt once again confident that she wouldn’t go home. Between Victoria’s analytical break down of the ludicrous shoot, Chantal’s broken heart, Saleisha thinking she was just all that and one more melt down from Chantal declaring that she cared about modeling more than any other girl there and by golly it was in her I had only one choice but to stare at my television screen and exclaim “whaaaaaaaaaaaaa”.
Finally it was panel time and Tyra really loved seeing them in person with their make-over’s. Victoria was first and she was too posed and just too much. Twiggy was right to say they picked the right thing for her (the cactus) because Victoria seemed to always be prickly which she quickly shot back to Twiggy in her prickly manner that she wasn’t prickly. Bam! That would be three times in a row that Victoria talked back to the judges. Either she lacked charm and social graces or she was full of pride and thinks she know’s better which is a huge no-no in the modeling business and a huge no-no with Miss Tyra Banks! Sarah was up next and was elegant while Lisa’s shot was strong and fabulous. Tyra thought Saleisha’s make-over looked great but her picture lost her eyes and her neck and she was simply a wilted tulip and her film was weak. Uh oh, maybe Saleisha wasn’t all that afterall! Jenah was moss and breathtakingly beautiful. She literally was part of the tree. The photographer said he knew she would be signed and he would use her for sure. Wow! That was a huge compliment. Janet showed the biggest improvement but Tyra didn’t like her film. She was too stuck on posing and needed to be more fluid. Ambreal captured the rose beautifully, especially with her body language but her eyes were dead. Tyra wasn’t so sold on her but Nigel liked the shot.
Heather was haunting and had one of the best pictures of the day. It was almost like art how she blended in but didn’t get lost. Bianca took off her wig for Tyra and threw it to her so Miss J. grabbed it and comforted the wig for being rejected. That made me laugh out loud and I had to rewind it and watch it again and again. However, Bianca didn’t get good reviews on her photo. Nigel thought it was amateur and Twiggy thought she looked uncomfortable. Well Jay liked it when she was at the shoot! Chantal’s photo bombed too. Twiggy didn’t like her face. Chantal then shared about the different ideas between Jay and the photographer. The judges told her what she experienced was the nature of being on a shoot and you have to listen to both and incorporate both ideas. Tyra flat out told her she was not at the top of the pack anymore. Ebony was so beautiful in her photo but so awful and standoffish in person…again. The judges felt as if she was rolling her eyes at them. Her film blew Tyra away but that was not the only thing they considered when choosing a Top Model. Ouch for Ebony! Then it was time for the judges to talk about their beautiful little flowers and which one would be plucked from the Top Model garden.
Victoria took good photo’s but her attitude was questionable. She may be a smart girl but she was not wise with her talking back every panel. Sarah, the “plus-size” model was losing weight which wasn’t a good thing. It was changing her look. Tyra liked how they were talking about how it wasn’t necessarily a good thing Sarah was losing weight and that you’ve got to be able to understand your own beauty and embrace it.
Janet was too men’s magazine for them but showed improvement and Jenah continued to turn out picture after picture. Bianca now with her shaved head was the strongest looking of the bunch even though the shoot didn’t go so well. Heather did exactly what the photographer wanted. Ambreal didn’t work for Twiggy but Nigel thought it was a great photo. Lisa was kind of safe in her pictures but she had great bone structure. Ebony was perfect in her pictures but man did she need to change her attitude in person. I can’t put my finger on it with Ebony. I think she just doesn’t know who she really is so she tries to act one way and it comes off all wrong. According to Nigel, Chantal may have the pretty gene but perhaps not the model gene. Saleisha’s picture was such a huge disappointment for Tyra. She was so vibrant in front of them but her pictures didn’t translate.
Finally it was time to send someone home. Tyra called Jenah’s name first. She deserved it!! The bottom two does NOT include CHANTAL. I thought for sure it would because she was so over-the-top whiney. She was called third to last though because of such a poor shoot when she had been having good ones and that made the judges nervous. Saleisha had to eat her words from earlier about never being in the bottom two. It was Saleisha the wilted tulip and Victoria the back talking nerd in the dreaded bottom two. Unfortunately for Victoria talking back to the judges three weeks in a row left a bad taste in their mouths so she went home. Immediately she took off her high healed shoes and hugged Tyra. Boy did that action say about a thousand words. Tyra told her she needed to listen to seasoned people when they gave her advice. That would be good advice for all of us Tyra! At the end of the day it was what was in Victoria’s heart that counted and her heart was not into it and she couldn’t tame her toungue so she packed her bags and went home.
Will Saleisha finally humble herself before the other girls and can Ebony discover her inner charm to woo the judges? We’ll see if a near miss on the chopping block changes Saleisha’s tune and if Ebony can “get it” and finally pet the judges the right way. For Ebony to do so she needs to let go of the first week of drama where the other girls told Tyra they didn’t like her. It has gotten into her head and translated into insecurity which is now being projecting loudly and clearly through her stance and less than stellar communication. If she can accept who she is and just be herself, Ebony could go far. But if she continues to embrace her insecurity instead of the judges urges to change, she very well could be the next girl to go.
© Copyright 2007 Blindigo Magazine | Article written by Niki Tschirgi
