'America's Next Top Model' recap: From Wal-Mart to Rodeo Drive

We’re six eliminations into this cycle of "America’s Next Top Model," which, as any ANTM devotee can tell you, is when things start to sizzle. Competitors who looked like sure things lose their footing, and those who had previously incurred the wrath of Mr. Jay begin to look like camera darlings. And that’s what happened this episode -- the dark horses are nudging ever forward in the race. Most of the obvious chaff has been eliminated, leaving oonly those with some sparkle -- or at least some attitude. 

After a heartfelt confessional reel by Ann -- that unfortunate picture of her slumped over, holding a bacon sandwich had to get some camera time to balance out her barnstorming the last four challenges -- the ladies were whisked away in their model-mobile and plopped squarely in a Wal-Mart parking lot, where Nigel Barker awaited them with his shark-like grin. The opening challenge was to sell a crowd of assorted strangers on Covergirl’s new product, a task that some of the models took to more readily than others. Most of the audience was elementary school girls, who seemed more in the market for LipSmackers than complicated eye makeup, but I’m guessing they just pulled a group out of Aisle 5 an hour beforehand. The girls pitched and primped, and afterward -- surprise! -- the tall, dapper gentleman in the front who was taking notes in the front turned out not, in fact, to be an overeager cosmetics salesmen, but a fashion journalist there to interview the crowd about the ladies’ performance. Ann did dismally, Chris oversold it and Kacey, along with teammates Esther and Kayla, nabbed the prize: a shopping spree in the cosmetics aisle of Wal-Mart which, after last week’s reward of designer jewelry, seemed sort of chintzy. 

'America's Next Top Model' recap: luchadores in mascara

 

It’s rare that there’s a photo shoot on ‘America’s Next Top Model’ that looks like fun — as opposed to, say, a particularly creative fraternity hazing — but this week’s episode served up a challenge that seemed, all things considered, pretty enjoyable. But, of course, not before a humiliating catwalk competition, an inter-model feud about leftovers on the kitchen counter and a house visit from Andre Leon Talley. Just another week in ‘Top Model’ land, mes chéries. 

For the models’ beginning contest — their sort of fashion quickfire, if you will — the ladies had to strut their stuff on a square runway, complete with the returning, impossibly ripped male models from the makeover episode.The outfits were Herve Leroux dresses, the prize some Marie Antoinette-level luxe jewelry, and there weren’t any venomous insects or bungee cords in sight. But, of course, allowing the models to go through a catwalk with their dignity intact is for rookies, or at least later episodes, so there was a catch: The runway was actually a conveyor belt, going the opposite way. The impeccably chic contestants had to flaunt their stuff while essentially running on a treadmill in heels. Spills? Chills? Oh my, yes. When one model asked Miss Jay if getting her train caught in the spinning catwalk was a risk, Jay, whose bun and eyebrows are growing incrementally each episode to staggering hair-heights, choked back a laugh: “Girl, fashion is a risk.” 

Predictably, most of the ladies teetered or slipped or generally looked like startled newborn gazelles. The winner — based mostly on her ability to keep a smile on her face throughout — was Kacey, whose smugness has been making her an object of derision in the house. In fact, upon the ladies’ return, she immediately got into a screaming match with Lexie and Liz before going to pout in her room. Luckily, Andre Leon Talley — resplendent in a bedazzled NAACP T-shirt —dropped by to introduce guest judge and alliteration champ Karolina Kurkova, who then dished out some smoothies to the women for no readily apparent reason. 

The cryptic Tyra Mail riddle for this week’s big photo shoot was “Don’t let the competition throw you.” Liz — whose dry wit far outshines her modeling potential — guessed, “We’re about to be thrown out of a helicopter!” But fate and Tyra were with the women this week. The photo shoot was posing with Mexican wrestlers in the pit, festooned in glittery leotards and (for Kacey, at least) vintage gold Dolce & Gabbana boots. The hair was enormous, the jewelry spiky and the sequins generously doled out. It was all a bit "Mad Max" meets ‘Rupaul’s Drag Race’/hookers from "Blade Runner." But better than being dangled from a harness or covered in shrimp, right?

When it came to elimination time, there were a few surprises this week. Chris — who’s been floating around the bottom three for weeks now — pulled out all the stops with her midair shot and got second pick, plus a nod from Tyra for her ferocity. Ann, who seemed like she fell apart in the shoot, landed best photo for the fourth time in a row — ANTM history, plus a surefire sign that house resentment is going to grow along with her prospects for the top spot. I was pulling for Kayla, who totally rocked it in her long-haired Mohawk, but she ended up in the middles. The bottom two were ol’ Ivy Leaguer Jane and profile-only Lexie. Jane was triumphant, and Lexie went home, but not before firing a final shot at Kacey. “I wish them all well. No, I wish all but one of them well.” Sting. So who’s going to take on Kacey and her leftover-leaving self now? Is Ann going to go undefeated all season? How long is Liz going to stay in the mix? And when, oh when, will Miss Jay get his own talk show? Tune in next week, for more tears and smizes. 

Tyra weave watch: A completely reasonable — and really very flattering — blue this week. Her one-shouldered trend continues, but this time in white. 

Best Tyra line:“Her face looks like (eyes widen, grimace), 'What you sayin’ to me?!' ”

Honorable mention, best lines: “I would rather have natural labor again than do that” -- Liz, on the treadmill runway challenge

“Boy, this ain’t what you want! I’m from Texas, honey.” -– Chris, attacking a wrestler

-- Margaret Eby

twitter.com/margareteby

'America's Next Top Model' recap: Eels and pearls

 

It’s official: No ‘Top Model’ challenge is complete without the possibility of a contestant vomiting from fear or nausea. This week’s episode offered one of the most impossible-sounding photo shoots yet, and that was only in the first 15 minutes. The ladies, fresh off an awkward barbeque with the male models they'd met on a previous challenge, arrived at Knott’s Berry Farm, a historical theme park. There, the effervescent Ms. Jay, rockin’ a high bun and Frida Kahlo eyebrows, and the ever-waxy Nigel Barker informed the models that they would have to pose attractively while on a roller coaster.

From personal experience, I know that looking attractive on one of those ride photos is a ludicrous goal. Almost without fail, pictures taken on roller coasters fall into two categories: either they’re mid-screaming photos where it looks like your uvula is about to pop out or they display neck/chin wrinkles worthy of a basset hound in a g-force simulator. And, to top it all off, each model had to illustrate an emotion in her frame.

Predictably, this ended badly. Most of the contestants looked like they were popping Quaaludes in a wind machine, except for Chris, whose hysterical crying placed her squarely in the uvula-baring camp. As Nigel quipped to Chelsey—who was supposed to look secretive—“Chelsey, it looks like your secret is that you don’t have teeth.” Even perennial favorite Ann flopped, looking, in Ms. Jay’s estimation, “like an iguana.” Liz won, basically because she was the only one who forced a smile.

The prize for Liz—and her selected friends, Kayla and Chris—was a photo session with Tyra, culminating in an incredibly awkward tea party in which Tyra dished out advice and crammed herself full of carrot cake. Highlights included Tyra “pouring one out for the homies” with Earl Grey instead of Colt 45 and Liz acting resentful about Tyra eating all the nibbles. Back at the house, Lexie and Kacey were fighting over pretty much nothing, but it looks like Kacey is shaping up to be the villain. She’s already pulling the whole “I’m real and all you bitches are fake!” thing, and it’s only week 4.   

'America's Next Top Model' recap: 'Total dreckitude' [Updated]

This is the episode that you've been waiting for. Not the finale, not the inevitable back-stabbing fest, not the go-sees in a foreign country, not even the “Tyra acts like a photographer” one. No, the best episode of the season, we all know, is the makeover episode. And man, this one was a doozy. There were extensions everywhere, Mia Farrow haircuts, and unfortunate eyebrow decisions. And to top it all off: a double elimination and a very hungover-looking Patricia Fields as a guest judge. Plus, if we’re judging Tyra’s weave based on the Homeland Security scale (and I do), this one went from a relatively normal green straight up to high alert RuPaul orange, believability-wise.

So, the ladies were all a-flutter when Tyra came to visit their humble, high-modern Venice abode to deliver the news that the hour of makeover had come. Tyra was dressed like a 'Newsie' extra (really? Cap and suspenders?) but wasted no time concocting riddles about what each lady’s dramatic look change would be. When the models got to the salon—after some minor, totally weird drama over a fake “hair agenda” in which Lexie, Ann, and Sara detailed their own makeover predictions—they each departed on their own magical, high-fashion transformations. 

'America's Next Top Model' recap: The models' balancing act

 

As if the reality TV gods had heard my plea from last week, this episode of "Top Model" showed a return to the ludicrous, over-the-top pageantry we all know and hope for from Tyra Banks and her mini-Tyras. The ladies moved into their new Venice Beach apartment, which looked, from the outside, like some sinister, metallic treehouse and the drama started a-brewin’. But most exciting of all, after a new, bizarre opening song montage -- the contestants in bondage gear prancing around a hall of mirrors -- the competition got down to business. This means, of course, a daring combination of "Fear Factor"-level stunts and couture, darlings.

Enter Diane von Furstenberg, whose collection the contestants must flaunt while balancing on a catwalk four stories off the ground, placed precariously somewhere above the Kodak Theatre. It seems like lunacy for more than one reason -- what designer wants their whole collection to be known as the “upskirt shot” show? -- but it did lead to some classic ANTM moments. Like when Sara confused ANTM with a gladiator competition: “At first I didn’t think we were going to wear a harness. I thought it was just: You fall, you die.” (I can see Tyra’s Ultimate Model Smackdown in the works now:14 models enter, only one leaves. No holds barred! Beauty! Fashion! Mayhem! Sunday, Sunday Sunday!) And Liz’s eloquent encapsulation of every model’s mantra: “Am I going to die? Do I look good?” But ultimately, the girls all did fairly well. Aside from Anamaria tripping at the end of the runway, no one even fell.  

'America's Next Top Model' recap: Tyra ups the ante

 

“America’s Next Top Model”—a.k.a. Tyra Banks’s patented model-making machine—has always been an exercise in dubious superlatives, and the premiere of Cycle 15 was no exception. Every season, the newest batch of would-be runway superstars gasp and croon at the prizes for those who can survive the gauntlet of “smies”-ing and posing in whatever bizarre situations the producers dream up as necessary tools for a professional model—taking a beautiful photograph while falling, freezing, being attacked by animals, or floating in a wind tunnel.

A modeling contract and a gig as CoverGirl aren’t anything to sneeze at, but they almost seem paltry compensation for undergoing that sort of ongoing torture, nor do they have seem to have turned Jaslene and Saleisha into household names. But this time, when Tyra describes cycle 15 as “Top Model elevated,” I almost believe her, thanks to a newly brokered deal that lands the winner  a spot on the covers of "Vogue Italia" and "Beauty in Vogue," magazines with considerably more heft in the high fashion world than "Seventeen." 

“I created this show because I wanted to bring modeling to the masses,” Tyra announces when she first meets her crop of hopefuls. But now, she explains, it’s time to introduce everyday people to the world of high fashion. And so Tyra whisks a busload of the girls in from LAX to that nexus of the avant-garde fashion world: Palm Springs. The contestants this cycle are the usual mixture of giggly country bumpkins and spoiled fashionistas, drama queens and bubbly freckled blondes. One by one, they’re brought in front of Tyra and the Jays to flaunt their runway walk and dish about their life hardships.

Tyra, by now a master of the leading question, seems to get the girls from star-struck to weepy in 60 seconds flat. (“I understand you had something you had to sleep in until you were 9,” she asked one contestant. “A sleeping bag!” the model proclaimed, her face crumpling on cue. “We were so poor.” Cut to the next model.) 

'America's Next Top Model' turns 15 in a big Italian way

Forget "America's Next Top Model."

It's now "America's Next Top Modelle," Tyra Banks told The Times recently. Banks was referring to the CW reality show's big move into high fashion for its 15th season.

Marie Claire, Jane, Elle and Seventeen? Child's play. The winner of this season's "Top Model" will appear in a six-to-eight-page spread in Italian Vogue early next year.

The magazine, considered the most prestigious fashion publication in the world, has partnered with the CW show for the first time, and its influential editor, Franca Sozzani, will appear on the program as a judge. In addition to the Italian Vogue spread next year, the winner will appear on the cover of the magazine's May 2011 supplement, Beauty in Vogue.

Sozzani told The Times that judging the girls was more challenging than she expected.

"It's very strange because usually I see the book or talk to the photographer and they show me their photos," the editor said. "When they're in front of you, it's different because it's an emotional approach for the girls. They cry. So it's more difficult."

Banks and Sozzani had a lot more to say about the new season. It premieres Tuesday at 8 p.m.

-- Maria Elena Fernandez
twitter.com/writerchica

Photo: Left to right, contestants Kayla, Chris, Terra, Liz, Jane and Anamaria. Credit: Mathieu Young / The CW

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Vogue Italia deal gives 'America's Next Top Model' new cred in fashion industry

Vogue Italia deal gives 'America's Next Top Model' new cred in fashion industry

By television standards, “America’s Next Top Model” is getting a bit long in the tooth, having just concluded its 14th cycle on the air. But Tyra Banks’ supermodel competition got a rejuvenating jolt with the news this week that the stakes will be upped dramatically next season. Instead of competing for a cover and spread in Seventeen magazine, the next batch of contestants will be vying for the cover of Vogue Italia, considered the most prestigious magazine in the fashion industry.

“Tyra really wanted to take the series to sort of another level,” explained Dawn Ostroff, the CW’s president of entertainment, after announcing the change Thursday at the network’s upfront presentation at Madison Square Garden. “When Andre Leon Talley, who is editor at large at Vogue, came on board, she wanted to really make these models high-fashion models. And high fashion, if you are in the fashion business, is Italian Vogue. Anybody who is in Italian Vogue literally makes it in the fashion business, so this is a really big step for the show.”

Producers of the series weren’t available Friday to explain how the deal was brokered, but it’s a safe bet that Talley, who joined the show this season as a new judge, played a role.

“We’ve got the full support of the fashion industry, so we’re really legitimizing this competition,” “Top Model” photo director Jay Manuel told WPIX Friday. “This is huge.”

The change is a blow to Seventeen, but editor in chief Ann Shoket described it as a mutual breakup. “For the last 4 years and 7 cycles, 'ANTM' has been a fantastic friend (with benefits!) but we both thought it was time we started seeing other people,” Shoket said in a statement, adding: “Seventeen magazine and 'ANTM' had a very strong partnership for so long because our 13 million readers are their core audience. But like in any relationship both partners need to evolve and keep growing to keep your brand vital.”

Fashion-industry watchers immediately cast the switch as a boost in credibility for the show, whose past winners have not exactly gone on to be supermodels.

“All we can say is: Wowwowweewa!?*@&#$*@#,” exclaimed the Fashionista blog. “It indicates that the contestants will prove a bit more ‘polished’ next year.”

“Vogue Italia is known in the industry for their racy photo shoots and high fashion edginess — this could very well be the shot of cred ANTM needs to be taken seriously,” noted Styleite. “Let’s just hope that next season’s models are up to the task.”

Of course, it remains to be seen whether the change will matter to the show’s young female viewers, who are more likely to subscribe to Seventeen than Vogue Italia.

-- Matea Gold (Follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/mateagold.)

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Photo: Andre Leon Talley and Tyra Banks. Credit: The CW

'America's Next Top Model' winner Krista White: 'I worked that Grace Jones'

It took Krista White, the Cycle 14 winner of “America’s Next Top Model,” almost halfway through the competition before she emerged as a front-runner. But when the 25-year-old from Pine Bluff, Ark., snagged her first win, she didn’t let go. She rode that streak all the way to the finale. That kind of determination isn’t surprising when one considers that she first tried out for the reality show in 2003 and didn’t stop until she made it.

Krista sees her win as an important step in a culture with very few representations of beautiful dark-skinned women like one of the icons she chose to emulate in the competition, Grace Jones.

“I just hate that there’s nobody now,” Krista tells us. “I have to look so far back to find somebody I can use as an inspiration, who looks like me and I can channel.”

We talked to Krista about the show’s challenges, the talk of favoritism on the judging panel and how she hopes her win could change popular beauty standards.

Going into the Cover Girl shoots, Raina was pretty confident. Did you think she had the upper hand on you there?
Yes. She has more of a friendly appearance. You know, that Cover Girl look. So I was a little worried going into that part, but I knew that I would probably excel in maybe the runway. I knew there was a strong point for each of us. I was better at runway. She was better at the commercial stuff.

You had a fear of having to use the cue cards during the commercial and that fear was realized. How did you feel about that?
I think that I totally psyched myself out. I was like, I don’t want the cue cards! I don’t want the cue cards! I was saying the words all day and I knew the script and I was walking around with it because I didn’t want to miss any words. I got up there and my mind just went blank, like the light cut off. I just had to forget about it and say, give me the cue cards. I just kind of laughed through it. I’m human and that’s what we do. We forget sometimes [laughs]. It’s life!

'America's Next Top Model' finale: Queen or courtesan?

In the “America’s Next Top Model” Cycle 14 finale, the contestants walked on air, got ugly-pretty, then only two women went on to fight for the title in a Cover Girl shoot and an Anna Sui runway show.

Alexandra, Angelea, Krista and Raina are the last four girls standing, and each feels like they have something to prove. Alexandra represents for all the plus-size women out there. Angelea comes from a rough neighborhood. Krista is holding it down for the chocolate-skinned women, as she calls it, who don’t feel beautiful. And Raina feels she has come a long way from the girl who had been made fun of for being gangly and having thick eyebrows.

Enter Andre Leon Talley, who arrives with flowers to chat with the women about where he came from. He went to New York City with very little confidence, no money and apparently he was Andy Warhol’s indentured servant. But, he went from that to king of the world as the editor at large at Vogue. Moral of the story? You better work.

'America's Next Top Model': Jessica says Raina deserves to win

Jessica, the young mom from Conway, Ark., struggled with the worst thing Tyra Banks can say about an “America’s Next Top Model” contestant: You’re too commercial.

Despite some early wins, Jessica found herself eliminated in the last episode. The good thing is she has taken the criticism and owned it. The model recently relocated with her husband and 2-year-old son to Los Angeles so she can take advantage of her commercial appeal.

“Oh, I’m definitely done with editorial,” Jessica tells us. “Unless someone randomly called me and wanted me to do something, of course. I would never reject a job. I’m definitely keeping my focus on commercial work. I knew if I had to go swimming, I’d have to go in the pool, and L.A. is definitely the pool.”

We talked to Jessica about the drama in the “Top Model” house, what it was like to be in the bottom two with Raina, and her pick for Cycle 14’s winner.

The other women gave you some grief after the toaster fire. Can you see now why they thought that was funny?
To an extent, yeah, I can see. Personally, anything that anybody can make a joke out of, I think you’re going to take the opportunity just because, who doesn’t like to laugh? But, I still stand by that was a good idea up until the taco fell into the toaster [laughs]. I don’t know how that taco fell into that toaster. I’ve said it was pushed in there. But, it was a good idea, dang it [laughs].

'America's Next Top Model': The models get shady

In this week’s “America’s Next Top Model,” relations between the women take an interesting turn and Tyra shoots the girls in shadow.

I thought it was really interesting how the duo of Angelea and Krista, who danced arm-in-arm after Brenda was kicked off, have now separated. It’s hard to tell how it happened. Yes, Angelea may have figured out that Krista was gunning for the title and created space between them. Yet, Alasia told me that Krista is a bully. Needless to say, they’re not on the same team anymore.

Oh, and Jessica with the toaster fire? I know she was offended by the girls making fun of her total ignorance about how to handle the small fire, but I’m going to have to side with them on this. She’s a mom. What would happen if she were alone with her kid and that same fire broke out? I can answer that. She would be standing out on the sidewalk holding her baby and watching their house go up in flames.