‘America’s Next Top Model’: Clip show

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In previous seasons, the annual catch-up clip show was something of a bore -- more bickering, more crying, more scenes that were edited out for some reason.

This year, however, it provided some interesting context: Jeez, what did Ebony do to Tyra?

At the end of last week’s show, Ebony blurted out at the elimination ceremony that she wanted to be kicked off the show. She didn’t like modeling, she didn’t like living in the house with the other girls, she was homesick and wanted to leave. Tyra was curt, noting that she didn’t like quitters, and retroactively allowed Ambreal back onto the show and dismissed Ebony.

I thought that was it, a wee bit of possibly manufactured cliffhanger drama. It’s what makes a reality show a reality show. But the clip show Wednesday night uniformly -- and unrelentingly -- showed Ebony in a negative light. Sure, she was mouthy when they first arrived for interviews in the Caribbean, and we had already seen her snapping at Bianca. And she was curt with the judges. But rehashing the whole episode really seemed to be pouring it on. There were no shots of Ebony being goofy, like there were of equally villainously portrayed Bianca accidentally slamming into a glass door or Ambreal flushing a weave down the toilet. It was all cranky on Ebony, all the time. I guess hell hath no fury like a Tyra scorned. (And Mr. Jay, for that matter, with a clip saying that she looked like a ‘tramp’ at the last photo shoot. Whose fault is that, really? Maybe the show’s stylists? Or the hair and makeup people? Or the costume folks? I don’t think Ebony chose that hemline on her own.)

Outside of the TV set, Tyra was in the news quite a bit this week. For those who missed it, she signed a gigantor deal with Warner Bros., which means that we could soon be seeing scripted shows and direct-to-DVD movies with the Tyra imprimatur. She’s not the only one from the show that is wheeling and dealing: Twiggy just signed a book deal for a style guide targeted at women over 40. (Twiggy is 58, for those inquiring minds.) And it was also announced this week that designers Dan and Dean Caten, of DSquared fame, will design the look for the models in the photo shoot that advertises the next cycle.

-- Ann Donahue