First Official Cycle 10 ANTM Episode and One Model Eliminates Herself by Choice

The top model contestants are back in New York City this cycle. Which you’d think would be a dream come true for any girl who wants to become a serious model. Except one of the girls, Kim, eliminated herself in the first round. What a way to kick things off with a bang!

The house/apartment for the contestants is very modern and gorgeous, as usual. But, give them a week and we’ll see that some of the girls are like Jessica Simpson in that they’ve never used a vacuum on their own, or done laundry, or dishes, or anything besides have people do it for them as they primped in a mirror. In other words, it will probably smell like dirty feet and have ungodly heaps of discarded clothing in piles. Just be glad you won’t be able to smell it.

To make things ‘interesting’ this cycle, there are no themed rooms, just one room with a ton of bunk beds, and one room with a gianormous pillow that acts as a bed. So essentially, they want the models to feel like they’re in the army, or kittens curled and sleeping together.

The theme of the house is what’s your passion? Which, honestly, seems like a retooled version of every theme before, none of which I can remember verbatim. The place is full of portraits of Tyra and previous winners of ANTM. There is even a quote on the wall “by” one of the cycle one contestants, Robin. She repeated the quote, “If you don’t stand for anything, you will fall for anything.” I am not positive, but I think they actually attributed the quote to Robin (as in they put a dash with her name at the end of the quote), but this is actually a famous quote. Geniuses!

As was for last cycle, Tyra has a no smoking rule. Girls saw it, and then went outside to smoke. I think half of the fights on the early years of the Real World were about if people could smoke inside or not. So you’d think this was going to be fine. But it wasn’t. The girls got all mad. I guess no one is allowed to smoke in the house, or outside - or in general. Which I personally agree with. I’ve never smoked, and I think it is a gross habit. (Kim, Aimee, and Fatima were three of the smokers, I believe.)

Kim looks like one of those Cupie dolls. She said she was someone who needed her cigarettes. Oh, boy.

Fatima is joyful, and articulate. She wants to be strong. She comes to the show already with a charity platform to endorse and want to support so I think this gives her a leg up, and it is also great because it raises awareness the longer she is on the show. If she wins, that’d be even better. Fatima looks great with her curly hair, or straight hair. Early on in the show she was being a little passive aggressive and it was annoying. Later on in the show she made peace (for now) with Marvita.

One of the girls named Aimee changed her name to Amis (A-miss). She said it was in the bible. Well, I didn’t know that, but…cool?

Atalya talked about how she missed her Mom. How long can someone last on a show like this when they miss their Mom this early on? Atalya, later on, said she thought this  experience would teach her to be more independent. But that’s not what ANTM should be for - go off to college, go live in an abandoned boxcar, but don’t steal someone else’s dream to be a model just to gain life experience.

The girls did a runway show in Bryant Park, wearing Badgley Mischka. I was glad to see some of the girls knew who those designers were - like Claire. I think some cheered just cause they wanted to do anything.

For the runway show, Marvita looked gorgeous but you could tell she was nervous. Her head was down and Mr. and Mrs. Jay looked appropriately appalled. Aimee, Anya, Atalya, Dominique, Claire, Fatima, and Katarzyna all did well. Allison and Kim both walked stiff. Amis walked too fast, and Lauren walked…well…she needs lots of practice. But it can happen!

For cycle ten, Top Model has gone high-tech. For Tyra mail they are using scrolling words on a screen. But this is dumb. They scrolled the words slowly, and I want to make a joke about how that’s how fast some of the girls can probably read. Oh, looks like I did. But seriously, I’m joking. However, having them read in unison at that pace makes them sound like they’re in preschool.

Paulina Porizkova is the new judge. She looks fabulous, but I think she gets Botox.

Saleisha’s weekly commercial aired as usual. She talked about how they changed her hair. Is this a testament to the fact that the show doesn’t necessarily give the contestants the best hair for them. Does that mean Tyra didn’t slate Saleisha to win? At least her stupid mushroom haircut is gone.

Kim started talking about how she doesn’t like high fashion. She doesn’t believe in supporting fashion that is expensive. Wrong, wrong, wrong! Why admit that if you want to be on the show? Oh geez.

At the judging, Kim freely admitted to the panel her thoughts on high fashion being stupid. And she was wearing an outfit that looked like she bought it at K-Mart in 1999. When asked if she wanted to leave, I could almost hear Tyra cringe as Kim said she did want to leave. It makes for semi-good TV and ratings, but is this a sign that Tyra’s Top Model show is declining and girls don’t care as much?

Maybe not. All of the other girls gasped. And I would have, too. I mean, so many girls worked hard to be there. And Kim took the place some other girl would have loved. That’s selfish. I mean, at least she eliminated herself as soon as she realized she didn’t like it. But I can’t help but wonder if she couldn’t have factored in her interests and realized this before being on the show.

Tyra said there would still be an elimination. Amis and Atalya were the two up for consideration. They said that Amis had interesting potential but it didn’t translate to her pictures. Atalya was pretty, but had no fire. You can’t just be pretty, and be a model. Especially for high fashion. Atalya was dismissed.

Part of me wonders if she might later be happy with this decision? I bet she was glad to go home and see her family again. Tyra told her she could be a good commercial model. But uh - isn’t that what they want since the winner gets a Seventeen photo spread, and is a ‘Cover Girl’? That not high fashion. Dur. But I guess they want a winner who is versatile and goes both ways. And I don’t mean being bisexual. Except, they’d probably like that too.

For those of you who stayed around to watch Girlalicious…why?

Until later,

Jessica Rae

For more: Sirlinksalot: America’s Next Top Model

Images are from cwtv.com. The top banner was modified slightly by me.

Some Like It Haute (book)- This is on my reading list.

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