by Michelle Spigner

“Dreckitude!”

On tonight’s episode of America’s Next Top Model things pick up right where the premiere sadly cut off- the girls’ first photo shoot. After makeovers the girls arrive at their photo shoot where Jay Emanuel meets them to explain their first shoot. He is standing next to a manikin decked out in a lovely outfit and accessories, and he informs them they will each be wearing only one of the items on the manikin the rest of them will be nude. Surprisingly, no tears this cycle. All the girls are excited to be posing in the buff.

The girls chose their own piece of clothing in a mad dash to the manikin and trying to grab an item before another girl snatches it away. Some girls luck out and get items with lots of coverage like a pair of pants or a jacket and some girls are challenged to work small accessories like a ring or necklace.

Ren, the newest model proves she is fit to be in the competition. Her earthy and edgy look translates into beautiful poses and a strong face. Jessica, Tatianna and Angelea also take some amazing shots and place themselves at the head of the competition. But some girls fall flat. Gabrielle, who knew the most about the fashion world in the first challenges showed she didn’t know how to bring that knowledge into her picture. And the girls predict Krista will go home because she really struggled to find a pose that worked for her.

The girls return home and get a Tyra mail alert. A skull and crossbones shows up on the screen announcing that they will be meeting with the judges for elimination the next day. Da-da-daaaa!

This cycle ANTM has a new and very influential judge on panel, Andre Leon Talley one of the most powerful people in the fashion world and the Editor-at-Large for Vogue.

The judges evaluate each of the girls. Their favorites are Angelea, Jessica and Ren. The judges thought they captured the secret challenge of the photo shoot which was to be beautiful and editorial but not too sexy. Angelea’s clothing item was a pair of blue pumps that she worked in a very dainty way that made the judges want to snatch the shoes right out of the picture. Jessica rocked a pair of shorts without showing too much skin and she looked like an seasoned model. Ren was the breakout star of the shoot with her bejewled bucket hat. She captured innocence and beauty in a new way.

As stunning as some pictures were there were two that made the juges speechless. In this case, not a good sign. Gabrielle had the first picture to receive almost no reaction. The judges just thought she had no energy, her body was slumped and her neck was hidden. They felt she didn’t look like a model. Alasia’s picture also received a moment of silence because it shocked them. Most of the girls worked to be modest and Alasia took a diferent approach to her pose. She put on her garment, a vest, backwards and had her booty facing straight to the camera. None of the judges liked it except Andre who said he would hang it in his home.

The judges evaluate and award Jessica with the best picture of the week. Next Tyra calls Angelea, Ren, Brenda, Simone, Tatiana, Anslee, Reina, Naduah, Alexandra and Krista.

The girls in the bottom two are Alasia and Gabrielle the two girls with the pictures that made the judges speechless for the wrong reasons. It is Gabrielle that goes home. Tyra explains that the judges just don’t feel that she has what it takes to be a model.  

Back at the house, Ren is starting to get fed up with being around all the girls and the drama. She thinks she is far too intelligent for all of the marshmallow eating contests and girl drama.

The next day Miss J. meets the models at their lesson for they day. They will be learning not only how to perfect their walk, but how to time their walks in order to do advanced things like remove accessories or outwear and still keep it fierce. After their lesson the girls have to go down to the busy, congested New York street and strut their stuff. They must walk fiercely across the street and back and remove their coat before the “no crossing” sign starts flashing. All the girls do a good job and learn just how important timing is.

The next day the girls learn why their lesson on timing is so important. They will be walking in their first runway show, and a dangerous one at that. The runway has two hanging pendulums that swing across the catwalk. If the models aren’t careful and time their walk perfectly they could easily get hit by one of the pendulums.

They girls get all made up and Simone is up first. She looks stunning but her timing is off and the first pendulum hits her. Most of the girls make it through without getting hit or making too big of mistakes with their timing. Alexandra is the only model who has a disastrous tumble or should I say tumbles on the runway.

First, she slips when she comes down the stairs and after getting up she has a very hard time shaking it off. She is so nervous that on her way back through the pendulums she doesn’t time the swing right and it hits her so hard it throws off her balance and knocks her off the runway. Talk about wipeout. She stands up and finishes her walk. 

Jay picks Brenda as the winner, he thought her walk was very strong and her timing was excellent. As a prize she gets to keep her gown and will featured on the designer’s website modeling the clothesline.

Back at the house, Ren is so fed up with Alasia and her obnoxious antics she tells her to shut up… well with a few more obscenities. And Alasia, is not about to have anybody tell her anything and shoots back at Ren with a firestorm of cuss words for very little reason. She goes off on such a rant that the other girls in the room just start to laugh because she is being so ridiculous. Apparently, Alasia is the one girl you do not want to make angry.

The next day the girls go off to their photo shoot. They will be modeling a perfume that sprays on as a color then quickly fades on the skin. The challenge is to battle the giant fan and rain machine as well as and the freezing New York weather to catch a beautiful shot before the paint disappears.

All of the girls struggle with the elements and the cold to pose and get a good shot. It was pretty easy to tell who would get a good picture. The girls who let it show that they were cold or had water in their eyes struggle, and those that push through the discomfort have amazing shots. Reina and Krista push through. And Ren is the worst of the day.

The next day at panel the judges evaluate the girls. They fall in love with Reina’s shot. She is the only one who they thought could really pull off the strong frontal pose. They also really liked Tatianna’s picture it was very ethereal and dreamlike. Anslee showed her stunning profile and the judges thought she used her light extremely well.

However, they could see that Ren was struggling to pull through the elements. And Naduah looked too over dramatized she didn’t look edgy like her shaved head and appearance in panel made her seem.

The judges evaluate and award Reina with the best picture of the week. Next Tyra calls Krista, Anslee, Tatianna, Simone, Alexandra, Angelea, Alasia, Brenda and Jessica. Ren and Naduah are in the bottom two. Tyra calls Ren to join the other girls, so it is Nahuah who is sent home.

Tyra explains that in person she is very edgy and has an interesting look, but in photos she gives off very glamorous poses. The judges just don’t know who she is.

America’s Next Top Model airs Wednesdays at 8pm on the CW.

 

(Photo courtesy of cwtv.com)