Guest blogger John-John Williams reports on the America's Next Top Model finale:
I swear I don't have a crystal ball and I'm not a psychic, but I did accurately predict the exact placement of our top three models this week. (Check out the comment section of my Dec. 10 entry.)
I'm not going to brag—too much. I told you so! I told you so!
Now that that is out of the way….
After Jenah was eliminated – thank goodness – Saleisha and Chantal battled it out during a Qi Gang (a top Chinese designer) fashion show. Chantal held her own until the "great crash."
I thought the Caridee/Melrose collision in Cycle 7 was pretty bad, but Chantal definitely takes the top spot. Poor thing was walking down that long runway when the train of her dress got caught underneath one of the performers standing on stilts. The performer collapsed to the ground; Chantal slipped, gasped, and looked back in horror. I think that sealed the deal.
Although Chantal -- a pretty girl with an adequate catwalk – was strong through most of the season, she was no match for Saleisha, who has gotten stronger and stronger in recent weeks.
Saleisha simply tore it up from the beginning to end of the fashion show.
"I'm going to bring it," Saleisha said right before she walked the seemingly endless runway, which was staged near the Forbidden City in China.
Saleisha walked out with one hand on her hip and strutted with strong, slightly pigeon-toed stomps. She was a force to be reckoned with.
"I felt my legs and my stride," she said. "I have a strong walk."
The judges gushed over Saleisha's runway walk.
"You looked like you had been on the runway your entire life," said Twiggy, who will not be returning to the show next cycle.
The judges also raved about Saleisha's Great Wall of China photos from last week's episode.
"You took the city by storm," Nigel Barker said. "It was the best photo of the competition," Twiggy said.
As the winner of this season of America's Next Top Model, Saleisha will be managed by Elite Model Management. She also receives a $100,000 contract with CoverGirl, and will appear on the cover and in a six-page spread in Seventeen magazine. Great for her. Now for the bad news...
History has shown that Top Model winners have not really made a giant splash in the world of high-fashion modeling.
One of the best-known winners of Top Model – Eva – has made her mark in acting. CariDee – Cycle 7 winner -- is not a household name. Cycle 7 contenders Michelle and Amanda were in Maryland filming a horror movie. (That doesn't cut it, either.) I think I saw Ya-Ya (Cycle 2) in a soap commercial… Right now, it seems that the best a Top Model winner can do is appear at Wal-Mart or at an Orioles game. (Sorry, Jaslene!)
Am I wrong? I dare you to find examples of any of the models on America's Next Top Model that are being mentioned in the same breath as Tyra, Claudia, Naomi, Kate, Heidi and Cindy once were.
Could it be that a Top Model winner/contestant is cursed because they are over-exposed by the time they hit the runway for fashion week? Past supermodels seemed to appear out of nowhere. (Most people are not die hard fashionistas who monitor the catwalks, and notice the freshest faces in modeling.)
When you have a show like this, the public has seen the winner for a minimum of an entire season – usually 13-14 shows. We've seen everything from the winner getting ready in the morning without makeup to them throwing temper-tantrums over missing granola bars. In other words: Most of the mystery is gone.
The public never really had the opportunity to formulate an opinion about a supermodel's disposition, because we never really got a chance to hear them talk or interact. With the popularity of reality television, we can make "more informed" opinions about models. Now we can honestly say that "Model A" is a diva and "Model B" is dull.
Maybe a model needs be seen and not heard in order to achieve supermodel status.
It's been fun tracking this season for you. Until next cycle, keep catwalking!!!!
