Guest blogger John-John Williams IV reports:
America's Next Top Model was trucking along with the expectable blips of excitement that fans of the show have come to expect. Then, bam! The ending completely knocked me off my seat.
I'll get to that a little later …
The girls completed their first fashion show. Some contestants – Marvita especially – were dreadful. There was the obligatory catfight, where Fatima hit Marvita in the face. Was it an accident? Fatima says it was; Marvita wanted to open up a can of whoop….
After the girls' first runway challenge – it was held in Time Square -- they went to Elite Model Management and got a taste of Paulina Porizkova.
The Dancing With the Stars alum wasted no time speaking her mind. She said: Amis (used to be Amy) has bad skin; Dominique looks like a transvestite; and Marvita has a scrunched face. Basically, she was fabulous!
"You are going to be critiqued like crazy in this job," Paulina told the hopefuls. "It's not only going to be truthful, it will be hurtful. You might as well get used to it right now."
I was going into last night's episode hopeful that I would not be forced to watch: Tyra and the two "J's" pretended to drink breast milk; Claire admitting to drinking her own breast milk; and Shalynda and Shaya (they're both gone) attempting to fight Fatima.
I was pleasantly pleased by the appearance of Paulina, who is a welcome replacement for that timid Twiggy. Paulina's sass is exactly what Top Model needs. The show's judging has been hurting since Janice Dickinson departed for the "greener pastures" of the Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency.
The girls' first photo shoot had a homeless youth theme. Marvita and Fatima both revealed that they had been homeless at one point in their lives. The two kind of patched things up after that. (We'll see how long that lasts.)
During the judging we learned that Anya is one of Tyra's favorites; she took a great photo. Claire did a fantastic job! Katarzyna is a force to be reckoned with. Whitney did her thing. Fatima was strong. Dominique also did pretty well.
And then model mayhem. Kimberly pulled an Ebony and asked to be removed from the show! She said she wasn't a fan of high fashion. (Gasp!) In addition, she didn't think that it was right for people to pay $2,000 for an outfit.
Tyra, and the rest of the judges were none too pleased. (Miss J ripped up Kimberly's photograph; Tyra eventually used the ripped picture to fan herself.) Some of the contestants looked on in disbelief.
To be honest, I didn't think the Reese Witherspoon – I totally think Reese is prettier -- lookalike had much of a chance. (You can read my rant about Ebony's abrupt departure last year to get a sense of how I feel about contestants who ask to leave the show early. I won't devote any additional keystrokes to Kimberly. )
Tyra then announced that there was still going to be an elimination.
Atalya, the 18-year-old student from Brooklyn, was given the boot. This really wasn't all that surprising. Most of the judges had hinted that they didn't care too much for her.
In the season premiere, Tyra said: "Her audition photo: wrong."
Enough said about Atalya.
Who are you're favorites this season? Share yours, and I'll respond in the comments section.
In the meantime, keep catwalking!
