Well that was surprising.I'm not just referring to the fact that "Top Model" dropped, not one, but two of its hopefuls last night. It's also not just the fact that one of those two was the show's most buzz-worthy contestants in years.
The big surprise for me is that I kinda cared. I watch this show to laugh at the ridiculosity of Tyra and Co., the unintentionally funny/dumb comments from its contestants, but I didn't realize I'd become so invested in this group of contestants this quickly.
I was actually stung a LOT more by Hannah's exit, because I was pretty much applauding on my couch when she told Marjorie and Analeigh at the start of the episode to stop with all the whining. I realize those two girls (and, actually, every girl) has self-esteem issues, but, I feel, specifically, Marjorie needs to get over it because she can be a real strong contender in this competition. So it was pretty fantastic to see Hannah vocalize what I felt (and what I've felt with past low-confidence girls) when she crashed their pity party.
The fun times for Hannah would end soon when the girls visited a bowling alley to get runway walking lessons from Ms. J. The girls had to walk to the end of the slick alley, which is tough to do in regular shoes — so it's good that Ms. J gave them those fantastic bowling shoes/high heels.
Hannah "fist on her waist" walk made her look like an angry headmistress. Other lowlights included Analeigh ignoring Ms. J's instructions to walk faster (she was probably just nervous) and Samantha struggling to stay on a straight line given that she's bow-legged. Joslyn (definitely a favorite of Ms. J's), on the other hand, did great and showed a lot of personality in her walk.
Soon, the girls head to a vintage bank (I didn't know such a thing existed) for a runway show featuring the work of edgy designer Jeremy Scott (more on this character a little later). The girls also found out they'd be walking the runway blind-folded. This seemed like it was going to be a disaster, but then the girls realized they could actually see a little bit, and that took a bit of air out of the challenge. Oh well.
After a faux bank robbery that just left the audience baffled, Joslyn, again, showed tons of personality on the runway, McKey wore a freakin' curtain rod (and wore it well!) while Analeigh (freaking out about being in last week's bottom two) showed a lot of improvement. On the other hand, Hannah still struggled miserably, Marjorie waddled like a duck and stopped halfway down the runway, and Samantha (pictured, right) swung her arms wildly and thought it'd be a good idea to lift her dress up at the end of the audience and flash the runway, despite the fact that Scott had repeatedly told her not to do that. Personally, I thought she lifted her dress up by accident when she put her hands on her hip, but the bottom line is that it happened.
Joslyn won and took Sheena and Isis (apparently, the two nicest people in the house) along with her on a Seventeen photo shoot because they'd look interesting together (does Joslyn already have a good editorial eye?) It was Samantha on the chopping block along with Hannah because one of the models was going to be kicked out following the runway show. Since Samantha's taken stronger pictures (and Hannah's walk WAS hideous, despite all the practice), we said goodbye to Hannah. Let's hope she finds a house in Alaska with electricity so she can keep watching the show.
It's too bad Hannah wasn't around because it would've been kinda great to see her and her crazy eyes in this week's photo shoot. Inspired by some silly vacation photos she took on vacation, Tyra decreed this week's challenge would feature the models in a swimming pool and that their faces would be photographed from the eyes up.
Mr. Jay, inexplicably dressed as a woman with a tight tank top and too-short shorts, told the girls the shoot would take place at their house. He also announced the guest photographer was one Nigel Barker in a wet suit. Joslyn wasn't in quite as good a mood in the pool since she couldn't swim. Then again, given the fact that they appeared to be in three feet of water, I don't understand why this was such a factor.
My favorite photos of the bunch were Clark (despite the fact that I still don't like her, GREAT job with the reflection), Lauren Brie (nice job with the hands AND the eyes), and Sheena (good intensity with the eyes, but for some reason, I can't get to her link on the site — I hope she hasn't been kicked off.)
My least favorites were Isis (WAY too sleepy) and — well, that was the only really bad one. Analeigh's was ok, but, as Paulina said, it was mostly interesting because of her leg work.
Meanwhile, Samantha's picture wasn't bad at all, but she found herself in the bottom two, mostly on the strength of her antics on the runway. Designer Jeremy Scott was back in the judges' panel and (hilariously) would NOT let it go. This dude (a white guy with a fade/mullet) was a terrific caricature of an "edgy" designer — the only problem was that he was being completely serious. It goes without saying that I loved that guy, despite the fact that his personal vendetta against Samantha made her cry and almost got her eliminated.
Instead, it was Isis going home because she didn't seem able to put aside the fear that her balls might start showing and deliver a strong look. Too bad, because she seemed like she had a lot of potential earlier this season, maintained a terrific attitude throughout, but just gradually got worse and worse in her performances.
So what'd you think of this episode? How long was Nigel underwater waiting for Mr. Jay to introduce him before the photo shoot? When will we get to see more of Tyra's vacation photos? Judging from next week's previews, is Marjorie heading for a meltdown? Finally, is there any way we can make Jeremy Scott a permanent judge at panel? (Two months from now, he could still be railing at Samantha about raising up her dress.)
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