America's Next Top Recap: Coming Up Short

Tricky editing.

If you’re an astute "Top Model" watcher (or if you have a brain) you can usually predict who’s going to be in the bottom two for the week. In most cases, you can also guess who is getting sent back to the house to pack their belongings and leave immediately. You can pretty much tell both of these things from the way each episode is edited.

While this was still the case last night (the bottom two was PAINFULLY obvious as was the poor soul going home), at least the show threw some editing curveballs along the way during the go-sees.

That’s right. This week was the annual rite of passage in which the models wander around a foreign city, struggling with maps (people still use maps?!) and silently non-English speaking taxi drivers for their very un-American laid-back attitudes.

For example, from the way the show was edited, it kinda seemed like Aminat didn’t just have the go-see challenge in the bag, but (from the way the Brazilian designers were fawning over her), maybe Tyra should just cancel the rest of the competition and give her the win. So it was pretty surprising to find out she only booked two out of three jobs. Teyona, on the other hand, looked like she was in for a disaster as she continuously skipped designers when she found out they were seeing another girl. I was sure she was either going to get back late or she was going to end up not seeing enough designers. Of course, what really ended up happening was that she booked 3 out of 3 jobs and was the challenge winner. Her reward was a bunch of ill-fitting dresses. (I realize I’m a guy, but am I the only one who thought some of that stuff looked horrible on her?)

This being "Top Model", some aspects were totally predictable. We knew at least one girl would be back a little late (Celia), and that another would be back spectacularly late (Fo). The go-see designers also magnified the issues that would eventually lead these two aspiring models to the bottom two. Celia is too old (25) and doesn’t photograph like a fresh young thing. Fo (pictured, right) is too short and commercial. "Commercial", as we know, is a death sentence on "Top Model."

However, just because one is too short, and the other is too old, did they have to drag them to the rooftop, make them think they were riding on a helicopter and then force them to turn around and take a cab? (I’m surprised they didn’t make them take a bus, just to make it more undignified.) Not only was this unnecessarily cold, but it had the dual result of making the taunting Aminat (and Teyona, to a lesser extent) even more insufferable.

Later, the girls met up with Mr. Jay (and his too-short shorts) and noted fashion photographer Nigel Barker for the week’s photo shoot. The shoot involved a beach scene populated by a motley crew of extras (it was definitely that one hairy fat guy’s best day ever) and the girls were challenged with standing out. This being Brazil, the shoot featured tiny bikinis and 80% more (blurred out) butt than the typical "Top Model" shoot.

The best of the week were Teyona (just continuing her domination) and Allison (more sexy and less woodland creature for the second week in a row). The worst were Aminat (she negated her fantastic body and took a bad picture for what seems like the 18th consecutive week), Celia (over thought things and psyched herself out) and Fo (who somehow managed to make herself look even shorter).

Although Tyra took Aminat to task for her bad pose, the obvious bottom two was Celia and Fo. Though Celia seems to be suffering from a crisis of confidence, Fo is too short, too commercial and booked 0 out of 5 jobs. (Celia booked 3 out of 4 before being disqualified.)

Goodbye Fo. I’ll miss your cool edgy haircut and the fact that Sawyer from "Lost" wasn’t around to call you "freckles." However, I won’t miss your repeated whining about your imaginary friendship with Teyona.

So what’d you think of this episode? What’s more fixable - being perceived as too old or too short? (I say it’s been too short, because you can manipulate your body in shoots to work for you.) Is it just me or is Aminat kind of a giant pain in the ass? (Watching her diss Celia after Celia had just said how beautiful Aminat was may have been unfortunate editing, but it still struck me the wrong way.) Finally, who do you see falling short of the final 3? (I think Allison may fall short - she’s a major basket case.)