ANTM: College Edition - Episode Discussion Thread

[zookeepertx]

So, the girl with (IIRC) the best 9-west pic & the best Dream Come True pic & who Nylon said vehemently was their favorite comes in THIRD? And the girl with the 2nd best 9-west picture and worst dream come true picture and definitely not the best Nylon photos gets the win? I am sure the sponsors will love it!

Leila got seriously robbed! They stick the girls in sky-high heels, put them in comically stupid dresses that block their view of the ground/their feet, give them stairs to navigate & then act all surprised when someone falls! First off, they're lucky there weren't MORE falls. Second, they're lucky that the fall on the stairs didn't treat their lovely guests to a view of Leila getting a really graphic broken leg or something. Third, Leila appeared to be walking okay before the stairs (although it's hard to tell, the way they were fritzing the picture in & out like idiots!!), but kinda seized up afterwards. Who can blame her?! Well, okay - Kelly did, but she's a first-class beyotch! (And I hope her employer is SO impressed by her snarky, childish throwdown with the photographer! Impressed enough to dump her ass, with any luck at all!)

Anyway, Leila's probably better off without the ANTM stigma, I mean title. I hope she has a great career, if for no other reason than to spite Tyra & co.

[tinderbox]

I must admit to being in total shock over Laura's win. Wow! Never expected her to come out on top.

I thought Leila was outstanding in her pictures BUT will admit she probably lost because of her simply awful runway walk. Too bad...

For me, Kiara was a snoozefest. Can't believe she even made it into the top three!

[xmaskat]

The runway show was completely idiotic! First off, there was only a handful of people in the audience (most likely family members of the models walking the runway), and then they all had to don masks. Haha! I laughed so hard. Tyra has some screws loose that is for sure .

So, the girl with (IIRC) the best 9-west pic & the best Dream Come True pic & who Nylon said vehemently was their favorite comes in THIRD? And the girl with the 2nd best 9-west picture and worst dream come true picture and definitely not the best Nylon photos gets the win? I am sure the sponsors will love it!

Leila got seriously robbed!

I agree with you on this!
I'm sure the stupid social media scores is what hurt Leila, and why she came in 3rd. That should NOT have even factored into the final judging IMO. It should have been based upon the scores from the final challange, photo shoot, & runway event and then their body of work during the entire competition. Leave the fan vote out of it. Are the fans the people who will be booking these models for future photo shoots & fashion shows? No.

This was the stupidest season of ANTM ever.

[SurrnderDorothy]

Leila got robbed, but hopefully she'll follow in Elyse and Moliie Sue's footsteps and get signed for REAL modeling work, instead of getting sidelined for a year by winner's contracts with modeling agents where they give you lots of portfolio photos and a listing on their website but no real work.

And after she was "the first girl to return after getting eliminated" (and unless C20 keeps the gimmick, I'm betting "only girl" turns out to be accurate), I'm not only shocked that she didn't win but that she only got third. Yeah, she stumbled, but a number of winners couldn't do runway either.

I'm stunned that Laura won over Kiara. Not that she didn't actually perform better than Kiara throughout the cycle, but Laura was shown to be getting weaker in the final shoots while Kiara was getting stronger-- and they sort of balanced each other out on final shoot/runway, with each doing better at one.

Most importantly, Laura consistently got the "mean girl" edit with no saving moment of "repentance and reform" after a heart-to-heart with Mama Tyra.

I'm sorry, but tearing up when you see Mom and Dad approaching you doesn't cut it for making you more "human and likeable." Especially when Kiara gets her elderly Latina grandmother and Leila gets her drab little single Mom, and what Laura gets is:

"Hi. John James here with my nicely-aging ex-model wife. Perhaps you remember me as "Jeff" from "Dynasty." Well, now you can relive those moments in this specially-priced collection on DVD and Blu-Ray..."

So the girl who really looked and modeled like a fashion model gets third, while the "commercial" underprivileged girl who really needed this win (as we were continually reminded) gets second-- and the "rich b!tch" who could easily just "Kardashian" herself into some sort of an industry career wins it.

IMO, Saleisha's win of C9 finally got a challenger.

[Allie]

IMO, Saleisha's win of C9 finally got a challenger.

I cannot like this comment enough! I decided not to watch the finale after finding out who won. Social media does not work when it isn't live. when they don't see the ENTIRE picture. So you throw in some photos and such? They don't see how the ARE on the show. THAT is what needed to be added. I mean if you are going to add the "fan" vote, then do live voting at certain time and have the last couple of episodes done "live" to tally those. HUMPH.

[Critical]

Leila didn't get robbed - she GAVE it away. It's one thing to be a commercial model and not be able to walk on a runway, but to be a high fashion-looking girl and not be able to walk, that's a no-go.

I know Laura grew up more privileged, but this show isn't about who the most financially deserving girl is. She also made a point of saying that she started working when she was about 14 because she wanted her own money. I don't think she should be penalized because of who her father is. It's not like he's raking in the dough as an actor anyway. His last paying acting gig (at least on TV or movies) was As the World Turns 4 years ago.

I can't believe Kiara made it to the finals. Should have been Brittany, hands down.

[Allie]

I did not see the final runway, so I cannot comment on the walk during the finale. But I don't care if she is well off or not or has a famous father. I know poor people who are jerks, rich people that are jerks and everything in the middle. I don't like her personality but much more I didn't like her look. She took some good pictures but overall I didn't like her as anything more than a catalog model (which is not a bad thing at all). She just didn't wow me.

[Rattus]

I haven't watched it yet, but I'm not surprised that Laura won - I've been pretty certain she'd be the winner since about episode 3 or 4. And with respect to the social media thing being a failure, if we're talking about the model potential of these girls and not who you'd want to hang out with, then it wasn't a failure. I have no idea what the woman advertising my particular brand of lipstick is like when she's sitting around in her pajamas with a group of colleagues, and why should I? Her personality is irrelevant to the task at hand. Look at Naomi Campbell - hugely successful, on public record as being a huge bitch. One thing has nothing to do with the other.

[SurrnderDorothy]

Leila didn't get robbed - she GAVE it away. It's one thing to be a commercial model and not be able to walk on a runway, but to be a high fashion-looking girl and not be able to walk, that's a no-go.

Ann was high-fashion, not really commercial and couldn't walk a runway (or stand up on skates and do a commercial shoot), yet she won C15 on the strength of her photos and physical qualities. I believe they used the excuse then that "a girl can learn to walk a runway, but she can't learn to look like that."

I know Laura grew up more privileged, but this show isn't about who the most financially deserving girl is. She also made a point of saying that she started working when she was about 14 because she wanted her own money.

"Wanting your own money" when you clearly don't need to work isn't the same as struggling like Kiara did, and there are a lot more Americans in Kiara's situation than in Laura's.

And if "this show isn't about who the most financially deserving girl is," they should really have told the producers to cut the "fighting hard times" stories, drop the angle about building a college fund for the winner (with "money" dropping in animated overlay, yet), and focus on who's the better model.

But ANTM has been about Godmother Tyra making Cindermodella's "dreams come true" since all the hype surrounding Adrienne's triumph after years of struggle in C1. Of course, what happened afterward with Adrienne really should've taught them to drop this angle, but it makes for good drama and they have to milk it (and now there's even a fragance!).

I don't think she should be penalized because of who her father is. It's not like he's raking in the dough as an actor anyway. His last paying acting gig (at least on TV or movies) was As the World Turns 4 years ago.

Unless you know something about John James' finances, you can only go on what they showed us of Laura's lifestyle-- which included an estate of some sort and her own horses. Quite a contrast to Kiara's situation, regardless of how much Dad actually pulled in last year.

And again, if ANTM wants to do "Cindermodella" cycle after cycle, they shouldn't edit two of the girls as the "wicked stepsisters" throughout the cycle with no redemptive moments, and then let one triumph in the end.

Even if they were trying to throw a curve into the story to "keep it fresh", the timing was culturally really bad to have the "1%" come out over the "99%".

--

And on top of all of this, they showed Laura continuing to drop in her performance week after week after peaking, while Kiara rose and Leila returned strong (despite getting hit by physical upsets). Each of the F3 had enough good moments and bad moments that they could've been ranked in any order by the show's usual standards of grading performance.

If you add in physical qualities, I think Leila "got robbed"-- NYLON said they liked her best, her Nine West shot was arguably better than Laura's, and she's the only one of the three that can really look high-fashion while still pulling off commercial.

[SurrnderDorothy]

I have no idea what the woman advertising my particular brand of lipstick is like when she's sitting around in her pajamas with a group of colleagues, and why should I? Her personality is irrelevant to the task at hand. Look at Naomi Campbell - hugely successful, on public record as being a huge bitch. One thing has nothing to do with the other.

I hear ya, but it's also about putting on a show around the actual modelling, which is probably why adding male models won't work-- guys are less drama among themselves (as the past attempts at a "male ANTM clone" showed), though I guess they could become the source of drama among the girls.

And look at the focus on "branding" and being a recognizable "personality" in the last two cycles. At least Tyra didn't hand out those damn "tags" this time and expect the girls to "stay in their brands."

God only knows what Kristen and Laura's "Modelland"-inspired names would have been-- to say nothing of Victoria's.

Speaking of which, did anybody see Victoria in the final runway with the other returning models? I don't think they had everyone from the whole cycle in there, but since she went to Jamaica, you'd think she'd be in the show along with Nastasia and Kristen.