ANTM: College Edition - Episode Discussion Thread

[Critical]

Laura - or any other girl - can't help how the producers edit the footage. I don't care whose parents make a lot of money and whose don't. While that may make for an interesting show, it doesn't have anything to do with who's a better model.

Like several judges said during final panel, Laura could make a ton of money as a commercial model. While it's not as glamorous as high fashion, it often pays better. I can see Laura going Guess and several other large retailers and I can definitely see her in the SI swimsuit edition.

Comparing any other season to this one isn't fair because this is the only time the viewers have gotten a vote. Laura won because she got higher scores from the fans AND the judges. Leila was eliminated by the judges and got put back in the competition by the fans. This scoring system, I think, left less wiggle room as to the eliminations. The judges had to give the girls scores on each "event," so they couldn't just give it to a girl they liked, as they did with Ann. All they could do is add up the numbers. Tyra told Leila that if she had done better at the runway show, it's possible she would have won.

I like this scoring system, actually. It gives a much clearer picture of why girls got eliminated and why they didn't.

[Fanny Mare]

I like Laura, I am happy for her. I don't care who her parents are

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.

Hmm, not sure how true this is. She can thank ANTM for the exposure though, without it, she wouldn't have any work. If indeed she gets any

[SurrnderDorothy]

Laura - or any other girl - can't help how the producers edit the footage. I don't care whose parents make a lot of money and whose don't. While that may make for an interesting show, it doesn't have anything to do with who's a better model.

I agree that Laura can't help how they edit the show, and as I've stated earlier, the show doesn't always give a fair impression of the girls' real personalities. Laura might actually be a real sweetheart in real life, and not at all like the edit showed her.

And I agree that "who needs/wants it most" isn't at all the same thing as "who is the best model."

However, ANTM has always been saddled with a "storyline" in addition to anything they show actually relating to modelling, and that "storyline" is usually some form of "Cindermodella", or at the very least "good girl" beats "bad girl" in the end.

(I still can't believe they actually edited Jade's defeat in C6 to include her F3 photo "popping" out rather than "whoosh" fading, followed by a shot of celebratory fireworks.)

So, since ANTM spent so much time showing Kiara talking about her "dream coming true"-- even though she was really the weakest of the F3 models-- it seemed like they were building towards a win based on having the strongest runway walk (you seem to be overlooking that they criticized Laura on this) and a pattern of rising above Laura during the last weeks (including having the top "Dream Come True" ad photo and Jamaica tourism commercial, which hopefully will now be reshot).

But hey, maybe I should be giving the show props for daring to be politically incorrect and shaking up expectations. If Kiara had won, I guess I'd be complaining it was too predictable because of the "needs it/doesn't beed it" edit!

Like several judges said during final panel, Laura could make a ton of money as a commercial model. While it's not as glamorous as high fashion, it often pays better. I can see Laura going Guess and several other large retailers and I can definitely see her in the SI swimsuit edition.

I can also see her as a VS "Angel," assuming her runway loosens up and improves with practice, and she develops (or demonstrates she already has) that special "fun/sexy" twinkle (as someone else cited). She's got long legs and a good curvy but not "overdeveloped" shape, and with the blonde makeover, she has that classic '60s "California surfer girl/sexy Scandinavian" look.

However, I keep wondering what she'd look like if they ditched the "banana blonde" and made her over as a fiery redhead.

Don't get me wrong-- I don't hate Laura, despite my comparison to Saleisha. I just feel that based solely on modeling, she shouldn't have won over Leila, despite some strong work and Leila's fumbles. And based on the edited storyline-- which is where the producers usually create a certain "rationale" for the show-- she shouldn't have won over Kiara or Leila.

Comparing any other season to this one isn't fair because this is the only time the viewers have gotten a vote. Laura won because she got higher scores from the fans AND the judges. Leila was eliminated by the judges and got put back in the competition by the fans. This scoring system, I think, left less wiggle room as to the eliminations. The judges had to give the girls scores on each "event," so they couldn't just give it to a girl they liked, as they did with Ann. All they could do is add up the numbers. Tyra told Leila that if she had done better at the runway show, it's possible she would have won.

I like this scoring system, actually. It gives a much clearer picture of why girls got eliminated and why they didn't.

And this is where we really differ in our opinions.

Because of the way the "fan voting" is done, I'm suspicious of how much of a factor it actually represents in the final talley. If the final judging was live with "fan votes" coming in in real time, I'd say it was the "make or break" wild card they're passing it off as.

But since the "fan votes" are based solely on that week's photo shoot (which is all they can go by, due to the way it's set up) and since the total "fan score" is in hand well before the judging (and possibly even before the weekly challenge, since the photo shoot could come a day or two sooner). it's possible for the judges to still "just give it to a girl they like," because all they have to do is grade up or down based on each girl's running total.

Evidently you feel that the "fan score" is kept from the judges until after their rankings are made, and is legit-- while I feel it's about as obviously fake and gimmicky as P'trique's blond 'do.


I'd like to see them scrap just about everything they added this cycle-- the "fan vote", Bryanboy, and most of all, P'trique and J'onte. None of it worked for me and I just found those queens annoying in this context (though I'm sure they could be fun elsewhere).

In their place, I'd rather see a return to the original voting system with a fourth permanent judge and the weekly guest as rotating fifth judge. I'd really like a photographer as fourth permanent judge, preferably either Mike Ruiz or Jez Smith (and preferably have him-- and Rob-- in tank tops, tight T-shirts, or open-front shirts).

And if he's still available, I'd like to see Benny Ninja come in and give the models real runway training-- as opposed to that stripper pole nonsense J'onte was putting them through in that club.

But since everything seems to be scheduled to continue in C20, and it's likely to be the final cycle, I guess it doesn't matter.

[wannasee]

Anyone else think that the only way that set-up for the runway could have been any more hilarious would be to have Bryan Boi or P'trique as the leading man? I was laughing so hard at that!

I felt so bad for Leila, hoped maybe she'd come through it - others have fallen before - but her walk was always commented on negatively. Unfortunately, too, everyone else is in pretty much the same get-up, so them not falling shows it can be done.

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.

I won't disagree with that last but really, the social media scores are the only reason Leila made it to 3rd place, so maybe the fickle public changed their mind but she'd have been completely out without that.

I guess between the two, I kinda hoped Kiara would get it, but really, she was as catty or more so than Laura in her own way. And Laura was pretty much okay IMO once Kristin was out of there. I don't blame her for her parents and can kinda understand wanting to do something on your own in the shadow of that.

Lastly, gotta say, Kelly had a couple of moments this season where I thought I'd misjudged her. She ruined it all with this finale. Wouldn't cry if she wasn't invited back.

[Photobabe]

I thought this season was pretty bad. In fact, midway through I stopped watching. I did go on line a few days ago and watched the finale. I thought the finale was awful beyond belief. Ghost stories? Ugly masks? Dresses that obstructed vision? What was the point? And this years judges? Rob was nice eye candy, but the rest? That social media stuff was a bad joke.

Then there is Leila. I know a lot of you were routing for her but honestly, I can't see why. Models are there to sell products. In Haute Couture the customers are mostly wealhty women. Many of these women spent years wearing uncomfortabile and very expensive braces to get rid of gaps in their mouths. I can't imagine they want to look at a model who does not have good teeth. Her awkwardness on the runway didn't help her a bit either.

Apparently there will be male models next season. If there is nothing else on TV and I am bored when it airs, I may watch. But it's not something I'm excited about.

[SurrnderDorothy]

Then there is Leila. I know a lot of you were routing for her but honestly, I can't see why. Models are there to sell products. In Haute Couture the customers are mostly wealhty women. Many of these women spent years wearing uncomfortabile and very expensive braces to get rid of gaps in their mouths. I can't imagine they want to look at a model who does not have good teeth.

Uh, where have you been? Gap teeth have apparently been the new haute couture< "accessory" for a couple of years now, something about "authenticity in the Photoshop age," Madonna, Anna Paquin, Lara Stone, blah, blah...

Feb. 2012:

Gap-Toothed Smile, the New Fashionable Calling Card - NYTimes.com

Sept. 2010:

Will Gap Teeth Become the Next Big Fashion Trend? | TIME.com

Remember, in C15 the second-place model actually submitted to a makeover that involved getting her small space between her teeth widened into a full gap-- then she still lost to Ann.

(And somewhere, Lauren Hutton looked on and chuckled huskily...)

[Photobabe]

Good grief, SurrnderDorothy! Who would have thunk?