ANTM 19 Mini-cap Thread

Welcome back to another cycle of America’s Next Top Model! It’s season 19 and Tyra’s got a TON of changes in store for us. Whether or not these are good changes remains to be seen. Stay tuned.

The first, and most notable change, is a clear-cutting of the judges’ table and the creative team. Only Kelly Cutrone survived the carnage. This means that longtime ANTM staples J. Alexander, Jay Manuel and Nigel Barker are all gone. Joining Kelly and Tyra at the judging table is male model (and, if the stories are true, Tyra’s new boy toy) Rob Evans. Jay Manuel has been replaced as creative director by Johnny Wujek, whose claim to fame seems to be working with Katy Perry.

Also helping out with judging will be fashion blogger Bryanboy (not his real name, which means he chose to be called that), who will be chiming in about the reaction of the online community. Oh yes, here’s where it gets really fun. For the last few months, the pictures from each photo shoot have been posted on Facebook for fans to comment on and react to. Before you go thinking that this is a great way to figure out who won, you should know that ALL of the girls did the photo shoots, even the ones who were eliminated. More on that later.

The judging itself will be different this time too. We’re now on a ten point scoring system. The girls get scored on a scale of 1-10 for each challenge, by the judges at panel and then by the online community. The girl with the lowest score each week goes home. The model who gets first call-out at judging (aka best photo) will get the key to the Tyra Suite, a super posh room in the house, for the week. She can also invite a friend to share the suite with her.

The prizes for this cycle are different. Most notable is the absence of a contract with Cover Girl. They’ve been a staple on this show for many seasons. This time, the prizes include:

• A modeling contract with LA Models & NY Model Management
• The face of the America’s Next Top Model perfume product "Dream Come True"
• A spread in Nylon magazine
• Campaigns with Nine West and Smashbox Cosmetics
• $100,000 cash prize

Additionally, the winner of each challenge will win $10,000 to apply toward college tuition. Before you think Tyra’s being super generous, only the girl who becomes America’s Next Top Model will get to keep the money she’s won. See, Tyra thinks education is important, but not that important.

Last week we met the girls who will compete on the show. This is the first episode where we’ll see if Tyra and Co. chose wisely. Let’s get on with this episode:

Week 2: The Girl Who Cries Home

Challenge: Rob Evans escorts the girls to a nightclub where they have to walk the “runway,” or rather, walk like a ho for the audience. There’s a stripper pole and a big ring that works like a swing. It’s rather horrifying really. I imagine Miss J’s mortified face while watching this debacle.

Challenge Winner: Yvonne, who does a donkey kick in her mini dress, thus flashing her business to half of the club. Classy. Yvonne picked Jessie to join her in the Tyra Suite.

Photo Shoot: The girls will be posing as mounted heads. Seriously. They put their heads through a hole in the wall and then pose like a dear head mounted on a piece of wood. It’s super edgy and high fashion [/sarcasm]

Guest “Photographer”: Shenae Grimes. Yes, the one from 90210. Apparently, they’ve run out of professional photographers who want anything to do with this show and since they fired Nigel (the default photog when they couldn’t find anyone else), they’ve been reduced to using little Shenae, who says she started taking pictures “a few years ago.”

Highlights / Lowlights:

• We have our first “if you have something to say about me, then you say it my face” moment with Destiny (the talker) and Kiana (the talkee).
• Victoria’s giant case of separation anxiety rears its ugly head when she calls her mother and proceeds to sob and wail about how much she misses her mom.
• Pretty much every weird moment in this episode was courtesy of Victoria, whether it was her assertion that she didn’t need to have a boyfriend or get married because her mother gives her everything she needs, her indignation over not winning the challenge (“I was groundbreaking. I broke the ground”), or her verbal diarrhea at the photo shoot, which left Johnny Wujek (Mr. Postitivity) struggling to say something nice about her.
• Maria mentioning Harvard about 500 times in the hour.
• The cringe-worthy fan videos shown during panel.

Call out order:

• Leila
• Nastasia
• Brittany
• Laura
• Kristin
• Kiara
• Yvonne
• Allyssa
• Victoria
• Darian
• Maria
• Destiny
• Jessie - Eliminated

Don’t Pack Your Bags and Go Home Just Yet! : Instead of just going home like with every other cycle, the eliminated girls will continue to take part in the photo shoots for six weeks. The girl with the highest social media score will be able to reenter the competition. It wasn't clear whether or not we'll be seeing the eliminated girls or their pictures at judging panel each week. We'll probably find that our next week.

Next week: It’s makeover time! And cat-fight time!

Week 2: The Girl Who Wants Out

It was makeover week on America’s Next Top Model and with it came the usual drama, although sadly, not many big hissy fits. Also this week, the first “nude” photo shoot.

The makeovers took place at Cristophe Salon, where the girls were greeted by Kelly Cutrone, Johnny Wujek and Cristophe. This time, the girls had the option to NOT have the makeover that Tyra wanted for them. The catch? They have to say “yes” or “no” to the makeover before they know what it is. Only Maria and Victoria refuse the makeover. The rest of the girls are given an envelope containing all the details about their makeover.

• Destiny – long pieces in front and shaved in the back
• Darian –long, layered bob
• Laura – ice blonde
• Kristin – shorter, with bangs
• Nastasia – lion’s mane
• Kiara – long and straight
• Brittany – reddish bob
• Leila – lighter, with blonde highlights
• Allyssa – largely the same
• Yvonne – fuller and wavy – pretty much the same

Both Tyra and Kelly talked to Victoria and Maria about why they didn’t want the makeover. Victoria talked about her Native American heritage and her Jewish heritage. Uh. Okay. Maria just straight out didn’t want to cut her hair. Kelly Cutrone was non-plussed and so was Tyra. Both girls found out that neither of them would have been subjected to the dreaded pixie cut. In fact, their hair wouldn’t have been changed much at all. Victoria reacted by breaking down and crying. Maria didn’t care. She told a shocked Destiny and Allyssa that Kelly is a c-word. Twice. I wonder if she learned that at Harvard Divinity School.

Tyra Mail: Based on the wording of the Tyra Mail, the girls figure out that they'll be doing a nude photo shoot. It’s one of the few times that the models have actually figured out the clue correctly.

Photo Shoot: The girls will be doing a “nude” (pasties and beige panties) photo shoot with a male model. In what was likely a money-saving move, the model is Rob Evans.

Lousy Quitter Award: After sitting around in a robe and full makeup during pretty much the entire photo shoot, Maria decided she didn’t actually want to be a model, so she went home.

Guest Photographer: Tony Duran

Call out order (with combined scores):

• Victoria (34.2) – she made a point of apologizing for not accepting the makeover
• Brittany (33.9)
• Allyssa (32.9)
• Leila (32.2)
• Laura (32.0)
• Nastasia (28.1)
• Kristin (27.9)
• Destiny (25.1)
• Kiara (24.1)
• Yvonne (20.8)
• Eliminated: Darian (20.8) - the fan vote determined who got sent home and Yvonne got a higher score from the online community

Next week: Tyler Perry and a bad acting challenge. Plus, more catfights!