The Winnowing Effect: Shaking Personality loose from Perfomance

[lambikins]

Over and over again on the various threads, there's one reoccurring theme: "I wish ________________ would have won because she came the furtherest/developed the most/grew the most"...etc, etc, etc.

However, so many of the comments are centered on the girl's personalities and overcoming:
1) Insecurity Complexes
2) Inferiority Complexes
3) Crappy Childhoods
4) Addictions, Afflictions and everything else under the sun.

However, when it comes right down to it, when we open a fashion magazine like W, VOGUE, or ELLE, what catches our eye in an ad is the person used in the photograph, right?!

So, I'm wondering if during this process that we've sat through, twice, for 10 weeks, clearly represents the person who CAN be America's Next Top Model, or rather, America's Poster Child with a Pretty Face Who Can Over Come Adversity.

Certainly, when Kate Moss or Tyra Banks became models, I can't imagine their agencies saying, "Oh, this po' chile has had a bad family life or is suffering from shingles. Plus she has a plucky personality. Let's hire her!!!"

For the life of me, I just can't fathom them choosing models this way.

So, for YOUR choice of who should have won, were you too swayed by their bio to see clearly or were you able to be a Judge on the Panel of Experts and choose clearheadly?
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My choices from the beginning were April or Yoanna. The Asian market is untapped for cover models and April would have been a breath of fresh air in ad campaigns. Yoanna and her strikingly classic beauty is truly "a face that rarely comes along," (to quote Tyra.)

I had empathy for Shandi, Anna and Mercedes, but, there's 1000's of beautiful woman out there and Tyra wasn't just looking for someone who looked good in clothes and make up. If that was the case, I could have nominated half of my friends!

The other girls, to me were just filler: good for the storyline, never had a chance.

How do you weigh in as a judge?

[Kao]

Personality weighs in too. Can you take direction? Are you pleasant to work with? In that area, Mercedes definitely shone. Camille was good in the self confidence area which is definitely something you need in the modeling business, where on go-sees people will leaf through your book and say "Next!"

[Dolce]

lambikins... i do agree with you! this SHOW (entertainment purposes) is not really accurate of the modeling world, in my opinion. I mean, im not a expert, but i do know that its ALL looks.. and i guess everyone else just has to be dealt with.. there are thousands of beautiful girls trying to be models.. i dont think u can walk into NEXT models and tell them your life story and why you should make it.. its either a yes or no based on your polariod, portfolio, and walk..if a 'good' personality was such a defining factor..how do u explain Naomi Campbell? lolol jk but yeah i dont think models are known to be the sweetest things

[Chorita KaBoom]

First, it's a TV show. They need to have people with personality, a back story, so that there is more to it than taking a models picture. Second, as with all businesses, ambition, personality, and the ability to get along with others is very important. If you weren't interested in the models themselves, then you should have just watched the photo shoot reveals and then changed the channel.

[martini]

Over and over again on the various threads, there's one reoccurring theme: "I wish ________________ would have won because she came the furtherest/developed the most/grew the most"...etc, etc, etc.

However, so many of the comments are centered on the girl's personalities and overcoming:
1) Insecurity Complexes
2) Inferiority Complexes
3) Crappy Childhoods
4) Addictions, Afflictions and everything else under the sun.

However, when it comes right down to it, when we open a fashion magazine like W, VOGUE, or ELLE, what catches our eye in an ad is the person used in the photograph, right?!

I could not agree with you more. I think that the shows choose (and keep) the personality stories because they create an "underdog" dimension which compells veiwers and progress a story line. In reality, perhaps few of the women chosen to be on ANTM could be top models (for example, I never saw Heather or Bethany really making it). And perhaps in reality very, very few women could be models.

[lambikins]

First, it's a TV show. They need to have people with personality, a back story, so that there is more to it than taking a models picture. Second, as with all businesses, ambition, personality, and the ability to get along with others is very important. If you weren't interested in the models themselves, then you should have just watched the photo shoot reveals and then changed the channel.

Wow! Harsh words, Chorita KaBoom. Hope your "mood stabilizers" don't wear off soon!

[lambikins]

I could not agree with you more. I think that the shows choose (and keep) the personality stories because they create an "underdog" dimension which compels viewers and progress a story line. In reality, perhaps few of the women chosen to be on ANTM could be top models (for example, I never saw Heather or Bethany really making it). And perhaps in reality very, very few women could be models.

Word, martini! I actually feel sorry for the winner of this show. Yeah, I know that they got the trip to Paris (Show I) and Milan (Show II) and they get that "juicy" contract with Sephora , but, for the most part, the winner is going to look like a failure if she doesn't make it BIG in modeling.

Because so much of the show IS personality driven and it seems that the sob story :crybaby that is most compelling is who the viewer most wants to win the modeling job.

Excepting the Apprentice, where the winner becomes a president of one of Trump's businesses, once you've won one of these reality shows, you're pretty much off the hook. You win your million dollars on Survivor..."So long and have a good life." You pick your dream spouse on any of the dating shows..."So long and don't catch any STD's."

But with this show, the poor girl, if she wins as a result of being "plucky, spunky" or some other y-ending word, is in for a whole world of let-down.

I sure wouldn't call Adrianne's modeling life a giant success story, and she was the one I was rooting for the entire show! If it's just about your 15 minutes of fame, I have to say the most successful person is William Hung, the "She bangs! She bangs!" contestant from American Idol. At least he has no pressure to be anyone but himself; no one's demanding that he create a Platinum record.

I definitely enjoy the show and the drama behind it, but, in retrospect, I'm beginning to feel sorry for the winner and the expectations placed upon her. I doubt that any of them, even the Seasons 3 and 4 that they're scheduling, will achieve Tyra status.

[martini]

Word, martini! I actually feel sorry for the winner of this show. Yeah, I know that they got the trip to Paris (Show I) and Milan (Show II) and they get that "juicy" contract with Sephora , but, for the most part, the winner is going to look like a failure if she doesn't make it BIG in modeling.

Excepting the Apprentice, where the winner becomes a president of one of Trump's businesses, once you've won one of these reality shows, you're pretty much off the hook. You win your million dollars on Survivor..."So long and have a good life." You pick your dream spouse on any of the dating shows..."So long and don't catch any STD's."

I'm really with you on this. I have contemplated this idea on several occasions. These shows end and the people on them go back to what??? I mean do you just try to get the job you have abandoned for two months back? How about the people you have alienated or cheated on (on national TV, no less!)

That's why I'm always curious what the professions are of the folks who manage to land themselves on reality TV. And in some cases, they admit to being unemployed -- hey, so why not just jump into folks' living rooms.

But back to the point of the thread... you're personality is probably what got you on the show to begin with, so perhaps that personality is going to carry you on after it. Someone like Mercedes who struck me as a very solid person (not telling everyone she had lupus because she didn't want a sympathy vote seemed incredibly brave to me) will probably walk off this show and do something -- who knows what -- with herself. What about the people who are an insecure mess? What on earth happens to them?

[Citizen Kaos]

By the way, what did they mean when they said that Mercedes' eyes looked fierce because of all of the stuff she's overcome? What adversaties has she dealt with? Besides the Lupus ofcourse.

[geekgirl]

So, for YOUR choice of who should have won, were you too swayed by their bio to see clearly or were you able to be a Judge on the Panel of Experts and choose clearheadly?
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How do you weigh in as a judge?

well I will admit that I was too swayed by my feelings about my favorite to ever really see clearly, yes. Yoanna was my favorite and a big reason I kept watching. It wasn't even all about her "story", but other things that I liked about her. *puts on flame suit*
Plus all the girls on the show were pretty girls but few of their looks really interested me; Yoanna was one who did.

So I'd make a crappy judge but I'm not sure it would matter. Like some of you said, nothing much comes of reality show winners except for some of the AI winners. It seems to me that most of the shows, while they might be great fun to watch, turn out one trick ponys and not stars. (BTW I don't think the A1 winners would have done much either without Simon Cowell and Simon Fuller behind them.)