ANTM Cycle 14

[genevieve]

Sooo...did the short cycle chase everyone away?

As usual, the first ep is a big clusterfeck of shrieking girls and it's hard to know who will rise and who will fall. Added bonus: Makeover right off the bat and an almost nudie shoot for the first challenge (although we have to wait for next week to see how that turns out).

First impressions:

FLOVE Ren! Gorgeous, looks like she's already a working model, and any girl who shows up to a modelling contest au natural has my vote Also digging Naduah, Gabrielle and Raina. Did not think much of Simone or Anslee before their makeovers, but they both got haircuts that take them from generic to really stunning. and Anslee seems like a firecracker. I feel bad for Brenda. I bet her hair will look great in styles for photo shoots, but without OTT styling she looks like a poor cross between Ziggy Stardust and Happy Days-era Ron Howard. I thought Alasia was going to be the typical OTT batshit trouble-maker, but I kinda like her. Love her curls as well.

Tatiana, Jessica and Alexandra don't stand out much yet. Poor Angelea as well - I think she got the WORST makeover...that hair is way too heavy, the bangs are too long, and her features no longer stand out. Plus, she seems to have decided that the best way to celebrate making it on the show this year is to be the class A bitch.

Which leaves Krista. She's gorgeous, and seems to be able to put this opportunity in perspective (i.e. she hates her new hair but worked too hard to get on the show to argue about it). I was all set to root for her, but the way she just inserted herself into that Angelea/Alasia snit was just stupid.






Did anyone else watch?

[ArtisticFan]

I have sepnt the whole evening thinking that there was something on television that I was supposed to watch. I flipped through the normal channels and didn't see anything. Whoops.

[MR-FAN]

I watched! Can't remember most of the names yet (I usually need 3 episodes before the names start to click) but I LOVED Naduah! I thought she looked like Kate Moss before she picked her for the super model challenge. I also really liked the red-head after they chopped off her hair, Gabrielle's look is really interesting, and Tatianna looks very striking (If I see her on the street, I'd think she's a super model.) I thought Simone is GORGEOUS, and reminds me a little of Keenyah from cycle 4. Krista reminds me of Tiffany from cycle 4 and I don't like her look (She won't be able to do soft photos.) Oh, and I think Angelea looks like the transexual girl they once had. The rest haven't stood up for me yet (and I'm not digging armpit-hair girl yet)

[Stormy]

I am waiting for it to get up on the CW's website, I missed it last night because of synchro practice. My pre-show faves were Naduah and Jessica. BTW, I saw an interview with Ren that she didn't have to audition, she was handpicked for the show.

[danceronice]

Oh, and I think Angelea looks like the transexual girl they once had.

THANK you. I wasn't the only one thinking that. Actually I was thinking "Damn, Isis was a more convincing female." They could be fraternal m/f twins. Angelea's the boy.

It looks like--Ren submitted her photo on-line and Tyra selected her? Interesting. I wonder if they're going for the resentment angle (in addition to the 'nature girl'--ew. Sorry, I'm with the ancient Romans, sometimes even shaving's not enough, never mind just...ew.)

Please let that be the last of Perez Hilton.

And so far--names are escaping me, but I like blonde Arkansas girl and the girl who actually knows obscure models (had the big curly hair, went blonde-ish in the makeover.) Ren may turn out to be quite good.

I felt sorry for redhaired girl who got her hair hacked off. I hate short hair on women as 99.9% cannot carry it off, plus I always think, especially on model bodies, it makes them look like prepubescent boys. (On that .1% it can look FANTASTIC. Naduah has the skull shape to carry off the most extreme version.) On more typical female physiques it says "mother" "elderly" or "nun." Getting such a MASSIVE overhaul is stressful, especially if her boyfriend loved her hair long. And I LOVE how in the "Cover Girl ANTM Lounge" segment immediately afterwards the two former contestants were like "Bitch please" about Angelea's cattiness.

[genevieve]

Agreed that Angelea looks a bit like the transgendered woman they had...I think she'll have a much harder time doing 'soft' poses than Krista. I figure they'll keep her around a few weeks for the conflict/entertainment factor but I can't see her getting too far.

I wish they'd chosen the other plus-sized model instead of Alexandra. Her whole Glamazonia persona made her a bit too drag queen but Alexandra seems dull and looks too much like the + sized model who won.

ps I cheated on the names and looked them up. After the show the only one whose name I could remember for sure was Ren!

Getting such a MASSIVE overhaul is stressful, especially if her boyfriend loved her hair long.

To that I say tough shit. Anyone who applies to this show who has an attachment to their hair being long is just asking for the shortest, most radical cut. And anyone whining about their boyfriend preferring (insert whatever's being changed) deserves to go home just for that reason. Hello - watch the show. Modelling means you do not control your own appearance a lot of the time, and doing ANTM means a very good chance of getting your precious hairs cut off, so stay away if cutting it would be "stressful" to you.

[danceronice]

Angelea also needs to loose the big ghetto hoop earrings. I don't know if she has bad posture and slumps her neck forward, or if they're so heavy they're dragging her head down.

Who is the girl with the dark eyebrows where they dyed her hair to match? Are there any genetics experts here who can explain how if she REALLY "never dyed my hair before" her eyebrows are almost black and her hair was blond? (And "perfect?" Tyra, SERIOUSLY? She has HUGE lips, a big nose, and eyes out of proportion to the width of her face, and you think magic marker lines make it BETTER?) Though she was one I was thinking just might end up photographing better than she looks--ie, she's not at all pretty, but might take good pictures. Rather like Marjorie from cycle whatever--VERY not attractive in person, but took great pictures because of the shape of her face.

[genevieve]

wow, tonight really shook things up!

Was bummed to lose Gabrielle so early but honestly, her photo was atrocious. I thought Krista's was pretty bad but her face and body are so strong I knew they wouldn't get rid of her. Thought Alasia's photo was even worse than Gabrielle's, but with one of the judges firmly in her corner no way was she leaving - and I can't argue with the rationale..it truly is better to have people react strongly to a photo than have nothing to say at all. Sigh.

Ren....WTF. she squeaked by this week but she doesn't have the drive to win this unless something changes quickly. Maybe the fact that she was hand-picked instead of going through the audition process gave her the impression that this would be simple? Anyway, completely hated her attitude this whole episode. OTOH, I hated Naduah even more, so glad Ren is still there.

Raina is now my favorite.

[Japanfan]

Ren is either going to self-select out of the competition or rise to the occasion. I predict the latter, especially since my liking a contestant is usually the kiss of death.

[berthesghost]

tip: whining to the judges about contact lenses, cold wind etc... when all the other girls had the same challenges and some did brilliantly, is a big mistake. I'm surprised Tyra didn't rip her a new one for it, although ALT started to.

[all_empty]

I like the girls this season, including Angelea aka Jaslene 2.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I feel they're much more modelesque.

Raina killed her photo. I can see her, Sonia, and Brenda going far.

[genevieve]

Sonia? Do you mean Simone?

I liked Angelea much better this week - I like her hair when she doesn't wear those too-heavy, too-long bangs on her face but sweeps them to the side. And she did amazing in the first photo. Didn't like her 2nd pic as much but she is doing way better than last week would have indicated.

Every time they mentioned Tatiana I was like "who's that?" She stands out even less than she did last week.

[Alixana]

They said Brenda looked old last night .. kiss of death for poor Brenda.

[Ajax]

I am quite surprised at the eliminations so far - I'd have predicted that both of those girls would go far based on their interesting looks. Ren is whiny and annoying and I don't get why she got handpicked and had a special entrance. I predict she'll go home soon because it's obvious she doesn't want to be there. Alasia is just not pretty.
My favorites so far are Raina (who's a deadringer for either Denise Richards or Adrienne Palicki) and Jessica. However I doubt the latter can win because I don't see Covergirl backing a 16 y.o. mom.
I didn't notice a Covergirl commercial with Nicole, was there one? They also didn't do the Top Models in action where they show what past contestants are up to.

ETA: Andre Leon Talley annoys the hell out of me. I don't care how much of a fashion bigshot he is, inserting random French words every two sentences and then translating them was just WTF. So pretentious.

[love skating]

I like everyone's look this year. I was shocked that Naduah (sp?) went home. In the first episode I thought she would be the winner, but she was disappointing in the first two photoshoots.

[genevieve]

I'm also not loving Andre Leon Talley. I really felt like he backed Alasia's picture in the first round because he liked her. The only way he'd hang that hideous picture in his salon would be for laughs. bring back Paulina!!!!

[sodapop]

I was amazed how bad Naduah both photographed and did runway because she was so good in casting. I thought they might keep her around for some but she really was weak and deserved to go.

You can tell Andre Leon Talley is already pissing off Tyra. I love it.

[Nomad]

...
You can tell Andre Leon Talley is already pissing off Tyra. I love it.

Talley may be pretentious and ridiculous (Gucci-esque-ish? Seriously, André?) but any judge who pisses off Her Royal Tyness can't be all bad.

I'm okay with the eliminations so far. I did hope that Naduah would last longer, partly because her accent seemed as changeable as the girls said her backstory was.

I was a little surprised that Ren turned out to be this cycle's Weeping Willow. I won't be surprised if she quits or just gives up in a challenge/shoot and gets eliminated soon.

I'm not sure who the front runners are yet. Definitely not Alexandra or the moms (Anslee and Jessica?). Brenda already got the "photographs old" critique, so she's doomed. (I really liked her nude photo, though. She looks good with dark hair.) Krista might make it halfway. Angelea's House Bitch, so we're probably stuck with her for a while, but she won't win. Alasia strikes me as C7's Monique 2.0. I'm sick of her already. Simone seems to be headed for the "resting on pretty" edit. I can see Raina and Tatianna in the F2, with someone unlikely (Angelea for ex.) rounding out the F3.

[Sparks]

Talley may be pretentious and ridiculous (Gucci-esque-ish? Seriously, André?) but any judge who pisses off Her Royal Tyness can't be all bad.

Alasia is also so intollerable that she will stick around for awhile...she creates a lot of

[Ajax]

Alasia is also so intollerable that she will stick around for awhile

If I had to live with Alasia I'm sure I would have thrown a hairbrush at her already. I don't blame the other girls for being sick of her.