On last night’s “America’s Next Top Model,” rather than have the final four model wannabes do yet another photo shoot, Tyra Banks challenged them to do what she called a “motion advertorial.” So, uh, what is that? One of those high-falutin commercials you sometimes see on fashion designers’ websites, complete with trippy visuals and moody music. The most exciting part of this challenge was that Tyra directed the commercial herself, making this her directorial debut. “I was really nervous about directing the girls in motion for the first time. I have to tell you that I have a whole new respect for directors through this process! It looks easy, but it ain’t,” she said. Keep reading »
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The 10 Most Successful “America’s Next Top Model” Alumni
Recognize that pretty face from “Mad Men“‘s Sunday night season finale? That’s because she’s Cassandra Whitehead, who appeared on Cycle 5 of “America’s Next Top Model.” Cassandra infamously stormed off the show after Miss Tyra cut her long brown locks into a short ‘do. After appearing on “ANTM,” she went on to have parts in “Fast & Furious” and “One Tree Hill,” and won $500,000 on the game show “1 vs. 100.” Cassandra’s proof that the most successful “ANTM” alums aren’t always the ones who come out “on top.” After the jump, the most successful (and notorious) “ANTM” contestants. And tell us who your favorite is.
Extremely Thin Girl Cast — And Then Cast Off — “America’s Next Top Model”
Before Cycle 15 of “America’s Next Top Model” even began, much fuss was made about Ann, a tall and gawky contestant with the most narrow waist in the world. But after last night’s episode, it’s clear that the model to truly be concerned about is Anamaria, 19, who, at 5’10″ and 110 lbs., thinks she needs to be “leaner” and is on a “calorie-restricted diet.” Though Tyra and crew cast the beautiful but extremely underweight and sinewy blonde on the show — after seeing her in a bathing suit during casting, mind you — her thinness became a strike against her in last night’s episode, as the models were photographed in barely any clothes. I, for one, found the whole thing extremely uncomfortable — should Anamaria have been cast in the first place? Did Tyra and the producers have an obligation to intervene? And — SPOILER ALERT! — did they do a disservice to her and the viewers by eliminating her from the competition as soon as they “realized” her thinness was a problem and that it reflected badly on them? Keep reading »
“Top Model”‘s Classy Makeover Is Missing One Thing
“America’s Next Top Model” is supposedly getting a “high-class makeover” for its 15th “cycle,” which premieres September 8th. Last season, the long-running series debuted a new judge, Vogue‘s posh-accented and imposing Andre Leon Talley, and he, well, seemed a touch out of place amongst the otherwise campy production. So this season, instead of winning a spread in Seventeen (the show’s former print partner), the winner will get a spread in Vogue Italia, which is a big high-fashion step up. Additionally, the show will have more well-respected guest judges joining Talley and Tyra on the panel, like photographers Patrick Demarchelier and Francesco Carrozzini, and designers Zac Posen and Roberto Cavelli. All of this does add up to a pretty classy makeover for the show, which has, let’s face it, been running out of steam. Still, there’s one more tweak that needs to be made in order for “Top Model” to be taken seriously — FIRE JAY MANUEL. The silver-haired Oompa Loompa’s utterly asinine “creative direction” has got to go. [Deadline] Keep reading »
Michaele Salahi And Shandi Sullivan Could Have Been Separated At Birth
This weekend, while catching up on “The Real Housewives of DC,” I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d seen Michaele Salahi before, and not just from the White House party-crashing incident. The big, curly blond hair, the beaked nose, the thin, willowy frame. And then it hit me. She looks almost identical to Shandi Sullivan, from season two of “America’s Next Top Model.” If someone told me that Michaele had Shandi as a teenager and gave her up for adoption, I would totally believe them. Keep reading »
