Original Air Date: October 21, 2009
Challenge: Interviewing Jessica Lowndes
Challenge Winner: Erin
Photo Shoot: Covergirl commercial
Guest Judge: Kim Kardashian
Called First: Jennifer
Bottom Two: Rae and Erin
Eliminated: Rae

Rae missed her daughter, Nicole is hard to relate to, Erin thinks she’s already a Top Model and the episode is off and running! We have a hair-off and Rae interviews that as Nicole warms up, she’s actually a really cool girl. I think I like Rae. She’s a sweet and nice girl. Not sure about her model potential though.

We learn in this episode that Laura is dyslexic. Want to bet this plays a factor in their CoverGirl commercial later? We don’t have time to dwell on that, as we move to the Insider set where the girls see Lara Spencer do what is possibly the worst interview ever. The girls then take turns interviewing the interviewee from hell.

After a practice round, Ann Shoket shows up. Because we can’t have interviews without Ann Shoket. The prize is the completely relevant spread in Seventeen. For the challenge, the girls will take turns interviewing 90210 star Jessica Lowndes. The girls are told to read the teleprompter, but surprise! it’s blank!

Most of the girls stumble when they realize the prompter is blank. Most girls really struggle, but Erin and Jennifer do well. Ann and Lara declare Erin the winner! She gets to pick two friends and she picks Jen and Rae to come with her.

When everyone is back at the house, they are sent CoverGirl commercial kits. Each girl must write their own commercial and are given the tools they need to prepare for it.

At the CoverGirl commercial, Teyona is there! She gives the girls advice about how she bombed her first CG commercial and what they can learn from that. It’s great to see Teyona, as I was actually looking forward to her My Life as a CoverGirl commercial.

This year’s CG twist is that Nigel, for undisclosed reasons, is directing the commercial. It was a mixed bag, but Jennifer was by far the best. Laura was adorable, Nicole did surprisingly well and Brittany was perfect but robotic. Despite Erin’s confidence, she completely breaks down on set. It’s remarkable what a mess she becomes.

At panel, the critiques aren’t surprising. Well, except at Nicole’s Tyra is all like “that’s not you at all, but it worked.” What a backhanded compliment. I can’t tell if Tyra likes Nicole or not. She loves Jennifer, was lukewarm about Brittany, Rae and Sundai and knew Erin was terrible.

Jennifer, unsurprisingly, gets the first call-out. Jen is followed by Nicole, Brittany, Sundai, and Laura, leaving Rae and Erin in the bottom two. Surprisingly, Erin is saved and Rae gets the boot! I think this is the right call – Erin has more model potential than Rae and will cause more house drama – but whoa! Unexpected! It does explain all the “I miss my daughter” stuff at the beginning of the episode that went completely unmentioned for the next 55 minutes.

Questions

What did you think of the interview challenge?
Is Erin as obnoxious as everyone is saying?
Whose CoverGirl commercial was the best? The worst?
Why do you think Erin broke down like that?
What did you think of Tyra’s 1 + 1 = 3 critique of Brittany? It felt weird to me.
How was Kim as a guest judge?
Did Rae deserve to go home? If not, who did?
Why do you think Tyra kept Erin over Rae?

Post from: Top Model Gossip

Original Air Date: October 14, 2009
Challenge: Go-sees
Challenge Winner: Nicole
Photo Shoot: Ninja warriors
Guest Judge: Jessica White
Called First: Nicole
Bottom Two: Sundai and Kara
Eliminated: Kara

I loved how this episode opens with a hardcore “What!” as we listen to the girls talk about panel. Sundai is happy and Nicole is sad. This makes me mad, as I love Nicole and can’t stand Sundai. After more Nicole-trashing, the girls learn today is go-see day! It sucks they’re doing go-sees in Los Angeles, as I love the foreign go-sees with the language barriers and difficult directions. To make things more difficult, they ex-nay GPS and make them use old fashion maps and divide the girls into teams.

I’m glad the go-sees are realistic jobs for short models – a jewelry campaign and a television ad is among them. No one seems to be a true standout, but I won’t be surprised if Nicole takes the prize. Her look is unique and at 5′7″, she could actually work. As always, someone needs to be late, and this time Sundai and Rae miss the deadline. I doubt either of them were at the top, so their disqualification probably won’t affect the results.

When the girls are standing in a row, Nicole looks like a giant. Sean and the model gives both girls positive and negative feedback. In the end, I’m proven right as Nicole is named the winner! She wins Neil Lane earrings, three dresses and gets a national commercial. That’s a pretty sweet prize.

I love when Erin was all “they just wanted you to win” Nicole was all “No, I earned this!”

Nicole’s win results in more Nicole-trashing. Kara and Sundai are driving me bananas. I get being driven and not winning the challenge should inspire you to perform, but their idea of competition is petty, not healthy. Brittany bugs me less than they do and she’s the most competitive of the bunch!

After go-sees, it’s photo shoot time. The girls get some ninja training before doing their photo shoot, which is going to be three separate photos merged together to make one action sequence. The girls actually get to pick their own weapon, which creates a unique element.

At panel, the judges love nearly everyone except Kara and Sundai. I’m glad Nigel called Sundai out for her sameness in every photo shoot. Nicole gets the first call-out, followed by Laura, Brittany, Erin, Jennifer and Rae. The criticisms made the bottom two obvious and in the end Kara goes home. I didn’t really care about Kara one way or the other, so this doesn’t bother me.

Questions
Who did the best on the go-sees?
What did you think of the different go-see tasks?
Is Sundai and Kara’s Nicole-bashing too strong?
What did you think of the photo shoot concept?
Which weapon would you have chosen?
How was Jessica White as a guest judge?
Which photo was your favorite? Least favorite?
Did Kara deserve to go home?

Post from: Top Model Gossip

Full recap, including who goes home, below the jump!

Original Air Date: October 7, 2009
Challenge: Conveying emotions through dance
Challenge Winner: Rae, Jennifer and Kara
Photo Shoot: Cirque du Soliel group shout
Guest Judge: Josie Maran
Called First: Brittany, Rae and Jennifer
Bottom Two: Kara and Ashley
Eliminated: Ashley

Oh poor Ashley. She’s all whiny about the bottom two, even though she totally deserved it and she’s not the first person ever to be in the bottom two. Nicole also is upset over Nigel’s criticism of her voice. Kara whines about Nicole. but it really makes Kara look bad and not Nicole.

After more whining, the girls meet Benny Ninja, who is going to teach them to dance! After torturing the girls, Benny surprises them with a professional dance troupe to completely upshow everything they just did. The dance troupe also gets music, which I think is unfair. They then learn about the challenge – conveying emotions through dance. The winners get $17,000 worth of jewelry. So jealous! Nut I’d be afraid to wear it anywhere. Ashley is paired with Erin and Nicole then immediately complains about it. STFU Ashley. She’s driving me crazy this episode and we’re barely 10 minutes in.

Each team gets an hour to prepare their dance, then we see the lamest Jabberwocky performance of all time. The dance crew is amazing, but there are like 10 people in the audience and it’s clearly in a high school gym or something. Also, it’s 2 minutes long. At least last cycle, Benny Ninja made the girls perform in a dance club.

Rae, Kara and Jennifer are up first and they’re really good. Sundai, Laura and Brittany were second and were a bit too literal in their dancing. Erin, Ashley and Nicole were third and even though they had a dance instructor in Ashley, it was by far the worst. I think Ashley gave up to easily on Erin and Nicole. Rae, Jennifer and Kara are unsurprisingly named the winners.

Kara bitches some more about Nicole. She’s driving me crazy too. This is the first time she’s getting any substantial screen time. It’s too bad she’s so annoying, because I love her face.

At 4:30am, Jay comes by to wake-up the girls. But not really, because he’s there via video. I’m assuming this is a shout-out to Canada’s Next Top Model JayMail and not because he didn’t want to get up this early. Once in Vegas, the girls meet Cirque du Soliel and learn the photo shoot will be Cirque du Soliel themed and it;s the season’s first group shot. Mike Rosenthal is the photographer and he gets a cool up-through-the-floors entrance. He deserves it for putting up with ANTM over and over. During the shoot, I notice the makeup is all about the eyebrows. Tyra is really taking a cue from the high fashion circles this season.

At panel, Rae is the stand-out in her photo, Laura is the stand-out in hers and Sundai is the stand-out in hers. However, this leaves Ashley, Jennifer and Nicole the weak links in their sets.

Brittany, Rae and Jennifer are called out first together in a Top Model first. Laura, Nicole, Sundai and Erin follow, leaving Ashley and Kara in the final two. Tyra gives another weird noun/verb lecture. Ashley gets the boot and I’m not surprised. She’s been performing poorly for weeks now, whereas Kara’s been middle-of-the-pack to somewhere near the front most of the time. At least she leaves with the “Top Model” goodbye song playing!

Questions
Did Ashley annoy you as much as she annoyed me?
What did you think of the dance challenge?
Are you disappointed Benny didn’t make the girls vogue?
What did you think about the Las Vegas trip?
Whose photo was the best? The worst?
Do you get the Sundai love?
Were Nicole’s criticisms of her lack of contortion fair?
How was Josie Maran as a guest judge?
What did you think of the group judging and group call-out?
Did Ashley deserve to go home?

Post from: Top Model Gossip

Full recap, including who goes home, below the jump!

Original Air Date: September 30, 2009
Challenge: Walmart race challenge
Challenge Winner: Sundai
Photo Shoot: beauty shoot with headwraps
Guest Judge: China Chow
Called First: Brittany (chosen before panel)
Bottom Two:Bianca and Ashley
Eliminated: Bianca

The girls get back from elimination and we learn Brittany hates being in the bottom two, Bianca is learning a lot, and Ashley is in it to win it. The girls then go meet with Sam Fine, who gives them a make-up lesson.

Sam Fine shows the girls the four products they need – mascara, concealer, bronzer and gloss. I have the exact products in my make-up bag right now. Go me! Tyra would be so proud. After the girls meet Sam, they head to the Walmart parking lot in the middle of the night (that’s not sketchy at all). Somehow, Nigel coerced his wife to come to introduce the Walmart challenge. It’s an Amazing Race style challenge, with eliminations at each station.

We get a montage of Erin getting physical and all I can think is “Go Erin!” Nigel didn’t give them any rules about no physical contact or stealing other girls’ photos. I don’t think she was being malicious, just competitive.

Sundai wins the challenge and she jumps like a maniac. I can’t get on the Sundai train, I just can’t. When we retreat to the house, Kara figures out the Tyra Mail in four seconds. Tyra’s really lacking in the creative department this cycle. At least fit a pun in there, Tyra.

Tyra is this week’s photographer and the theme is headwraps. She tells the girls the number one photo of the week will be chosen at the photo shoot and that girl won’t have to endure elimination. I think this change-up pretty much proves that the other judges are irrelevant at panel.

In the photo shoot, Jennifer puts on a porno show, Brittany completely rocks it, Bianca channels Jesus, and Ashley needs her headwrap changed twice.

I love how when Tyra talked about each girl, she wore a corresponding headwrap. This season is 100% the Tyra show. Tyra declares Brittany the winner and her prize is to do a photo shoot with two male models Tyra discovered herself.

At panel, Tyra rips Ashley one for falling short. She’s definitely going home today. I love Brittany, Erin and Nicole’s photo. After Brittany, Tyra calls Jennifer, Rae, Nicole, Erin, Laura, Sundai and Kara, leaving Ashley and Bianca in the bottom two. If Bianca gets saved again, I’ll tear my hair out. It looks like Tyra is finally paying attention, because Bianca gets the boot. But Ashley is so boring, I don’t feel redeemed at all.

I do love the new “Top Model” elimination song. Top model, top model…

Questions
Was Erin’s dirty play in the Walmart challenge fair?
Did everyone overreact to Erin’s race tactics?
What do you think of Tyra picking the best photo before panel?
What do you think of the photo shoot concept?
Is Bianca a verb or a noun?
Whose photo was the best? The worst?
Did Bianca deserve to go home? If not, who would you have eliminated?

Post from: Top Model Gossip

Full recap, including who headed home, is below the jump!

Original Air Date: September 23, 2009
Challenge: Kevan Hall fashion show
Challenge Winner: Brittany
Photo Shoot: Looking Tall
Guest Judge: Jamie Rishar
Called First: Kara
Bottom Two: Lulu and Brittany
Eliminated: Lulu

Bianca wants to relax, like Frankie. But she’s clearly not listening to Frankie and is pissing everyone off in the house. However, Nicole really doesn’t like Ashley and Lulu and is giving Bianca the benefit of the doubt. She thinks you need to get to know people before you judge them. I think I love Nicole, but she’s not going to win. Her personality is too demure and subtle for Tyra.

It’s runway day (because petite models do so much runway) and Miss J comes out with mini-J, aka Diva Davanna. I love Diva, she rocks. I hope she wins Top Model. That would be the greatest twist ever.

Brittany interviews about how she needs to bring the sex out. Girl, did you not see the first episode? Tyra was all “stop sexing it up!” Something weird is going on here – either Tyra is crazy or Brittany is. Hmmm….

After Miss J makes fun of everyone, they have a walk-off. I hope this ends in a dance-off. We flash back to Tyra circa 1998 as an example for when we team-model. It’s kinda like the Amazing Race, but in model form.

Thanks to Sundai, Bianca is no longer oblivious to the haters and now it’s war! We don’t get enough context to really pick sides, which is frustrating.

This week’s challenge is a fashion show at a Malibu mansion with Kevan Hall. The girls are going to be paired with a model partner that’s over 5′10″. I’m super excited to see this! I think Nicole will fit right in and Sundai’s uber-shortness will make her stand-out. The rest of the girls are going to look awkward.

Of course, Ann Shoket showed up. It only took four episodes. How many more times do you think she’ll show up this year?

Why is Ann Shoket giving runway advice? Why?!! She chooses Brittany and her prize is a Seventeen magazine prom spread. She picks Laura and Kara, which excites me because I’m excited for Laura’s commentary about the shoot. I think I want her to win. She’d be adorable on the cover of Seventeen.

After some Ashley-Lulu-Bianca non-drama, it’s photo shoot time. The theme of the shoot is all about using dresses, hair, make-up and props to look taller. I’m so over this shortness obsession. If I wanted a supertall look for my shoot, I’d hire a supertall model. Tyra needs to stop forcing these girls into situations that wouldn’t really happen professionally.

At panel, Erin, Kara and Nicole impress whereas Brittany, Lulu and Rae come up short. (haha, I’m so witty). In the end, the judges choose Kara to have pho-to of the week and Lulu gets the boot. I think the judges made the right choice, but it’s really Lulu’s makeover that was the end of her. Her look lost it’s spark when she lost the faux hawk.

Questions
Is Bianca the bad guy? Or are Lulu and Ashley being ridiculous?
Who has the best runway walk? The worst?
What did you think of the photo shoot concept?
Is Ashley getting the same edit as Analeigh? Or is her dancing a legitimate problem?
Did Brittany and Lulu deserve to be the bottom two?
Whose photo was the best? The worst?

Post from: Top Model Gossip

Full recap, including who goes home, is below the jump!

Original Air Date: September 16, 2009
Challenge Wilhelmina go-see
Eliminated: Rachel
Challenge: Simze-ing
Challenge Winners: Courtney, Laura, Bianca, Brittany, Lulu, Kara,
Photo Shoot: Nude on a horse
Guest Judge: Lauren Conrad
Called First: Erin
Bottom Two: Bianca and Courtney
Eliminated: Courtney

It’s the first time we see the intro and it’s all about Tyra and how short everyone is. Their heights are even next to their names. Rub it in, Tyra, rub it in. I wouldn’t be surprised if the girls are forced to wear flats the entire cycle so Tyra can reinforce the issue.

We immediately get shipped off to Wilhelmina Models, where models of all types of beauty are welcome. Unlike that other agency, Elite. Bitches. I wonder if Elite will return next cycle. I doubt it. I’m honestly surprised Wilhelmina came back after the original Top Model switch. How many cycles will it be until Ford steps in?

Even when Tyra’s not around, they manage to make it all about her. Nigel tells the girls about how Tyra had to see six different agencies before she got signed in Los Angeles and she’s 5′10″! This completely goes against the story about how she was swept on a plane to Paris at 17 and had no idea what she was getting into, doesn’t it?

At Wilhelmina, we learn about Jennifer’s lazy eye. Will that be her downfall? It’s not nearly as terrible as Rachel’s inability to burst into song on demand. Uh-oh. Nigel is not impressed.

After the girls meet with Scott and Nigel, they learn it isn’t a challenge. Instead, they’re all losers and the biggest loser has to leave. Right now. Ooh, the suspense! There’s no dramatic call out, Scott is just like “Rachel, get out.” Nigel plays good cop and apologizes and gives a Tyra-esque goodbye speech.

I’m really confused as to why the double elimination is happening so soon in the season. With 14 girls, I get that a double elimination is inevitable, but why now? We haven’t learned enough about the girls for it to compel or shock us as a viewer. I guess they want to show the girls they’re serious about this cycle, but I’m just confused.

The girls then go and meet with the fakest French man ever. It’s terrible acting if any of the girls fall for this, I’ll die. Tyra then comes in with her dramatic superhero appearance. It’s her alter ego Super Smize. At least we got the crazy Tyra-intro, even though it was one episode late. She obliterates the photographer with her smize-ing ability.

(When did superheroes start talking like robots?)

The challenge this week is a smize-off that reminds me a bit like Dance Dance Revolution. The girls face-off two by two and all the winners get to eat dinner with Scott from Wilhelmina and the losers have to clean the dishes.

The photo shoot is inspired by Seabiscuit, the little horse who went on to do great things. It’s a metaphor, you see. Because these models are short. Some girls rock (Rae, Laura, Erin), some struggle (Jennifer, Bianca, Courtney) and everyone else falls somewhere in between. Courtney’s all “Jay was concerned about my safety! Damn it!” because she’s too tough to model without the boot. I think she got into her own head.

At panel, the first thing I notice is all flats. Again. I’m so over this short thing. This week, the guest judge is Lauren Conrad. Because she know so much about petite models?

Tyra needs to explain what smize-ing is to Miss J and it’s clear he thinks it’s the stupidest thing he’s ever heard. I love Brittany’s, Laura’s, Erin’s and Nicole’s. Sundai looks like a little kid in hers, Bianca looks very masculine, and Courtney just looks angry. For the second week in a row, the guest judge says decent things, but doesn’t contribute anything substantial. It’s all about Tyra now.

Erin gets the first call-out. I’m surprised, but it’s a great photo. She’s followed by Brittany, Laura, Nicole, Kara, Jennifer, Sundai, Rae, Lulu, Ashley. This leaves Bianca and Courtney in the bottom two. While Bianca deserves to go home, she’s clearly not, because she’ll bring the drama in the house. Tyra, hopefully, learned her lesson from last cycle when she eliminated Sandra and the cycle went downhill like mad. But is that fair?

Questions
Will Jennifer be able to overcome her lazy eye?
Was Rachels’ mid-episode elimination fair?
Why did they have a double elimination so early?
What does Tyra find delicious?
Who smized the best? The worst?
What did you think of the photo shoot concept?
How was Lauren Conrad as a guest judge?
Whose photo was the best? The worst?
Did Bianca deserve to stay over Courtney?

Post from: Top Model Gossip