It never ceases to amaze me how captivating ANTM continues to be despite having repeated 12 times. Not all shows can say the same *cough*Project Runway *cough*. I thought the production this season was well done as usual, but the quality of the girls seem to be deteriorating. None of the girls were terribly memorable, besides the few who were terribly annoying *cough*Alasia*cough*. There wasn’t much real competition, and it was pretty obvious since episode 8 who was going to win. They must be running out of potential models in America. Girls who were eliminated first round in previous seasons, just keep coming back,  eventually making it into the house. Girls are so desperate to stand out from the crowd that they told the world about getting  pregnant the first time they had sex! FYI, that is not a personal achievement and frankly we don’t want to know about it.

But anyways, congratulations to Krista. She deserved the title. I totally didn’t see it coming from the first few episodes, but clearly when she “got it” she got it, because it obviously wasn’t luck that led her to winning the best picture (and challenges) week after week after week. She knew what she was doing and once she got all the free clothes she even started looking remarkably like a model. I was even impressed by her cutesy performance at the Anna Sui runway, since her walk is usually much more cool and high fashion than that.

Raina Raina. I was surprised the judges didn’t call her out for relying on her pretty face, because honestly, I think that’s what got her so far. She kind of just hid safely in the pack week after week, and suddenly she just popped out of nowhere. I don’t even recall her winning a best picture! Admittedly though her features are pretty striking. But as bitchy as I thought Krista and Alexandra were, I think they were right saying she was fake. She does get overly excited and cheerful, and sound kind of scripted sometimes.

As much as I didn’t like Angelea’s confrontational personality, I was surprised to see her fall behind week after week. She was doing so well, and she seemed so hardcore! I was actually routing for Jessica. I thought she was very pretty and sweet, with just a hint of bitchiness that kept her from being too fake. Except she did seem to have lost her touch towards the end, and I wasn’t surprised to see her go after the sheep shot. The rest of the models were all just very mediocre. I remember Alasia being super immature and a lot of whining from Brenda and Anslee about their babies. I was also surprised that Ren got to skip the first round. It doesn’t seem very fair for the other models, even though she was eliminated early.

The best part of the show remains with the fun challenges, cool prizes and creative photo shoots. Essentially, they’re teaching and doing the same thing every time, but it’s interesting to see them doing it a different way. Learning about timing by doing a runway through moving pendulums,  learning to move with a dancing themed shoot, doing a live commercial at Times Square and expressing their personalities at a drag show, it was all very fun to watch. I especially enjoyed seeing the land of the sheep through the eyes of ANTM. I had no idea there was so much fashion in New Zealand. The clothes that Angelea and Krista won were a HUGE improvement and much needed for the two of them. I’m already berating my friend for not taking me to the hobbit holes last time I went.

This season they also switched Paulina over for Andre Leon Talley, which I thought was a great coup. He’s one of those intriguing characters in fashion that you see around all the time and yet have no idea what he does and what he’s like except that he likes to wear big capes. It was interesting seeing him on the show unveiling part of the mystery and sharing ‘drecktitude’ with us.

So kudos to the production team for another good season. Just one thing though… is it just me, or is your budget getting lean? A personality challenge with Nigel on a Ferris Wheel and a runway challenge on the aisle of an airplane on your way Queenstown …. a bit weak, no?

Image Source: CWTV