Americas next top model cycle 18
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When they looked at photos, there wasn’t a manufactured rubric to use.
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The judges were Janice Dickinson, the acidic, self-proclaimed first supermodel, Marie Claire editor Beau Quillian, Kimora Lee Simmons, and, of course, Tyra Banks. Related StoriesĪmerica’s Next Top Model Was the Only Reality Show That Understood CampĪt its best, ANTM’s first season felt like a glimpse into how fashion actually worked: infuriatingly idiosyncratic, wildly subjective, and at its core, misogynist. Modeling can be deeply unglamorous, and there was something about the low production value that reflected that simple truth.
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And whether or not you buy her reasoning, she was right. Tyra says that this is because she wanted to reflect the reality of life as a working model (a principle she would quickly discard once the show got a larger budget). When the wannabe-models go to Paris, they’re penned into a small one-bedroom hotel room where there aren’t even enough beds for them. There was no soundstage, and the challenges were remarkably straightforward: Walk down the catwalk, do a press interview, strike a pose. It was rough and unwieldy the judging panel took place in a room so cramped the camera couldn’t properly zoom back far enough to include the wall hanging of Tyra Banks behind the judges. The first season - and I’m going to call it a season because that’s what it was then - is stunningly humble in comparison. They were better produced, more complete seasons with increasingly hysterical challenges that eventually became the show’s trademark. But Shandi’s affaire de coeur! But “We were all rooting for you!” But Eva’s tarantula photo! (We practiced that one in the mirror for days.) Yes, the other cycles had higher points of drama. It actually felt like it was about modeling, and the only time the show followed Tyra’s own advice: “Human is beautiful, perfect is boring.” It was a rough draft of a show, a moment before Tyra had repurposed it as a vehicle for herself and her life philosophy. It was forever and always a show about Tyra Banks, and when you realize this incontrovertible truth, there’s only one season that transcended Tyra: the first cycle. But as the show went through various iterations - the British invasion, the short season, and, most wisely, the inclusion of men - its essence never really changed. It was a surprise hit at the start of the reality-television boom, and since then, ANTM has skillfully repackaged itself, doubling down on its popularity with multiple “cycles” a year, produced at a relatively cheap cost. It’s been 12 years, 300 contestants, countless tears, and one face merkin since Tyra Banks started her humble modeling competition on the UPN network in the summer of 2003. Tonight America’s Next Top Model will crown its 22nd and final winner.