America's Next Top Model: Wanna be a Quitter? (Episode 24.4)

©VH1. All Rights Reserved.

Acting challenges are the bread and butter of ANTM’s wackiness. Why Tyra thinks that any of her girls will have even a semi-successful acting career is beyond me. I’m not complaining. After all, watching young wannabe models flail their way through a short scene is always the most entertaining. I still fondly remember the time the girls needed to whip out a cockney accent for their challenge in Cycle 4. If you haven’t seen it, go and watch it. “SUNNY ROSE I AM!” Classic.

That also happens to be the episode where Tyra yells at Tiffany. Cycle 4. Episode 7. I’ll wait while you go and catch yourself up.

Welcome back to the review! The Cycle 24 acting challenge is standard Top Model fare. Tyra sends some scripts over to the girls (“be sure you memorize these”), pairs them with an attractive male actor (this time in the form of Kevin Phillips) and all of the girls’ lines quickly fly out the window. In their defense, the scene is amazingly awful and so emotionally inconsistent. One moment the models are mad at their boyfriend (Phillips) for spitting on their Brazilian blowout and the next they are straddling him and calling him papi. It’s wild, y’all.

As expected, almost all of the girls flounder. Watching them mill about as they search for lines and attempt to not full-on hump Phillips is entertaining. Liz, in particular, has a very difficult time figuring out how to act like a normal human which isn’t surprising considering the pink-haired beauty is a bit of a wacko. Coura, who has been somewhat of a judges favorite (I mean, her makeover was called The Coura, how much more teacher’s pet could she be?), struggles more than anyone else. All of the confidence she carried with her through the first couple of weeks has dissipated. It’s unfortunate considering there is so much untapped potential.

Shanice finally tapped into her inner fierceness to overcome last week's setbacks.
©2018. Photo by Pottle Productions.

Khrystyana, who has already proven herself an adroit competitor this cycle, shines in this challenge. Even as a fan of hers, I was shocked to see her do so well. With her demure personality, I didn’t expect Khrystyana to nail any of the sexiness of the piece. I was happily mistaken. Another shocking standout was Shanice, who had come so close to elimination last week that Tyra gave a not-so-veiled threat of her imminent departure. Sure, she didn’t know a single word in the script but she improvised like a pro and served the most entertaining performance in the bunch. Entertainment, however, doesn’t prove enough and Khrystyana wins her second challenge.

Tensions in the house begin to fester between Liz and the other models. Liz believes the other girls are intentionally attacking her and making her a target. If I believed that was true, I would tell her to be thankful because that would mean the other girls see her as competition. I, however, believe that she is making a very large mountain out of a molehill.

The photoshoot rolls around and demonstrates Tyra’s desire to jump on the pop culture bandwagon a little too late. She’s themed this week after American Horror Story. You know, because that show premiered seven years ago. Regardless, the shoot turns out some cool fashion. Sidebar: I’m really into Drew Elliott’s artistic direction this cycle. He has done a great job injecting energy back into shoots that became so droll during Johnny Wujek’s tenure.

Christina, who I haven't been a fan of, managed to turn it out with the most difficult outfit of the week.
©2018. Photo by Pottle Productions.

Rhiyan begins to crumble at the photoshoot. She used to be overweight and she’s struggled with her body image and self-worth since then. Despite being one of the hottest models of the cycle she continually holds back because she doesn’t think she’s good enough. Top Model remains a mind game. And that mind game is also starting to get the best of Coura, who is uninspiring on set, and Sandra, who doesn’t know how to model off Instagram. Christina (with her blah highlighter hair) and Liz are the only ones who turn it out enough to warrant visceral reactions from Drew on set. But that doesn’t mean they necessarily have best photo…

Panel is drawing closer and closer and Liz is feeling more attacked in the house by the hour. She is so uncomfortable with the living situation, in fact, that she spends the night before panel off-site (presumably in a hotel). Prior to the eliminations, Liz meets with Tyra backstage and has a sincere heart-to-heart. All of the social struggles are getting to her and affecting her on a deep psychological level. Tyra expresses her sadness but willingly accepts Liz’s decision to leave the competition. I, for one, am happy to see Liz depart. Excepting a few fierce looks, she never displayed many chops and would likely have left before they go abroad (assuming they still do that) anyway.

Once again, I’m blown away by how GOOD this panel looks. They might be the sexiest panel yet. Exempting Nigel Barker of course. Rawr.

Most of the photos this week are pretty uninspiring. Khrystyana turns in a serviceable photo but I’m not nearly as inspired by that as her inability to mean-mug and say “bitch” to the judges. She’s adorable and will likely stay around just from her personality. Shanice, who was a defeatist last week, serves up so much joy that Law tells her he would have pretended to like her (average) photo even if he didn’t. Jeana, who is my personal favorite, turns out a fierce punk Pinocchio shot which gets such little screen time that I know she isn’t getting best photo (again).

Khrystyana may have a winning personality but this photo doesn't seem like "best photo" material.
©2018. Pottle Productions.

On the sadder end of the spectrum, Coura falls completely flat in her picture. Not only does she fail to deliver a quality performance but she expresses her insecurities to the judges before her photo shows up. Law (who is becoming quite the voice of reason) lets her know that’s a bad strategy: the judges will just be thinking about how much she hated her performance now. Rhiyan cries in front of the judges when her photo appears. All of her insecurities are flooding back to the surface in a move that usually wins pity points from Tyra. Sandra additionally hates her photo and cries backstage about how much she expects she will go home. All three of those ladies land in the bottom three. 

Sandra, who was the surest that she would go home, is the lucky one who avoids the bottom two. Tyra’s decision is obvious: she keeps Coura because Coura is the judge favorite for some reason. Honestly, I don’t really understand Coura that much. She is like a boring version of Cycle 14’s Krista. And I mean that in the nicest way. The fact that Tyra doesn’t save Rhiyan is a little bit upsetting. Especially when Rhiyan sobs that this confirms her feeling she wasn’t good enough for the competition.

Overall, there was too much personal drama in an episode that should have focused way more on the weird photoshoot. I miss the days of classic Top Model when the photoshoot was the real star.

Only 11 girls remain. Tune in next week to see who's still in the running toward being America's Next Top Model.
If you liked this review, don't forget to Join the Club and Subscribe!