America's Next Top Model 7 - Episode 9 Summary

'Emotional Roller Coasters and Barf Bags' By Belinda Trotter-James

If you love emotional roller coaster rides and drama, America's Next Top Model is the place to be every Wednesday night.  Every cycle fans are treated to one emotional wreck show. The girls get to cry and tell their deep dark secrets to get to their inner core which will help them be better models.  Usually a box of tissues is required to watch this episode; however a barf bag will do just fine.  Read on for all the emotional garbage, commercial plugs and Dalia…

In the first scene the girls are in the limo on their way back to the house.  We hear elimination experts Jaeda and Eugena (who should have been eliminated a long time ago) critique why Anchal was eliminated.  They both believe that Anchal did not have the confidence to compete because she was never away from her parents.  These two would not know confidence even if it came in the form of a new hair cut. Hmmmm.  On the other hand Michelle is still confused on whether she wants to be a model, boy or girl and Jaeda misses her boyfriend.  Caridee is thrilled to have this experience and Melrose is worried that some girls in the house do not want this opportunity badly.

The girls' first lesson of the day is acting.  If this was the very first lesson of the season instead of the nude photo session, maybe we would have gotten better photos from the girls.  Anyway, this week's guest to receive her 15 minutes of fame is Tyra's girlfriend, Tasha.  Tasha explained that they must know how to be in touch with their feelings at a moments notice.  At first Tasha had the girls acting silly and ugly all at once.  Then Tasha had the girls go deeper into what they are feeling at the moment.  (Okay, this is where the barf bag or tissues can be used.)   They started talking about everything from getting their hair cut, getting on each others nerves in the house to feeling confused about life.  The tears started pouring and it sounded like whiney little brats….whah-whah-whah.  Melrose exposed her inner feelings without shedding one tear.  Wow, what happened to Melrose in her life to make her have such tough skin?  Good for her because she is going to need it.  By the end of the session there was not a dry eye in the room.  Let's analyze what the girls have  to cry about… they were selected out of thousands for a dream career as a model, they have the best hair, photographer, wardrobe and makeup people to work with them, free room and board, top training from the one and only Miss Jay plus national television exposure.  Sheesh!  Leave your issues at the door and pick them up again when you're eliminated and please give the viewing audience a break.  I wonder if the application process included psychological testing.  Hmmmmm.

Now that the girls had their lesson, the next thing to do is to put them to the test.  This week's challenge is to star in a silent film.  Tasha would be the director and each girl must show that she can follow the director's instructions.  The winner of the challenge would appear on the hit show, One Tree Hill.  All the girls did well in this challenge and Tasha announced that they would know who the winner would be later.

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The girls went back to the house and we see Caridee on the phone with her boyfriend.  She was still on the emotional roller coaster because she revealed in the cry fest that she wanted to kill herself and now she feels her life is getting better.  Wow, Stand in line Miss Thang… I'm sure we all have felt like throwing in the towel.  Caridee is on national TV, living as a model and has a boyfriend.  It's great to know that life could not get any better than that!

Later that day Tyra Mail revealed that the winner of the silent film challenge was Caridee.  At the end of the Caridee silent film clip Tyra comes in the room to reveal that they all would be going to Spain.  The girls scream with excitement and Jaeda says, "Now I feel more like I'm a part of this competition because I'm going to Spain."  You mean to tell me after being on the show for more than six weeks, you now feel like you're part of the competition.  I don't get it... some girls need to not let anything come out of their mouths.

Later in the show we see Caridee play her part on One Tree Hill which also aired after Wednesday's Top Model show.  The director thought she worked it like a pro.

In the next scene we see the girls getting off the plane in Barcelona, Spain.  They boarded a bus and along the way to their house, they picked up male models along the way who greeted them with flowers.  Only one of the six male models spoke English.  During dinner with the male models, the girls find out that they have to memorize a script written in the local dialect for Secret deodorant.  That's not all… at the end of the commercial the girls have to kiss their male counterpart.  Jaeda's male model revealed at dinner that he does not like Black girls.  What a blow to Jaeda's "pretty girl" image.  She was totally caught off guard by the statement and felt that she would not be able to work with the model.  "I'm really loyal to my boyfriend." began Jaeda, "I have to kiss a guy that says he does not like black girls."  Is it me but what does doing your job  have to do with being loyal to your boyfriend?  It's a peck kiss not a sexual encounter! Do you think the male model was a decoy by the producers to make the show controversial?  Hmmmm.

The next day Jaeda let the statement the model made stay in her head and she was a total mess all day long.  She told Tyra what the model had said to her and Tyra just said that this is the type of situation you will run into and you must deal with it.  Jaeda could not remember her lines, gave up and started crying.  Jay said, "You can't cry because we will not have time to do your makeup over."  I guess Jay is just fed up with cry baby wannabe models season after season.  Michelle and Amanda did not do badly, but it was not good either.  Eugena stepped up her game to keep her around for another week. Caridee was painful to watch.  She won the acting challenge earlier but did horrible in the Secret commercial.  Melrose looked so natural and she interacted very well with all the male props.  She did the best and should have no problem finding work as an entertainment reporter.

At the elimination ceremony guess who lands in the bottom two… Caridee and Jaeda.  Caridee is there because the judges felt she got lost in translation.  Her commercial was so bad that they feel she cannot deliver a commercial shoot.  She had to be put in the bottom two to knock that cocky confidence off her shoulder.  There is no time for relaxing in this competition.  Tyra told Jaeda that she had more than nine lives in this competition.  And with that being said, Jaeda is now the eighth girl to loose a chance at becoming America's Next Top Model.  Let's ask Dalia if she agrees with this weeks pick…

Oh yes I do.  It was definitely time for her to go however; Tyra should have protected her feelings as a Black woman.  I am pissed off because of the comment made by the male model to Jaeda.  Tyra did not protect our girls.  Heads should have rolled and her foot should have come down hard.  She should have not let that the particular model participate in the commercial and her girls should not feel uncomfortable.  I understand in the 'real world' this happens all the time and the girls have to learn to deal with it.   However, this is one of the topics Tyra addressed on her talk show.  We can't stop racism but there  has to be consequences for your actions and Tyra did not step up to the plate to make an example of the male model while also teaching the girls how to deal with people like that who are sprinkled all over the world.  In next week's show we see that Caridee said something disrespectful and Tyra lashed into her.  We will not know until next week what happened but the same way she chastised Caridee, the male model should have gotten the same lashing.  I'm also tired of the cross promotion… Secret, One Tree Hill, yeah, alright already.  We saw the commercial and pop up notes throughout the show.   I loved the behind the scenes dialogue with the girls while they waited for the judges to deliberate.  I want to see more of that type of interaction with the girls when they think the cameras are off.  I see the girls are all jealous of Melrose and don't like when she tries to show the extra things she does to prepare for the challenges.  Good for her!  The others better take notes.  I could definitely see Melrose as an entertainment reporter if she gets rid of the dizzy blonde image.  I'm done.

It's a tall order to try to protect and police the industry when you have knuckleheads thinking they could say anything to anyone and not consider if the words are offensive or hurtful.  Words can definitely make or break a career as in the case with Jaeda.  As we witnessed, Jaeda's beauty did not send her home; the hurtful words of someone sent her home.  Jaeda had some nerve insinuating that Anchal is not grown up enough to deal with the world.  Now we all know that Jaeda still has some growing up to do as well.

Who will be the next to lose the chance to be America's Next Top Model?  Email me at modeldigest@aol.com with your questions for the eliminated models.

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