America's Next Top Model's all-stars edition eliminated Alexandria Everett, a 22-year-old who previously appeared on Top Model's sixteenth season, during Wednesday night's broadcast on The CW.
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"I'm still very proud of myself and what I accomplished with myself this week. It's a great learning experience and I've got to experience some amazing things that would have taken me a couple years to do by myself. Ultimately, this was a really good experience and a really good situation that I learned a tremendous amount from," Alexandria said following her ouster.
Alexandria was eliminated from the eighth episode of America's Next Top Model's seventeenth season after Top Model judges reviewed the music videos the season's seven remaining finalists had appeared in for their eighth challenge, which required them to write their own song and star in their very own music video that would go viral.
Alexandria ended up in the bottom two alongside Angelea Preston, a 25-year-old who previously appeared on Top Model's fourteenth season.
After the girls were given 20 minutes to write their song with the help and guidance of CBS Records music producer Tom Polce and required to put their words to instrumental tracks that were previously created for them, the girls were instructed to sell the visual of their songs through their faces and performances in front of the camera -- taking their brands to the next level.
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The girls gathered at The Village music recording studio and learned rapper Game would be directing their videos alongside Top Model photo shoot director Jay Manuel. In addition, Tyra Banks surprised the girls and told them she'd be featured in their videos with Keenan Cahill, a performer who had over 100 million YouTube hits, and they also must include the words "Pot Ledom" in their songs -- which was Top Model spelt backwards.
Alexandria and Angelea both failed to impress Jay and Game during the filming of their music videos.
"I still don't feel like you are married to the car. What might help you is if you kind of fall back on that hood," Game told Alexandria, unhappy with how she was performing next to a vehicle.
"You need to make it all come together. Own each moment and then it becomes more real," Jay said.
"Alexandria was so awkward and kind of rigid in taking direction, she stunned Game into silence. He turned to me like, 'I think I got a studio calling.' That's not good."
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"I don't have time to put oil in the tin man," Game added.
Jay and Game both felt Angelea wasn't connecting to the camera with her eyes, while she needed all of her takes to get something close to what they were looking for.
"We're running out of time and takes so you have to kill it. If you hear that you're not going anywhere and you've been kicked down, then you want it to read on camera," Game told Angelea. "You gotta sell it."
"I think you might have to come up with one of your camera tricks man to make this work," Game told Jay.
"Angelea's song resonated with me, but it wasn't even the body movement that wasn't telling the story, it was in her eyes. It was so dead," Jay said.
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The next day, the girls arrived for the seventeenth season's eighth elimination panel where they were met by Top Model judges Tyra Banks, Nigel Barker, and Andre Leon Talley, as well as guest judge Game.
The judges first criticized Angelea's video.
"It's a little flat for me. I wish I would have seen you get off that wooden fence and give more variety in your movement," Andre Leon told Angelea.
"I agree with Andre. Yesterday, I gave her a little bit of direction, but you've got to make people watching you believe and it just never registered," Game said.
"Now people are hearing music with their eyes, so you have to be able to sell everything. You're talking about, 'I'm being kicked!' You need to really work that. This is an angry song and it was just blank," Tyra added.
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Alexandria's music video was then critiqued.
"Yesterday, you looked fabulous. The set was great, the car was great, the dress, everything was good. But, I never felt like I wanted to go anywhere. It was like your body chemistry and the lyrics [of go, go, go] just never really matched," Game told her.
"I thought you had such a good chorus with that 'go, go, go.' Keenan and I were actually excited to do your song. We're like going for it, and then to see you, you're performing less than your amazing song," Tyra said.
"I was thinking, 'Okay, this is a model who's been employed to do a music video and the actual singer is not in the video, and you're the girl who's playing with the car," Nigel added.
After panel critiques and the judges had time to deliberate on the contestants, Tyra revealed the girls in order of the best music video to the worst of the week. Allison Harvard, a 23-year-old who previously appeared on Top Model's twelfth season, received the first call-out.
Following Allison, Tyra then revealed Lisa D'Amato, Dominique Reighard, Laura Kirkpatrick, and Shannon Stewart had also advanced in the competition -- leaving Alexandria and Angelea in the bottom two.
Tyra then recapped the girls' issues before revealing which one would get to remain in the competition.
"Alexandria, modeling potential brought you to this competition last cycle. But why we brought you back for the all-stars cycle was more than a model, and in your music video, that's all you were," Tyra told her.
"Angelea, third time in the bottom two and it's not good because the judges felt it was not fun to watch. It was actually uncomfortable because you don't feel comfortable with yourself, so it makes the viewer feel even more uncomfortable."
Tyra then revealed a representation of Angelea's music video on paper, resulting in Alexandria's elimination.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski