Jessica cut from 'America's Next Top Model's twelfth season

Jessica, an 18-year-old student from Bradenton, FL, was revealed to be the second runway wannabe eliminated from America's Next Top Model's twelfth season during last night's broadcast on The CW.


"So I got eliminated, big surprise," Jessica said following his elimination. "I'm not used to people criticizing me like that. I've never heard anything less than 'you're beautiful' but I appreciate [America's Next Top Model host Tyra Banks] so much for what she did to me. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything, but I'm gonna go home with my head held high because I think I'm way prettier than some of the other girls that are left here"

America's Next Top Model's second twelfth-season episode began with the 12 remaining girls returning to their townhouse following the elimination of Isabella Falk over Sandra, a 19-year-old student from Rockville, MD. The judges' decision to eliminate Isabella instead of Sandra irritated some of the girls.

"I'm mad as hell Isabella went home, Sandra shoulda went home,' said Aminat, a 21-year-old student from Union, NJ. "If [Sandra] was the one sent home she wouldn't have gotten a hug from any one of us. It woulda just been like 'Bye bitch.'"

Aminat went so far as to confront Sandra about how she felt, telling her that "The better person went home today."


"I don't care what they think," Sandra said later. "At the end of the day it's all about me."

After receiving Tyra Mail, the girls traveled to Bergdorf Goodman where they met with judge J. "Miss J" Alexander and photo shoot director Jay Manuel and were told that they would be receiving makeovers by stylist John Barrett in his salon.

Each one of the girls, with some trepidation, went into their makeovers and had their hair adjusted as per the instructions of Tyra. Jessica was the first model to receive her makeover, which attempted to "edge" her out as they shortened her hair, added some wave to it and dyed it red.

Among the other makeovers the girls received were Allison, a 20-year-old artist from New Orleans, LA having her hair dyed blonde and puffed out to compliment her large eyes; Nijah, an 18-year-old aspiring model from Rancho Cucamonga, CA, having her weave exaggerated; Sandra having her hair almost completely cut off and then dyed blonde; Fo, a 19-year-old student from Albuquerque, NM, having her "cuteness" brought out of her by chopping off most of her hair; Celia, a 25-year-old designer in fashion sales from Cynthiana, KY, having her long blonde "stringy" hair cut short and styled; Aminat having her weave taken off and replaced with "Naomi Campbell waves" instead; Kortnie, a 24-year-old non-profit organizer from Houston, TX, having her brown hair dyed red; London, an 18-year-old student from Arlington, TX, having her hair dyed blonde, cut short and styled; Teyona, a 20-year-old loss prevention representative from Woodstown, NJ, having her hair slicked back into what Tyra described best as a jerry curl; and Tahlia, an 18-year-old student from  Phoenix, AZ, having her hair dyed blonde and enhanced into a "mane" with a weave.
 
Natalie, a 19-year-old student from Palos Verdes, CA, was extremely hesitant about her makeover, especially when it appeared that she was about to have most of her long brown hair shaved off. However, Jay then surprised her by saying that, in a rare occurrence, Tyra had decided not to adjust her style at all.

"When we first saw you in casting we went 'Model, head to toe. We don't need to do anything,'" he said. "The real lesson here is you gotta trust the people you work with. We're not making decisions for shock value."


"You guys were horrible," Natalie said with a laugh, before later adding that she was very flattered by Tyra's decision to not change her look at all.

Upon returning to the house, Fo sobbed over her new short haircut and had to be comforted by the girls.

"I never felt ugly until today. I have to hide my hair to feel pretty," she said later. "This is what's gonna break me in this competition."

Quite the contrary, Jessica was beyond happy about her makeover, saying that it made her look "sexy as hell."

The girls then met with makeup artist Sutan and Ellysa Starkman, a representative for Covergirl, who informed them that in addition to the competition's other prizes, the season's winner would also have picture featured in the company's ads in Wal-Mart stores across the country.


Because there are no Wal-Mart locations in New York City, Ellysa then revealed a makeshift "Wal-Mart wall" of covergirl cosmetics for them and revealed that they would break into four teams of three, scour the streets of Manhattan for a girl they felt embodied the Covergirl image and bring her to the wall and teach her about the company's Exact Eyelight mascara. Ellysa reminded the girls that they would be acting as ambassadors for Covergirl, and that the team that was the best at being informative about the product would be chosen to pose for a photo shoot advertising the eyeliner that would be put on Wal-Mart's website.

After dividing up the teams -- with Sandra, Aminat and Celia making up Team 1; Fo, Kortnie and Teyona in Team 2; Jessica, Tahlia and London making up Team 3; and Allison, Nijah and Natalie in Team 4 -- the teams were given 20 minutes to find a girl and bring them back to the wall and inform them of the product.

Ellysa noted that Team 1 "spent a lot of time introducing their Covergirl to the Wal-Mart wall' but also said that Sandra was too quiet during the presentation.

She added that Team 2 was "all over the place" with their presentation and talked over each other for much of the time, but complimented Team 3's abilities as makeup artists as they dolled up their girl before clarifying that the challenge required them to inform about -- and not apply -- the eyeliner to their girl. Ellysa also chided Team 4 for leading their girl away from the wall and taking the product with them instead of keeping their presentation at the wall itself.

After the challenge had ended, Ellysa revealed that Team 1 had won and would be taking part in the Covergirl photo shoot.


The following day, the girls met with Jay in an alley for their photo shoot and told that they would be taking part in a rock-and-roll-themed shoot that would also feature the girls lighting themselves with two handheld flashbulbs. Additionally, it was revealed that Top Model judge Nigel Barker would be the photographer for the shoot.

"As a model you always have to know where your light is, that where you're gonna look your best," Jessica said. "You know it sounds easy, but when you're actually there it's not."

Jessica proved to have a difficult time lighting herself with Nigel telling her that she was lighting the bottom of her face, not unlike a child holding a flashlight under their chin while telling a ghost story.

"She doesn't really understand the concept," Nigel said later. "I couldn't get any light in her eyes, even when they were right up in front of her eyes."

Fo ran into trouble during her shoot after Jay began speaking about her makeover, causing her to begin crying in the middle of her shoot. Her shoot was not made any better by her awkward posing as she tried to lean on a pole unsuccessfully.


"Once I got up there I was just like a deer caught in the headlights," Fo said later. "I don't know how to work with this hair and it scares me because I can't get over the cut. It's so short."

Conversely, Jay and Nigel both marveled over Teyona's shoot, with Jay calling her shoot "genius" while Nigel complimented her ability to properly light herself.

The following day, the girls met with judges Tyra, Miss J., Nigel, Paulina Porizkova and guest judge -- and former Top Model judge himself -- Nole Marin for panel.

Well aware of Fo's issues with her makeover, Tyra said she looked "absolutely stunning" before looking at her photo. However, Nigel noted that she had "let the makeover get the best of you" during the shoot and added that she had never seen a girl cry in the middle of a photo shoot before. Tyra added that Fo's reaction had forced her to questions whether or not she should be a model since such a large part of the job involved looking the way other people wanted you to instead of the way you wanted. Nole added that she had to "step it up and swallow those tears."

The judges were harsher on Jessica, whom they said simply did not look good at all in her picture.

"Whoa. That's an ugly picture, you may be novella star, but honey not there," Nole said. Tyra added that there was too much of "the wrong kind of tension" in her mouth and added that her eyes were not strong enough in the picture.


The judges praised Teyona's shot, with Nole complimenting her pose while Tyra had nothing negative to say to her except to not rest on the laurels of the positive comments and keep working hard so she didn't fall of as the competition progressed.

"I've gotta say Teyona you rocked it," Nigel gushed. "For me this was your shoot."

Following deliberation by the judges, Tyra revealed that Teyona had taken the best picture of the shoot and would have her shot displayed as digital art in the girls' townhouse. She then proceeded to reveal that Celia, Allison, Natalie, London, Nijah, Tahlia, Sandra, Kortnie, and Aminat were still in the running to become America's Next Top Model and that either Fo or Jessica, who were in the bottom two, would be eliminated from the competition.

Tyra first addressed Fo on why she had fallen into the bottom two.

"Nothing wrong with a girl crying about losing her hair, but the problem that the judges have with you is that you didn't leave those tears in that salon, and we question whether or not you have what it takes to be the chameleon you need to be to be a model."

Tyra then turned her attention to Jessica.


"The judges look at you and the go 'Wow this girl is so pretty.' But the problem that the judges have with you is that your pretty isn't translating to your photos."

"So who stays?" she asked, before revealing that Fo would remain in the competition while an already crying Jessica had been eliminated.

The next episode of America's Next Top Model will air on Wednesday, March 18 at 8PM ET/PT on The CW.






About The Author: John Bracchitta