Joslyn Pennywell the eighth girl cut from 'America's Next Top Model'

Joslyn Pennywell, a 23-year-old student from Lucky, LA , missed a chance to go to Amsterdam and became the eighth contestant to be eliminated from America's Next Top Model's eleventh season during last night's broadcast of The CW reality series.


"I was in complete shock that I was eliminated, I really did not see it coming," Joslyn said following her elimination. "I do not feel like all of the girls who are traveling abroad deserve to go, but I'm a survivor and I'm never giving up and just because I'm not going to Amsterdam doesn't mean that I'm going to give up now."

America's Next Top Model's seventh episode began with Elina, a 19-year-old from Seattle, WA,  complaining to Marjorie, a 19-year-old student from San Francisco, CA, about the judges' judging panel comments that she still wasn't using her emotions enough in her shoots.

Marjorie said that the criticisms of Elina were "really hard to listen to," and suggested that her inability to show emotions had probably been instilled in her during her upbringing in Ukraine.

"We don't cry, it's definitely hard to be understood here," said Marjorie, who was born in France.


However, both Samantha, an 18-year-old student athlete from Woodland Hills, CA, and Sheena, a 21-year-old hostess/go-go dancer from Honolulu, HI, took issue with the girls using their overseas origins as excuses for their lack of emotions.

"Didn't you guys move here when you were eight or something?" asked Samantha. "Like, didn't you have 11 years to adapt to [American] society?"

"Do you understand how hurtful that is?" Elina screamed back. "As if I haven't dealt with this my whole life living here!"

Sheena angered Marjorie when she asker her and Elina if they were happy in America and added that they had always seemed to look frustrated.

"It's not like I'm leaving America, I'm just saying, this happened, we had to adapt," responded an angry Marjorie.


Once back at the house, Marjorie told Elina and Analeigh, a 19-year-old student from Sacramento, CA, that she felt as if she and Elina were "getting attacked."

Sheena and Samantha also continued discussing the subject and both felt that Elina and Marjorie should stop making their heritage such an issue.

"My mother's foreign and has an accent. I embrace my culture," Sheena said. "But at the same time I can maintain being an American."

Consciously avoiding the controversy in the house and feeling the first signs of a cold. Joslyn chose to focus on finding any possible way to redeem herself after poor performances in the previous photo shoot.

"My main focus is to step back up the ladder and it like getting harder and harder," she said. "I'm starting to feel like I'm somewhat breaking down."


The following day the girls briefly met with Ron and Richard Harris -- the Aswirl Twins -- to learn how to properly show off accessories on a runway. They were then sent to meet with stylist and author James St. James who told them that their next challenge would be to appear as invisible models in an avant garde preview of the House of Petro Zillia's collection.

To become "invisible," the girls would put green spandex on from head-to-toe under their outfits and pose in front of a green-screen as computers remove their bodies from the picture and displayed only the clothing and poses.

"We're not gonna be there were not a pretty face, we just need to make the clothes look good," said McKey, a 19-year-old student from Lake Forest, IL.

The girls were also told that the challenge would be judged by Petro Zillia designer Nony Tochterman and Ann Shoket, the editor-in-chief of Seventeen magazine. Shoket told the girls that the challenge winner would pose, along with two other contestants of her choosing, in a holiday and fashion accessories feature in the magazine's December/January issue.

After initially having trouble breathing in her green mask, Elina settled down just prior to going onstage and impressed the judges with her carefree presence on the stage.


"You really don't care about what anyone thinks of you, that definitely helps," Elina said of modeling with the green mask on.

Marjorie's dress fell off while she was posing, however she was unaware of it because of the green suit she was wearing underneath it and was not told of the problem until she had gone offstage.

"The designer was right in front of me! I'm embarrassed and kind of humiliated," she said following the incident.

Nony was not pleased when Joslyn removed a belt on her outfit and attempted to use it as a necklace, later telling her that her posing had resembled a strip show.

Following the show, Nony told Marjorie to gain a better sense of the clothing on her and warned that models don't always have the luxury of looking at their clothing and have to compensate for mistakes in other ways.


She then proceeded to name Elina the winner of the challenge for properly showing off the sleeves of her outfit, which Nony said was the most important part of the outfit.

Elina chose Marjorie and Analeigh to accompany her on the shoot and enjoyed the shoot as an opportunity to get away from all of the drama in the house.

"I just know this is going to be a great shoot," Elina said. "We were able to just relax and forget about the other girls at the house and have a good time. I'm very happy."

However, that night at the house the drama between Sheena, Samantha, Marjorie, and Elina re-ignited after Analeigh commented that a Chinese accent Samantha was speaking in as Sheena cooked was offensive.

After Samantha saw Marjorie give her "a look" during the conversation with Analeigh and called her out, Sheena stepped in.

"Throughout these last days, you guys have been a certain way with us, and since that conversation happened on the bus things [have] changed here," she shouted at Marjorie and Elina.


"Yes, since you insulted us?" Elina responded angrily.

As the argument continued, the focus somehow shifted onto how Elina had happened to win a holiday-themed challenge despite her previous statements that she doesn't celebrate holidays.

"Why say one thing and do another?" Sheena yelled at her.

"They're [just] bitter about not winning [the challenge] and they're trying to pinpoint Elina as a kind of beneficiary of something she doesn't deserve," Marjorie said angrily after the argument as Elina sat at her side.

The following day, the girls met photo shoot director Jay Manuel and tenth-season America's Next Top Model winner Whitney Tompson for their next photo shoot, where Whitney told the girls that the photo shoot would have them filming a Cover Girl commercial with director Frank Ockenfels.

Whitney also added that, unlike prior seasons, the girls would be given a teleprompter for their lines and would not necessarily need to memorize them. However, Jay added that some knowledge of the script was still necessary to avoid reading the teleprompter with no emotion.


Analeigh impressed both Jay and Frank with her commercial, with both of them commenting on how effortlessly engaging she was.

"When she speaks she becomes way more beautiful than just a snapshot of her," Jay said.

Elina was once again criticized by Jay for not exuding enough emotion and told Jay that she was "tired of hearing it" from him.

"I know your tired of hearing it, and I'm tired of saying it, but I have to be honest with you," he responded.

Jay also warned Marjorie that unless she was able to shake her awkward presence in front of the camera she would not progress much deeper into the competition.

While preparing for the shoot, Joslyn became so sick that she vomited prior to filming her commercial. Although she managed to film the commercial despite her illness, Jay noted that her emotions were too extreme during each take and didn't seem genuine.


"Joslyn was really sick and it read in her eyes," Jay said of her shoot. "Her first and second takes were a little much, and her last take was flat."

That night back at the house, the girls prepared for their judging panel the following day.

"At this point I do want either Marjorie or Elina to go," Sheena said. Those two seem to be the most spiteful and hateful towards me."

Marjorie expressed worries to Elina and Analeigh that she might be up for elimination after weak performances in the challenge and photo shoot.

"I did terribly during the challenge, didn't do well during the commercial. I'm really scared, I don't wanna go home, I don't wanna be on the chopping block," she said worriedly.

The next day at panel, America's Next Top Model host Tyra Banks surprised the girls with a judging test in which they had to perform a runway walk wearing clogs, before excitedly telling the girls that -- following their meeting with the judges -- they would be traveling to Amsterdam, Holland for the next round of the competition.


"But unfortunately, not everyone's going to Holland," she added before reviewing each of the girls' commercials

Frank credited Analeigh as the only girl who decided to use the product being advertised in the commercial as she recited her lines and was very impressed with the way her commercial turned out.

Tyra agreed with Frank wholeheartedly.

"Girl, that is the best Cover Girl commercial I have seen in the history of America's Next Top Model," Tyra said, before saying that she had been "blown away" by the commercial.

Tyra credited Joslyn for participating in the shoot and added that she felt Joslyn had hid her sickness while filming the commercials. However judge Nigel Barker criticized her "so fake" laughs in the commercial while judge Paulina Porizkova felt that she had been too "inflective" with her arms.

Tyra also said that Joslyn did not have the "most modelesque look" to her, while Paulina said that she was a throwback to a "runway girl" who "had all of the personality, but weren't so gorgeous."


Frank said that Elina had indeed held back her emotions once more while filming her commercial, while Nigel criticized that she had looked down -- and away from the camera --  during the commercial and felt that her inability to show emotion could be the result of having a lack of a "natural charm."

Tyra criticized McKey for not showing any type of personality during her commercial and wondered if it may be a sign of a potentially large weakness for her in the rounds to come.

"You take a pretty picture, but I think when it comes to opening your mouth and delivering a commercial, its not good," she told McKey.

After deliberating on which girl to eliminate, Paulina noted a trend in the girls that she had noticed as the competition had progressed.

"I think we have a difficult decision because we have some girls that are just fantastic commercial models, and some that are wonderful photo models," Paulina said to the judges. "We don't really seem to have one that's great a both."

After reconvening with the girls, Tyra announced that Analeigh's commercial had been chosen as the week's best.


She then proceeded to call out additional photos for Sheena, Samantha, Marjorie, and McKey -- leaving Joslyn and Elina as the week's bottom two girls.

"Two very interesting girls, two very different girls," Tyra said of Joslyn and Elina. "One who took fantastic strong pictures in this competition but then started to falter a bit. Another who took strong pictures in this competition but the judges don't think she's translating to moving pictures."

"One thing about both of you is that you both have such a strength," she continued. "Elina you have such a strength, but it's a strength that is in desperate need of control. And Joslyn, you have such a beautiful strength, and for somebody to get up and be so sick but still to perform, that's a survivor."

"Then Joslyn, you'll be able to survive this," Tyra said as she revealed that Joslyn had been eliminated.

America's Next Top Model's next episode will air Wednesday, October 29 at 9PM ET/PT on The CW.






About The Author: John Bracchitta