And speaking of busted weaves, let's talk about our fourth and final candidate, Jenah, who's equal parts homely and arrogant, until she steps inside her magical phone booth each week and emerges as a stunningly photogenic mannequin. (Seriously, her best shot this week was flawless, even though she looked lethargic and grumpy in the footage of her shoot.)
There are moments I can appreciate Jenah's self-described cynicism about the competition, but — and this is a key point here — it's our job as viewers to mock the ridiculousness of Top Model, the contradictory critiques of the panel, the so-not-editorial setups for the photo shoots, the mania of Miss Tyra, and even Nigel's inability to take a joke. (Wasn't his whole outrage about Jenah's sarcasm reminiscent of the CariDee bullfight shoot?) The contestants, on the other hand, are supposed to be taking this whole exercise very, very seriously. I mean, if the models are in on the joke, and openly disdainful of what they're being put through, well, where's the fun in that? That's why I cringe when Jenah makes pompous proclamations like ''Designers are looking for personality. My outlook is sort of, like, whatever.'' And that's also why Flora Zeta's concise put-down (''Your walk was terrible'') made me want to do a Google search to see if she has a men's line.
So that's my dilemma with only two weeks to go: how to pick a favorite from the final four when my heart and mind keep chanting, ''None of the above!'' I may be a devoted Top Model fan who's never voted for CGOTW, but I'm seriously considering a trip to the official CW site, just to see if there's a write-in ballot for the contestant who went home too soon. Adieu, Heather, we'll always have Shanghai.
What did you think of this week's elimination? Would you have cut one of the other girls to make room for Heather, or did Tyra make the right decision? And a few other questions: Why must Mr. Jay wear his shirts cut so distressingly low? Is there any way Jenah could've looked less attractive when she arrived at this week's photo shoot in those shades (which made her nose look like it had been grown on the side of a tree stump)? And did Miss J. really make an exaggerated gong sound in front of Chinese modeling-agency exec Susan Yang? Tell me I imagined it!
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