'America's Next Top Model': Twist and Shout

'America's Next Top Model' recap: Harmonious balance

I'm not sure how an episode of America's Next Top Model that had a race debate, a hormone shot, a confession of fake breasts, a hot-tub game of truth or dare, and Benny Ninja ended up underwhelming, but this one did.

Let's start with Benny and his extreme-posing exercise in red "fabric tubes." It definitely was an interesting way to get the girls to learn to shift their weight and try moves they wouldn't normally think of, but it also was a little Celebrity Circus. There were high notes, of course: Naturally flexible Sheena looked perfectly hoochless when enveloped in yards of material. And low points: Nikeysha fumbled around like she was a baby descending the birth canal. (We do, however, give her props for saying "click" back to Benny and thereby proving that just because you say "click" doesn't mean you've struck a fierce pose. Those ones Benny "click"ed in her face were lame, weren't they not? Maybe he was under the weather when they filmed that tutorial...)

Sheena's hooch-free moment lasted for approximately 60 seconds. After the posing lesson, the girls did something we've never seen on a reality show — hit the hot tub! Sheena, probably afraid that someone would ask her if her boobs were real, opted for the lamest dare ever: dance for us. Kudos to the editor who decided to lay the sound bite of her saying she doesn't see herself as hooch on top of the footage of her sticking her butt out and pumping. I guess we were supposed to think that Clark being dared to kiss Elina was also hot, but honestly, the fact that Elina saw stars when she smooched Clark is a turnoff. Can't she crush on someone else?

As for Hot Tub Hannahgate, I think she would've been in her rights to place her hands gently on Isis' — or anyone's — back to stop her from dancing into her (which Lauren Brie did); that little push, however, was a teensy bit aggressive. I want to believe that Hannah isn't evil and that she's just encountering diversity for the first time in her life and needs time to go from being tolerant to being comfortable — but then she went and referred to Elina, Sheena, and Isis as "characters," in that way that has an inferior connotation. Here's what I believe: 1. Hannah is judgmental when it comes to sexuality, not race. Not that that's less of an offense, but get your charges correct. 2. Sheena and Brittany were right when they said Hannah needs to realize that if you describe yourself as the "stereotypical white girl" who would never walk into a room and go "Heeeyyy," people might think you believe all black woman are Nikeysha. (Can you imagine what they would have said if they heard her compare the Joslyn-led ambush to gang rape and gang violence?) 3. Sheena and Brittany need to cut Hannah some slack because she is on a reality show that casts "characters" who, we can all agree, fulfill the stereotypes of reality TV contestants. 4. Hannah ended her conversation with Sheena and Brittany in tears (which made Brittany smile — cruel!), so they should've known that an ambush was the wrong way to handle any lingering doubts they had about her. They should've sat down again with her privately. 5. Analeigh was right: This situation escalated because in a house where TV isn't allowed, people need something to talk about.

NEXT: Posing questions