America’s Next Top Model 22×06 review: ‘The Girl Who Gets Possessed’

 

The pageant girls finally butt heads and the drama proves too much for another model to handle.

Let’s bitch it out…

With two professional “pageant girls” in the house, it was only a matter of time before their egos collided. So far in the competition, Hadassah and Mamé have been buffered from one another; the former focussing her diva attention on Devin and Mikey, and the latter caught up in early showmance delight with J-Smooth. But that all changed this week when water-saving “mi baño es su baño” Mamé decided to crash in on Miss-Proper in the midst of her bathing routine. This most minor of indiscretions — “My bad. You’re naked. We’re both girls” — quickly escalates into epic proportions, spilling over onto the bus, the photoshoot, and into judging (at least according to the girls’ facial expressions).

Hadassah has been painted as the villain from the first episode, and she’s certainly a diva, but she’s honest about her feelings, and her confessional monologues are refreshingly sincere. Mamé, on the other hand, is starting to show her pageant girl roots (or at least the editing is playing them up this week). The episode began with her trash-talking Hadassah to Ashley, and claiming herself as the “real” pageant girl in the house (and she started kicking out the excuses at judging). I’m disappointed because I had hopes that she wouldn’t be just another ghetto diva. The fight on the bus must have been unbearable, but it definitely helped clarify personalities. Only Devin seemed to be enjoying himself; the rest of the models were doing their best to imagine being anywhere else. Ava and Ashley seemed particularly affected (Mikey is a bad influence on her). Following the photoshoot Justin set up a house meeting for Mamé and Hadassah to work out their issues. It didn’t accomplish much, but his intentions were noble. He’s bang on the money though: Hadassah and Mamé share a lot in common, and they’d probably be friends if they could see past their big hair and big attitudes.

At both the “Simply Be” challenge (with cycle 10 winner, Whitney) and the “possessed by high-fashion” photoshoot, Nyle finally upped his game. Perhaps because he couldn’t hear Yu Tsai’s depreciating and abusive yelling, he was able to concentrate on the difficult scenario and deliver a killer picture. Every other model struggled in this shoot, especially Ava. Throughout this episode it became clear that homeschooled Ava had grown up in a bubble, and wasn’t prepared for the nasty reality of “reality tv.” At panel, she failed to impress the judges with her house-wife hair, giant fur collar, and skin-tight leggings. Coupled with her lacklustre photo and challenge score, it meant that her time had come. Her tearful farewell monologue, while touching, emphasized her lack of real-world awareness. Honey, at 19 your dreams are not over with one rejection! She really needed one of Tyra’s classic “Go out and prove me wrong” speeches, but alas, all she got was “You’re better than this.”

Other Observations:

• Yu Tsai is officially back to his bullying ways. I really can’t stand him. He’s a liability to the show.
• At judging, Justin gets the dreaded “Your face is the same in every shot.”
• Most of the models gave lacklustre performances this week. Only Nyle scored anything higher than a 35.

Best Lines:

• Kelly (to Mamé and Mikey at the Simply Be photoshoot): “My idea of making out is kissing. … So your lips touch her lips, … like, … it’s like a kiss.”
• Justin (about watching Mamé and Mikey kiss): “J-smooth doesn’t catch feelings too often.” (God I hate guys that talk about themselves in the third person)
• Nyle (text to the bus about the pageant girl fight): “Sorry you have to listen to this drama.”
• Kelly (about Bello’s bootylicious photo): “I don’t mind the position … but your face looks like a dehydrated apple.”

Your turn: Mamé or Hadassah, who’s the bigger pageant queen? Nyle seems to be learning how to model, do you think it will last? Is it just me, or is Yu Tsai a bully?   

Sound off below …

ANTM airs Wednesdays at 8pm EST on CW.