America's Next Top Model

WANNA BE A TOP?
96540340 Jimmy

Introduction
America’s next top model is a reality show in the U.S which is also abbreviated as ANTM. The first season of it was on air in 2003; till last year, 13 seasons of it had already been broadcasted. Tyra Banks, the former super model also known as an actress and host, is the producer, host, and chief judge of this show. In ANTM, all girls compete for wining the title of “America’s next top model” with extra prices of one-hundred-million contract with Cover Girl Cosmetics, one contract with one of the top model agencies, and inclusive interviews and photo shoots for fashion magazines.

The host and judges

Just like what I’ve mentioned above, Tyra Banks is a former super model. She is the first African American model who was on the cover of GQ magazine and be the catalog model of Victoria’s Secret’s underwear collections. After the show being broadcasted, the audience entitles her “The mother of models” which is reasonable since she calls herself “mama” when getting together with those competitors.
As for the judges, except the three common faces, photographer Nigel Barker, runway coach J. Alexander, and the photo shoot director Jay Manuel, others either show up in a short period of time or be just guest judges. The legendary fashion icon Twiggy had once been the judge of ANTM from season five to nine.

The competition

In every season, only 13 or 14 girls chosen from thousands of them can start their ANTM journey. After entering the competition, makeover becomes the first challenge. They have to get used to their new images and show them in the photos. Some girls even give up half way because their long hair is cut to be too boyish. The following challenges and eliminations make the list all the way down to final three who have to make TV commercials and beauty shots for new products of Cover Girl Cosmetics to decide which two can compete in the final runway show with each others. It’s like a tradition that all the competitors can live in luxurious villas, and they can even go abroad to other countries as their competing stages when five or six of them survive from the panels. During every panel, “the bottom two” who might be sent home would be called by Tyra to stand forward her and given suggestions, and then one of the two would be eliminated. Go-see which is included as one of the challenges gives competitors opportunities to experience what they’ll actually do when modeling in the reality.

Varied competitors
From the first season to the latest one, competitors differ from their races to physical conditions. Whites, African Americans, Latinos, Asians, and Europeans show up no matter how tall, petite, slim, or large-sized they are. As Tyra Banks said, she wants to show the audience different kinds of beauty. Thus, she doesn’t limit those who have dreams but who are not as skinny and tall as the image we think of a model should be.

The impact of ANTM
With the popularity of ANTM, other countries begin to produce their own version of it. Top model fever rocks the world!
As for me, I am a big fan of ANTM though I haven’t really seen the first season. I don’t just enjoy those gorgeous models in the show; I also love to see the processes of them struggling to be the next big thing. It’s interesting to me that almost every season has at least one bitch (I mean bad girls). However, I don’t think they’re really that mean in real life because it’s a show after all. There must be some plots that are set on purpose. Most important of all, Tyra’s encouraging girls to fulfill their top model dreams without consideration of their personal background, such as they’re in some kind of illness or not, is admiring.