Canada's Next Top Model, Cycle 3

It should be known that I am pretty much an MTV Canada junkie. I make that specification because MTV Canada is different from your average MTV; it doesn't pretend to be a music channel at all, because it's actually licensed as a talk channel. It airs American MTV programming plus a few original shows, namely MTV Live, The Aftershow, and The Hills Aftershow (formerly the Laguna Beach Aftershow). It's no secret to my friends that I adore the Aftershow, the first show to make me actually care about North American celebrities in a long time. But I did first start watching MTV for The Hills after seeing it while on vacation in the U.S., and since I have MTV on pretty well 24/7 these days, I tend to see every episode of any new MTV reality show - at least three times over.

Earlier this school year (yes, I still measure my life that way), MTV began airing the first two cycles of Canada's Next Top Model in their entirety. Seeing as I watch almost nothing but MTV, I wound up seeing every episode of both cycles a number of times, and this was my first real exposure to the world of Top Model. I'd never watched America's Next Top Model before, and I actually just saw it for the first time recently, when Star aired a marathon of cycle 12. (I hereby declare myself an Allison Harvard fan. But more on her another day.) I wasn't particularly scintillated, but I took it all in, occasionally finding some entertainment in the girls and their drama. Let me tell you, though, I was really getting sick of that show by the time I was seeing episodes for the fifth time.

Over the last couple of months they began re-airing these two cycles again, leading up to the premiere of cycle 3. Seeing all of the episodes again, plus the bits I caught of ANTM C12, sparked my curiosity enough that I found myself wanting to watch the new cycle from the beginning, as it aired. I think it helped that throughout this school year, I've been watching Fashion Television on Star with my breakfast every school morning. I've become more interested in and into the fashion industry - though I would never want a career in it - so I now enjoy analyzing the girls' photos and what I like and don't like about them, and appreciating the different looks and photoshoot settings. And the judges seem to give so many different kinds of advice and criticism that it sounds downright impossible to get it right when it comes to modelling, but it's damn fun to listen to anyway. Plus I now love judge Jeanne Beker, from watching so much Fashion Television, and I think Jay Manuel is quite the cool guy. (Particularly after he said on the second episode of this cycle that he hates the word "fierce." Sing it, Jay! They've banned that word from the MTV Aftershow, you know.)

So, the third cycle of CNTM has finally begun, and we're now two episodes in. Beware of spoilers right now if you haven't seen them yet but want to! They started off with eleven girls in episode one, and immediately jumped into the first photoshoot (with the very cool Nigel Barker), and right after the photoshoot one of the girls announced that she was leaving, due to pain in her hip from a recent car accident. She was barely on the show for twenty minutes before she left, so it's kind of funny how they went with eleven contestants instead of the usual ten...and then it went back to the normal number anyway. But we know that they didn't intend for that to happen, since there was an extra bed when the girls got into the house (or super hotel suite or whatever it is).

One thing that I don't get is how they got Alexandra, the girl who left, to pose for all of the promotional stuff despite her pain. There are a number of promotional photos that were taken of the eleven contestants together. When were they taken? I wish the actual show would go over that, because I'm a Top Model newb who doesn't know these things.

The first challenge winner of the cycle was Heather, who chose Jill and Nikita to go with her on her prize trip to the ice floes off P.E.I. to have Nigel take pictures of them with baby seals. They also did a fashion shoot up there, but BABY SEALS! Naturally, the other seven girls were jealous of the amazing prize, but beyond that, they formed a bond with each other in the house while the other three formed their own bond. The producers just kept throwing oil on the fire, by having the girls on the trip make a video message for the other girls basically intended to make them even more jealous - which at least one or two of the three seemed to totally play into - and then the three were given their own separate room in the house, plus even better free stuff than the other girls got. Two of those girls had taken some of the judges' least favourite photos of the week, and they got all that stuff just for having been picked by the winner, who'd just met them. The producers' blatant desire to split the house into factions from the get-go is a little malicious, but hey, they're trying to create quality reality television. The drama is essential to this show's success.

The funny thing is that they didn't actually capitalize on that potential for drama during the second week. Sure, there was a bit of clashing between the two groups, but even that wasn't particularly played up in the editing room. Of the three living in the separate room, Heather is so quiet and nice that no one really has any valid reason to dislike her (they don't like her high-pitched, girlish voice, whatever), and Nikita would've stirred things up regardless of the factions by the looks of her personality (at the very least, she curses a blue streak). As for Jill, some of the other girls weren't sure what to make of her, and neither were the judges; she was eliminated week two.

The first girl to go via elimination in week one was Tiffany, a new mother with an eight month old baby at home. Uh, eight months? Why aren't you WITH HIM? (Also, she said she knew her son would be proud of her, but uh, he's eight months old. I don't think he understands the concept of Top Model yet.) I didn't like her very much in general and the judges weren't too impressed by her, so they sent her home. Good riddance, in my opinion. Jill was in the bottom two both weeks and left the second. She did deserve to go in terms of her modelling ability, but I liked her up until she was eliminated, at which point I was quite put-off by her saying how she wouldn't give up everything else to become a model. Isn't that the point of going into Top Model, that you want to live that lifestyle? But I guess some people do go to auditions for TV competitions without really thinking about much more than "Yay fun!" - I mean, look at American Idol - so I guess it's understandable that she wanted to live it up for awhile once she made it into the top eleven.

I've had two favourites since the first episode, who remain my favourites as of now: Maryam and Rebeccah. Maryam grew up in Iran but came to Canada a couple of years ago, and so far she's talked a bit about how she always dreamed of becoming a model while growing up in Iran, even though it wasn't a possibility for her there, and how she's so thrilled to be a finalist on Canada's Next Top Model now and actually have the chance. All this, in addition to her very humble and generally appealing personality, makes her very endearing, to me at least. And she seems to be a pretty good model, too! Week one she was the first to be called out, but she was in the bottom three week two. Still, she seemed to do a pretty god job and try very hard in the actual week two photoshoot - she climbed all over the ladders they were using and contorted into all these nifty poses - and I believe that she can step it up and improve next week.

Rebeccah was pointed out as being the quirky personality of the house, "like a cartoon character," by one of the other girls during week one. Having recently become a Creepy-chan fan, I was instantly drawn to Rebeccah by this. While she isn't quite that cool, I definitely like her a lot, and the judges were into her first photo. She also had this whole backstory for the photo worked out in her head when the judges asked her during elimination, and I was quite impressed by that. During the makeovers they traded her short, brown curly hair for the super-short, bleached blonde look, inspired by Agyness Deyn. It looks AWESOME, and she's totally in love with it too, which is always great to see. She was also the week two challenge winner, when they ran around the H&M that I shop in on a regular basis in their underwear putting together outfits for themselves (which was kind of crazy and hilarious for me to see, having stood in those very spots before). She went for the androgynous look and pulled off something really cool. Unfortunately, the judges didn't like her week two photo, feeling that it was too much of a Twiggy impression, and she was in the bottom two. I was not amused seeing my two favouries in the bottom three, let me tell you! Jill was the one who truly deserved to go, though, so everything worked out in the end.

I like most of the other girls, though some of them are a bit bitchy for my taste. Nikita was the one to bring the drama during the makeovers, bitching about the short bangs for literally hours on end, and her constant swearing doesn't impress some of the other girls in the house. (I swear a TON, myself, but I try to only do it around friends who already know and accept me, and not to do it around people I don't know well who I might accidentally offend.) Short bangs are a weird look I've never been particularly fond of, myself, but they're very high fashion and the judges are loving Nikita as of week two, so suck it up, princess. I'm also unimpressed by Nikita's modelling past, which she talked about in week one: she signed a contract in New York when she finished high school, but she chickened out. She explicitly said that she wants to hide the fact that she's travelled outside of Canada to model from the other girls. If you already have the capability of getting yourself into this business, why do you need a reality show? It reminds me of the previously-signed recording artists who audition for American Idol, and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I like Linsay, because she's actually the one who seems most like a model to me, especially with the makeover they gave her. I think both of her pictures so far have been pretty strong, and she's got a good, grounded personality too, by the looks of it, so I think she has a lot of potential to go far in this competition. The best quote of this cycle so far was also spoken about her first picture: "Kudos to her for dislocating her pelvis." The way Mike Ruiz said it was so great, you just have to hear it. I REALLY like Meaghan's new hair, but I don't really think she's going to go that far. It's not because of the braces, but just the potential I'm seeing in her right now. I do wonder what they'll do about those braces if she's around later on in the competition, though.

With CTV airing the new episodes each week, MTV airing them two days later, and Star beginning to air them sometime in between, with reruns being shown repeatedly on at least two out of those three, I've already seen both episodes of this cycle so far a number of times, so it won't be hard to keep following this cycle. Next week they're going to the Bahamas, and they've never done a major trip like that on CNTM before, so it looks kind of amazing. I'm really looking forward to the next episode, and also to the next cycle of America's Next Top Model; I'm into this, all of a sudden. Who would've guessed Top Model would become my newest fandom?

You'll be hearing more from me on this topic very soon.