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America's Next Top Model (often shortened to Top Model or abbreviated as ANTM) is a reality television show in which a number of women compete for the title of America's Next Top Model and a chance to start their career in the modeling industry. The show was created and is hosted by talk-show host and former model Tyra Banks, who also serves as the head judge and executive producer of the show. The first "cycle" premiered in May 2003 and was one of UPN's highest rated shows. The show's seventh cycle was the first of the shows among regular programming on UPN's successor network, The CW, and thus far is the network's highest rated series.[3] The show will continue until at least the 2009-10 season.[4] The opening theme is performed by Tyra Banks and is produced by Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins. Banks co-produces the show with Ken Mok and Anthony Dominici for 10 by 10 Entertainment and Bankable Productions, syndicated internationally by KingWorld (and its successor CBS Television Distribution), and domestically as a "presentation" of VH1.[5] For the 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 television seasons, ANTM was the #1 show in average viewers on The CW.[6]
Show format
Each season of America's Next Top Model has from 9-13 episodes and starts with 10-14 contestants. Each episode, one contestant is eliminated, though in rare cases a double elimination or no elimination was given by consensus of the judging panel. Makeovers are administered to contestants early in the season (usually after the first or second elimination in the finals), and a trip to an international destination is scheduled at about two-thirds of the way through the season (usually with five or six contestants remaining). Each episode of Top Model covers the events of roughly a week of real time (however, while overseas, an episode roughly covers three to four days, totaling two weeks of filming abroad), and features a fashion challenge, photo shoot or commercial, a critique of each contestant and her performance by the judging panel led by Tyra Banks, and the elimination of one or more contestants. As of the upcoming fourteenth cycle, the current judging panel includes designer Kimora Lee Simmons, fashion editor Andre Leon Talley, and fashion photographer Nigel Barker. Previous judges included fashion icon Twiggy, models Janice Dickinson and Paulina Porizkova, fashion stylist Nolé Marin, runway coach J. Alexander, and fashion editors Beau Quillian and Eric Nicholson. Photo shoot director Jay Manuel, though not a permanent judge, is featured every episode. Usually, an additional guest judge will sit in on the panel every week. Each episode is usually associated with a theme in the world of modeling, such as dealing with the press in interviews, selling a commercial product, appearing in a runway show or going on "go sees." An episode usually begins with the contestants receiving training in an area concurrent with the week's theme. For example, contestants may get coached in runway walking, improvisational acting, or applying make-up to suit various occasions. A related challenge soon follows, such as a mock runway show or interview, and a winner is chosen by a judge. She receives some prize, such as clothing, a night out, or an advantage at the next photo shoot, and she is usually allowed to share the benefits with a certain number of other contestants of her choice. In Cycles 1, 3, 4, 5, 10, 12, and 13, the first week post casting did not feature a challenge, just like the third to last week in Cycle 1. In Cycles 5, 7 and 11 there have been episodes with multiple challenges. In Cycles 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 there have been team challenges. In Cycle 8 only the best girl of the winning team won the prize; in Cycle 9 each girl got a prize and one was chosen by random draw to win an extra one; Cycle 9 also had a challenge with two winners. The first from Cycle 10 had each girl winning a prize and the best one winning an extra prize. All team challenges since has had the contestants sharing the reward equally. The next segment is a photo shoot, and each contestant's performance will reflect heavily on her judging for that week. Each cycle features photo shoots such as bikini or lingerie shots, beauty shots, posing nude or semi-nude, posing with a male model, and posing with animal(s). Usually one photo shoot per season is replaced with a commercial shoot (excluding Cycles 2, 5 and 9 where there were both a commercial and a photo shoot, and Cycle 4 where there was no commercial at all). In Cycles 2 and 9, a photo shoot was replaced by a music video for Tyra Banks and Enrique Iglesias respectively. The final segment of each episode is judging. During judging, contestants are often given a challenge in some area such as posing, selling a product, runway walking, or choosing a representative outfit or make-up to satisfy a given prompt, known as a pre-evaluation task. This practice has been discontinued since Cycle 8. Each contestant's photo (or on occasion, their commercial) is then shown and evaluated by the judging panel. After all photos have been evaluated, the contestants leave the room as the judges deliberate. The elimination process is ceremonious, as Tyra reveals and hands out the photos of the contestants that have not been eliminated one by one, in order of merit, each time saying, "Congratulations. You are still in the running towards becoming America's Next Top Model." The last two contestants who have not received their photos are brought up as "the bottom two," and Tyra critiques each one before revealing which of the two is continuing on in the competition (the other being eliminated). However, there have been three exceptions, as Cycle 4 had a double elimination, Cycle 5 had a non-elimination, and in Cycle 9, the original eliminee was saved by another contestant's decision to quit on the spot, just moments after Tyra had called her name for safety. Cycle 13 also had a "bottom three" when the contestants faced a double elimination in the final four episode. The format varies slightly when only three contestants remain. With the exceptions of Cycles 1 and 2, (when CoverGirl wasn't a sponsor), and Cycle 3 where there was no commercial, the three remaining contestants compete in one last photo shoot and commercial for CoverGirl, followed by a judging session in which the judges eliminate the contestant they feel to be the weakest. In Cycle 13, because there were only two contestants remaining in the finale, the CoverGirl print ad and commercial were evaluated at the final panel instead. The final two then compete in a runway show in front of the judges and a live audience, before both their performances there and during the entire competition is considered when the judges declare a winner. Also in Cycles 1 & 2, the finalists were chosen in large part by a go-see with the featured designer. Since CoverGirl (post Cycle 3) has become a sponsor, on each episode, except for the premiere, Cycle 4's second episode and recap, Cycle 7's second to last episode and the recaps and finales from Cycle 6 onwards, a girl can be voted CoverGirl of the Week by the viewers. From Cycle 11 onwards, this has been replaced by a Top Model in Action segment, focusing on former contestants and their post-show accomplishments. ANTM with The CWIt was announced on January 24, 2006, that Top Model would be part of the new The CW network, a merger between UPN and The WB, when the next cycle started in September airing on Wednesdays. Prior to the announcement of merging with The CW, UPN had committed to renewing the series through its ninth cycle on January 20, 2006,[7] for which casting was conducted throughout mid-2006. To celebrate its tenth cycle, ANTM aired a special installment called America's Next Top Model: Exposed in two parts on the CW on Wednesday, February 6 & 13, 2008. It reviewed the best cat fights, mishaps and most memorable photoshoots, personalities, defining moments and contained other segments about the show since Cycle 1 to Cycle 9, and featured a special opening fusing all three openings together. Camille McDonald (Cycle 2), Toccara Jones (Cycle 3), Eva Pigford (Cycle 3 winner), Bre Scullark (Cycle 5), Cassandra Whitehead (Cycle 5), Joanie Dodds (Cycle 6), Jael Strauss (Cycle 8), Dionne Walters (Cycle 8), Heather Kuzmich (Cycle 9), and Bianca Golden (Cycle 9) all returned to comment on events that happened in their or other cycles. The Tyra Banks ShowAmerica's Next Top Model is also very connected with Tyra Banks' talk show: several contestants have made appearances on it, most notably Natasha Galkina (Cycle 8) who worked as a correspondent for the show.[8] The show's stage was also used for the Cycle 5 reunion show. The Fiercee Awards had categories as follows. Bold names indicate the category winners.
This ceremony was preceded by red carpet interviews of Toccara Jones, CariDee English, Jaslene Gonzalez, Camille McDonald, Keenyah Hill, Carol Alt, Quiana Grant, Melissa Baker and Tyra Banks, followed by an online fashion review by Toccara Jones and Jay Manuel. Amongst Jay's favourites were Jones herself, together with McDonald, while Jones liked Gonzalez. They agreed that Saleisha Stowers, Norelle Van Herk and Banks were amongst the best dressed while English was amongst the worst. ModelvilleTyra Banks has decided to launch a new reality show, inside her Tyra Show, called Modelville which featured Renee Alway, Bianca Golden, Dominique Reighard, Fatima Siad and Lauren Utter vying for a $50,000 contract. Dominique won and received a contract from Carol's Daughter.[9][10] ANTM Writers' Labor DisputeOn July 21, 2006, the writers of America's Next Top Model went on strike while working on Cycle 7, set to premiere on the new CW Network in September 2006. The writers sought representation through the Writers Guild of America, west, which would allow them regulated wages, access to portable health insurance, and pension benefits. These benefits would be similar to those given to writers on scripted shows. The strike was the focus of a large rally of Hollywood writers coinciding with the premiere of the new network on September 20, 2006.[11] The dispute was chronicled in a July 24 interview on the website Television Without Pity with Daniel J. Blau, a former TWoP recapper who covered the series, and at the time was an ANTM show producer.[12] In November 2006, the writers on strike were taken off payroll.[13] CriticismYahoo's "Shine" lifestyle website blasted the show's cruelty and elements of humiliation, saying that some of the girls' critiques from the "cruel and unusual" judges are "really cruel and cringe-inducing," and that the show "humiliates and degrades young women."[14] They created a list called "10 reasons why 'America's Next Top Model' is bad for women, humans," citing such things as giving an unrealistic vision to girls (both on the show, and watching) about what life as a model is like, and "always espousing empowerment and female strength and then forcing the contestants into embarrassing scenarios far outside the realm of real-life modeling." One such scenario highlighted was when two final contestants "were made to wear bikinis so skimpy that the producers had to blur out Allison's butt cheeks," and performed a "creepily sexual mud fight," after which the contestant Teyona Anderson was "commended for taking her weave in her hand and whipping it around on the runway like a sexy feather boa."[15] Fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, commenting on ANTM and Project Runway in the September 2006 issue of Harper's Bazaar, slammed it as "trash that is funny for five minutes if you're with other people. If you're alone, it's not funny. Those girls will never be the next Gemma Ward. There is no justice in the fashion business." Ward was discovered in the similarly-themed Australian reality show Search for a Supermodel, before ANTM aired in Australia in early 2003. Lagerfeld served as a photographer for the French version of ANTM.[16] Allure magazine criticized the show in its October 2006 issue, saying that ANTM "hasn't exactly produced any actual supermodels."[17] Ken Mok and Tyra Banks noticed that most of Cycle 8's girls were unusually heavy smokers. "Tyra and I understand the influence 'Top Model' has on a generation of young people, and we want to make sure we get the right message to our audience," Mok said, which then prompted the "green" theme of Cycle 9.[18] The winner of Cycle 9, Saleisha Stowers, was discovered to have been in a Wendy's commercial, on a catwalk in the Cycle 6 show and an episode of Tyra Banks Show prior to the Cycle 9 event. The CW network said she had revealed her role in the Wendy's commercial, and "after reviewing the commercial, it was determined that her appearance did not amount to 'modeling' experience, and therefore did not exclude her from participating in the show."[19] After filming Cycle 10, the producers of America's Next Top Model were served with a lawsuit from Michael Marvisi who owns the loft used as the Top Model house. The lawsuit claims that the contestants as well as the production crew caused an estimated $500,000 in damages to the loft. Marvisi claims the contestants engaged in food fights, made holes in the walls, caused water damage to the bathroom, damaged a $15,000 chandelier beyond repair, and caused $90,000 worth of damage to an electrical store. Also, the production crew has been accused of damaging the flooring and making holes in the ceiling for lighting equipment.[20] Walmart & America's Next Top ModelThe America's Next Top Model franchise has released a new clothing and accessories line based on the top model show. The line is sold at most Walmart stores. The line ranges from cosmetic products to handbags.[21] Cycles
ContestantsCrossover Appearances
Influence on pop cultureThe show has been referred to in many series, such as ABC Family's GREEK and The Big Bang Theory and Fox's Family Guy. It also had its own E! True Hollywood Story episode, featuring past contestants Ebony Haith, Giselle Samson, Elyse Sewell, Adrianne Curry, Camille McDonald, April Wilkner, Mercedes Scelba - Shorte, Toccara Jones, Ann Markley, Amanda Swafford, Eva Pigford, Michelle Deighton, Brittany Brower, Naima Mora, Ebony Taylor, Lisa D'Amato, Kim Stolz and Bre Scullark as well as judges & personals Janice Dickinson, Tyra Banks, Nigel Barker, J. Alexander, Jay Manuel, Ken Mok and Michelle Mock-Falcon. It covered the first five cycles and recently reaired with a few added minutes of footage which cover cycles 6 to 10 and Stylista. Oxygen Network, which has acquired the cable rights of ANTM, is going to air a series of documentary called Top Model Obsessed, featuring past contestants Lisa D'Amato, CariDee English and Bianca Golden.[23] ANTM was also alluded to in the 6th season of the Gilmore Girls [24] when Sookie recounts Lorelai's drunken escapade at Lane's wedding to Lorelai the following morning. She mentions that Lorelai was in front of the camera making her film to send in for an America's Next Top Model audition. International versionsMain article: International versions of Top Model International broadcasts
ANTM is currently shown on TV internationally in 170 countries and regions, namely: Australia, the United Kingdom, Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and the whole Southeast Asia (except Myanmar and Timor-Leste). The following table shows countries and regions that have aired this show:[25]
See alsoReferences
External links
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