America's Next Top Model 6 - Episode 8 Summary

'The Ugly Side Of Modeling: Relationships' By Belinda Trotter-James

A dream of a lifetime can ultimately turn into hard choices one has to make in order to find self-fulfillment.  Welcome to the Nnenna Show.  This week’s dilemma is to contemplate whether to keep a boyfriend or go after a modeling dream of a lifetime.  Is it selfish to go for your dreams and leave loved ones behind?  Will Nnenna chose love or career.  Hey, wait a moment…  This is America’s Next Top Model.  Excuse me…now back to the show.

This week the girls got a chance to show their books to a real commercial agent who would find them work.  Each girl sat down with the agent and got a rude awakening with the ugly side of modeling.  The agent hurled insults left and right.  The only girl who was not phased with the insults was…. you guessed it… Jade.  Jade is the cousin of insults.  Just ask Gina, the 4th contestant to get the boot.    The girls were finally told the secret that this was a test to see how well they can take criticism.  “I did not see it coming,” said Danielle with a smile of relief.  Since Jade was not phased by the interview, she won the challenge and was allowed to select Nnenna to share her prize.  The giant surprise was waiting for Jade and Nnenna back at the house.  Will the prize break their focus or make them stronger?  The boxes were so big that a human could fit inside.  Actually, the human inside of Jade’s box was her mother.  Jade broke down in tears and was overjoyed at the sight of her mother.  Hugs, tears and kisses filled the room and it was an emotional side of Jade that was never revealed until now.  However, on the other side of the room was Nnenna’ box.  Who would jump out…her sisters? Father? Hey, it’s John, the crying telephone boyfriend.   What a treat for the viewing audience to put a face with the crying noises heard over the telephone for the past few weeks.  As the camera focuses on Nnenna’s face, we see that it is not a happy face.  We should have seen long, hot kissing scenes between two lovers.  Nnenna is this the love of your life or what?  John was so excited to see Nnenna that he did not notice her negative body language

“Negative body language you say. That is not a ‘glad to see you’ face,” says Dalia, my friend who will be putting her ten cents in today.  “Ten cent’s, I’ll put in twenty cents that says Nnenna should get rid of John whether she wins or not.  He will just pull her down and not let her pursue her dreams.”

“I was glad to see John,” claims Nnenna.  “He needed to see me.”  What type of statement is that to make of a boyfriend?  In the meanwhile, Jade had a positive visit with her mom who does energy healing.  It was great to see Jade’s mom at work clearing all the negative energy out of Jade’s body.

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The first challenge was to pretend to be a doll, rag doll, glamour doll, baby doll, teen doll, etc.   The girls did a great job except Nnenna who claimed she never had a baby doll therefore; she could not pretend to be one.  However, we know that was a bunch of crap.  She has a big male crybaby doll at home… John.  All she had to do was think of all the crying he did over the phone and she would have nailed the shoot. Afterwards everyone was treated to the dentist to get their teeth whitened.  Danielle was treated to a procedure to close her gap and she declined it.  “This is my signature gap,” says Danielle.  Is that the most ridiculous thing you have heard all day?  The only thing she can do with her gap is be the “before” in a dental ad.  Joanie has teeth growing on top of each other.  Joanie cried when she heard the news.  “We only could afford a check up when I was going up,” remembers Joanie.  “I never had braces; nothing like this.”  Joanie was so grateful for the gift she received through the show.  We actually saw the dentist pull the teeth out, blood and all.  Did they really have to show us bloody teeth and saliva?  This is not Dentist 90210.  Poor Joanie was in pain for 12 hours and had to come back to the dentist for another 6 hours of work.  However, the results were incredible and well worth the pain. 

The next day the girls arrived at Club Mood for a photo shoot.  Eva Pigford, Cycle 3 winner and Janice Dickinson were in the middle of a shoot with Marc Ecko for Elle Girl magazine.  The girls got a chance to ask Eva questions about the industry.  Eva told them to stay confident even when they don’t feel confident.  Janice told the girls the ugly side of modeling was alcohol.  Nnenna asked Janice how to balance relationships and career.  Janice told Nnenna to forget about relationships.  Nnenna had this look of contemplation on her face.  Will she send John a ‘Dear John’ letter?  Stay tuned.

“Why was Eva on the show instead of our super couture winner, Nicole,” adds Dalia.  It’s because Nicole is boring and should have never won….And that is the ugly side of modeling.”

The girls next shoot made them cry.  Tyra directed the crying photo shoot by putting tear stick in their eyes to make them cry.  The girls had to show sadness and beauty simultaneously.  Danielle said she wanted to scream because the Tear Stick was burning her eyes.  She got through the shoot retaining her 20/20 vision.  Furonda was over dramatic and Brooke should have aced this shoot since she is always crying and frustrated at her shoots.  Joanie’s shoot should have been no problem since she was in pain anyway.  “I am not in the mood for this shoot,” says   Joanie.  “I am in so much pain.”  Exactly, Joanie.  This shoot could not have come at a perfect time.  Use your dental pain for the shoot.  Duh!  Tyra was trying to instruct the girls to think of old Hollywood.
 
“The models are so young, starts Dalia, that they don’t know nothing about old Hollywood.  They only know BET, not Betty Davis or Joan Crawford.”

At the elimination ceremony, the girls reviewed their photos with the judges.  They felt that Furonda nailed her photos, Brooke just could not feel it this week, Joanie understands what she is doing and how to nail a shoot.  Jade did a remarkable job this week and Sara was questioned about her passion for the modeling industry.  Nnenna fell short this week because she could not get into her baby doll character.  Tyra was disappointed that Danielle did not get her gap fixed.  “Do you really think you will be a Cover Girl with that gap?  All they will see is a gap, not the cosmetic,” explained Tyra.  In the end, Brooke and Jade was the bottom two this week.  Jade was in the bottom two because of her arrogant attitude.  “You seem to be very fake,” started Tyra. “The public will to fall in love with an arrogant person.”  Brooke was in the bottom two because she has been given chances week after week after week and they still see no progress.  “No more chances, Brooke.  It’s time to go home,” says Tyra.

In Brooke’s exit interview she said, “I could have done better.   I fell short.  I’m not going to cry or get emotional because it’s not going to change anything.  I still have to go home.  Yep, better luck next time.  If there is a next time, stay tuned.

Belinda Trotter is the Editor-in-Chief of www.Beautybyreferral.com.  Visit to get your free model’s newsletter, Model Source Digest.

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