Deemed to have "lost her fire," Brittany, a 22-year-old elementary school instructional aide from Tallahassee, FL, became the eleventh girl eliminated from the fourth edition of America's Next Top Model during last night's UPN broadcast.
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The next day, the girls toured an African township and visited a community center to learn tribal dancing techniques that would help perfect their movement in front of the camera. Brittany became frustrated during the lesson, feeling her dancing skills weren't up to par. "I can't get into the motion yet and I don't even know what I'm doing," she admitted. Naima won the audience-judged dance challenge that followed, giving her the right to thirty extra frames at the next photo shoot and -- should she want to -- the ability to give 20 extra frames to the other girl of her choosing.
In a strategic decision, Naima chose to give the extra frames to Keenyah, feeling that Kahlen was already taking great pictures. Keenyah then shared ten of her extra frames with Brittany, leaving Kahlen disappointed and betrayed, feeling that the other girls were trying to get rid of her.
The next morning, the girls traveled to Robbene Island where they were given a special tour that included a quiet moment inside the jail cell in which former South African president Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years. Each of the girls became emotional during the tour, but Brittany was irritated by Keenyah's over-the-top reaction and seemingly selfish behavior.
When the tour guide allowed one girl to use a key to unlock Mandela's former cell, Naima reached out for the key, a move that despite the fact that Naima is of mixed race heritage, upset Keenyah, who felt that due to her own darker skin color, she should have been the one allowed to open the cell. "I don't really think of Naima as black; I just don't see that," said Keenyah. Tired of hearing about Keenyah's self-professed connection to Africa, Brittany pointed out that despite Keenyah's post-prison visit comments, it was only earlier that same morning that Keenyah had to ask Brittany if Mandela was still alive.
The following afternoon, the girls joined Jay Manuel on an ostrich farm for a 1940's themed photo shoot for a Caress Sensational Smoothing Body Wash ad. Each girl used the skills they learned during their tribal dance lesson to create graceful movements to the beat of an African drum while posing with three handsome male models. After the shoot, Brittany felt that her awkward performance might not hold up against the tough competition presented by the other girls. Jay Manuel agreed and commented, "That was a whole lot of nothing."
That night, tempers erupted when Brittany confronted Keenyah about her selfish attitude. While Naima and Kahlen remained mostly quiet, Naima tried to moderate the argument before eventually giving up, leaving extreme tension hanging over the household.
During the elimination ceremony, the girls were asked to dance in front of the judges and pose on command in order to demonstrate the skills they had learned about movement and posing. Although they agreed that her photo was flawless, the judges felt that Brittany was holding back during the elimination challenge and that her energetic personality (which she had intentionally changed due to the judges' previous insistence that she had a "porn star" look) was diminishing. "You walked in with so much fire and now the judges just see someone that is slipping away. Someone whose passion and desire may not be there like it used to be," Tyra said to Brittany before eliminating her from the competition.
