Win in the face

For the sake of end-of-cycle summary, I believe that no one screen shot says more than this:

56. Teyona

 

Get ready for a lesson in milking it.

57. Teyona

 

Thank god milking it in this case has nothing to do with eye udders.

58. Teyona

 

Although, that would have been interesting, now that I think about it.

59. Teyona

 

But whatever, at least we got a gif out of this episode-long tantrum. Here, Teyona looks like she's cleaning herself. Funny, I would have expected some woodland-creature-esque behavior more from Allison.

Also from the same cry:

 

LOLeyethangs!

60. Teyona

 

OK WE GET IT, YOU'RE IN IT TO WIN IT LIKE MARKY MARK!!!!

61. Aminat

 

I love the implied narcissism in taking elimination from this show show hard. It makes me feel justified in my path of ridicule.

62. Aminat

 

You know, if Aminat really wanted it, she would have dug into her face, pulled her tendons manually and (to rip off Jay Manuel ripping off Tim Gunn, which he does a million times in an ANTM cycle finale especially this one) made it work.

63. Teyona

 

Oh yay she won boo-hoo hoo hoo hoo cares.

64. Teyona

 

And what a winner she is!

As with every cycle, I have a spreadsheet revealing which girl cried the most in the time she was on the show via my boy Toho. Because, let's be honest, everyone's reading this blog for the data, right?

Click to enlarge...and expand your mind. Fo No. 1? Who would have guessed? And to think that she once regarded herself as a total loser!

And now, wisdom to last a summer, or perhaps not even until the end of this post. This is all what you make it, guys.

Tyraism of the Week No. 1

"When you mess up, you have to cover as if you're not messing up. So this is a brand that is happy and free and bubbly. So when you mess up, it would almost be better to go, 'Whoooo!' as opposed to...

 

'...You just started doing the shake.'"

Yeah, I mean, I guess a happy, bubbly lunatic is preferable to a nervous one. Less chance of smelling like urine. (Though if you're the explosive "Whooo!" type, there's probably a greater chance of smelling like feces. Trade off.)

All that is to say: in it for the gif opportunity. What would the point of Tyra be without gifs, you know?

Tyraism of the Week No. 2

"It should be: 'Haaa. It's a stain. It's not a this. It's a this. It's a that.' That's how human beings talk."

I love that an alien is trying to tell us how human beings talk. THE CRACKS ARE SHOWING, E.Ty! I mean, really, listening to this makes me think that she doesn't listen to human beings talk anymore. I guess she's too busy listening to herself? Not that I'm one to judge anyone for listening to Tyra too much...

Tyraism of the Week No. 3

"Aminat, you have got to master that face. Right now, you have Novocaine in the places that it shouldn't be! The only place your face should feel like Novocaine is around the lips. But every thing else needs to be tension and strong. OK? OK."

I think my favorite recent addition to the elimination format is the parting advice portion of the show. Before you go, here's a new concept: Novocaine around the lips with no further explanation. Just do it. Figure it out and do it. Even though the shock of defeat effectively shot Novocaine around your brain, do it. You'll be famous. You'll be the next great Novacaine mouth in fashion. Try it, you'll like it. It's bubblegum-flavored. Just do it.

Tyraism of the Week No. 4

"I'm gonna send you in the back to get nervous, and when I call you back, I will announce who is America's Next Top Model."

Not that we needed it, but here's confirmation of her sadism. Not, "I'm gonna send you in the back because we have to talk about you in ways that even the most heartless bitch on this panel (i.e. me) couldn't bring ourselves to if you were here," or, "I'm gonna send you in the back 'cause my I.B.S., is bad today and you're too young to desecrate with my funk," or, "I'm gonna send you in the back 'cause Mommy and Daddy and Nigel and Paulina need to touch each other's privates with our mouths." The whole point of getting the girls out: another intimidation tactic. Beautiful.

And these aren't -isms, but while I'm on topic of Tyra and the evil that resides in her heart, let's examine how it manifests itself on her person:

 

This is good, but just a few judging-portion-of-our-show-style tweaks would make it perfect.

 

So easy. And I don't know anything about fashion, either. This is just common sense people.

Or how 'bout the second elimination round?

 

Like Allison in her CoverGirl commercial, she's almost there.

 

Much better. I think if you're gonna go Satan, you need to go full Satan. But maybe that's just me.

 

And there she goes, fanning the flames of hell.

You know, I'm not even going to do numbered points this time around. I'm going to take my usual premiere tactic and just go through everybody on this show that I have something to say about and that will be that. It's been a long cycle. I'm tired. I'm starting with the one I'm gonna miss the most.

Allison

 

Look at the childlike glee (and by "glee" I mean "smooshy hand") that comes when you call her name first! It's the little things, you know?

I think I'll miss her as much as the deserts miss the rain. And by "deserts," I mean, "her weave."

I think her weave has performed so well to make up for the lackluster nature of this cycle. In this shot, she looks like Alli the Kid. I bet she hooks up with some girl who works at a diner with eyes that shift back and forth rapidly per some condition or another and that she reveals to that girl's stepfather that her favorite type of movies is slasher movies within minutes of meeting him. Just a hunch, though.

God, this girl is a fountain of awesome up until the very end. Look how not excited she was to get the CoverGirl scripts:

She was like, "We gotta film a commercial? That's bullscript."

I love that she overcame that and delivered a surprisingly competent commercial. Same with her runway walk, which was way better than it should have been. She really got in there and dug in the poop...

 

 

...err, make the diarrhea, if you will.

I love that she saw Tyra for the demon that she is backstage of the fashion show.

 

Who wouldn't be frightened, you know?

But finally, what I love most about Allison this episode and Allison in general was the way her character arc played out:

 

"I've gotten over feeling lame," she told us and then made the face above, probably because she realized how lame that sounded. I was going to take that and Photoshop it on a hypothetical book (Conquering Lame, perhaps), but then I thought fuck it: you can't improve upon perfection. Love. This. Girl.

Aminat

I cannot say the same for Aminat, but I did like her a little bit more each week. If only a cycle were 5,000 episodes long, I'd finally be able to say, "Yay, Aminat." I did enjoy that when Jay asked her how she was on the set of the CoverGirl commercial, she responded, "I'm fabulous!" It made me think that instead of taking her act here, she should have slummed it over on RuPaul's Drag Race. She could have shown them that she is realer than realness.

I like how she took out her aggression on Allison as she was leaving. Not because I want to see Allison get hurt, I just like ridiculous aggression, that's all.

Also?

 

 

Her CoverGirl shot was the best. Sorry, it was. I mean, Teyona's was great as it led to Tyra's smile-with-your-eyes-gasm, but Aminat's is the only one that's around-the-way in the manner acceptable for CoverGirl. Teyona's is around-the-way in the manner that "way" means "one of Saturn's rings."

So yeah, I don't think Aminat should take this too hard. At the very least, it was all worth it to get that damn fake afro removed from her head. That's so clearly the truth that I feel comfortable saying it on her behalf.

Teyona

As for Teyona, what is there to say about Teyona besides, "What is there to say?"

It was funny when she flailed during her CoverGirl commercial. I assume when she flails in the modeling industry, it will be infinitely less amusing. If she wants to make it more amusing, I suggest modeling wigs.

McKey

 

Again, I suggest modeling wigs.

Mr. Jay

Ooh, girl! For a second I confused you for Tyra! The second before that, I confused you for a tangerine with a tuft mold on the top!

 

"Anyone touches me, I'mma beat you!" he said to the shit-smeared models. I can't figure out which punctuates that sentence in a more menacing way: the flight-of-fancy trilling "Whoo!" that concludes it, or the Miami-tight Mr. Furley shirt he's rocking when he says it. Luckily, I have the whole summer to figure it out.

Miss J

 

I knew it would be stupid, but somehow, I didn't realize how stupid. Bravo, J, for raising the bar in gimmickry beyond what I thought this show was capable of. Bra. Vo.

Sutan

 

I hope Sutan got pregnant as a result of this. Can you imagine the awesome babies?

Slama

 

OK, so it was totally wrong of me but when I saw him, all I could think was, "Ew. Molester pattern baldness." That his name is but letters away from being "Salami" does not help. But then when he said in reference to our girlish, youthful Allison of all people that, "I feel also a little bit sex. A little bit more sexy. You know?" he confirmed my suspicions. I'll never second guess the impulse to stereotype again!

Thanks Slama, or should I say, Slam Her, which is what your name is trying to say, you perv!

I have nothing to say about Nigel or Paulina, since he's boring and I've already said enough about her. I'm sure you've already emailed me this saying, "I'm sure you've gotten a million emails about this..." but just to cover all bases, you should also read her TV Guide interview, which includes this bit of hilarity: "Go to Top Model only if you don’t want to be a model. These girls want to be models so desperately. And the fact is the show is not even looking for fashion models. They’re looking for personalities. It’s a Cinderella story. But [many of] the girls who succeed on the show won’t succeed [in the industry] because they’re not models. I have become friends with some of the models on the show and they actually have lost jobs when it came out that they were on America’s Next Top Model, because the fashion industry will not touch those girls with a ten foot pole."

Cute, right? 

We end where we began, and where we'll undoubtedly begin and end at again and again until we're very, very old and our weakened fingers are curled and gnarled into some carpal tunnel k-hole:

 

Just in case you forgot what this show is really about.

And just in case you forgot after she said that, there was this:

 

Getting up in the camera's face right before the credits roll. It's not the best ending, but it is by far the most appropriate one.

Hey thanks for reading. I know that now is the time when many people start checking in these parts of the Internet. That's fine. I'm not here to make friends. However, if you're into ANTM, you may want to check back in at fourfour later this week. I'll have something special up that I promise will be be illuminating, among things.

If not, whatever. Have a great fucking summer. I hope you don't get eaten by a shark.

Comments

[V]

Please, try to interview Allison. I honestly.. omg. NEED TO SEE.

[sammy]

how did you do it?? how did you predict her win from the beginning? i have watched every single episode of this show from the very first season, and i can rarely predict a winner from the get-go. eliminations usually seem so completely arbitrary. do you have a formula?

[emmysuh]

I'm so glad someone within ANTM is finally calling the bullshit that is ANTM. Go Paulina!

And I didn't seen the finale (shame on me, I know, I know) but seriously, shit? What happened on the run way? I need some one to clarify what actually happened.

[acolyte]

Seriously, this show is nothing without your recaps.
Well, maybe it's a little something, but it definitely would not as entertaining without you.

[Lynn]

I'm sure the 5 inches of hair they photo shopped to Teyona's hairline in every picture helped. Good lord that girl gave new meaning to forehead.

[Mike]

"I was so hoping for a Teyona weave whipping gif. "

Same here. :( But it's all good. ;) Great recap, and thanks for all of em!

[Hannah Potter]

I JUST WANT TO SAY THAT I LOVE YOU SO FUCKING MUCH.
Here are some hugs and kisses from me to you.
xoxoxoxo

[candice]

a billy the kid reference! no way! i worked on that movie.

[Ycrfowys]

89smhN

[Tactical Warning Light]

According to me this light was super cheap.This was not worth the hassles of waiting for it,and then having to immediately return it.Don't waste your time waiting for a crappy product.

[Plastic clip]

A whole bunch of stores have already started with the Christmas displays here, too. What's up with that?

[shelf talker]

There should be a middle ground somewhere, Alysa, between the crass commercialism we have in this country and the tight-assed ninnyness of the French - except for those in the North, of course. Carnaval looks to be similar to Fasching in Germany. Drink and be merry.

[acrylic menue holder]

What a beautiful post, Vivian! Happy Halloween to you and your family - especially to adorable Mason. My, what big claws he has!