America’s Next Top Model 3, Episode 1: New Weave + Beer = Throw Down!

Yes, I’m a little giddy! Besides The Amazing Race, America’s Next Top Model is easily my next favorite reality show. The bitchiness, the drama, the fights… it’s all here! We begin with Tyra telling us that it’s no picnic trying to become a top model. It’s a cut-throat competition, and many will have to endure catfights and tears, all while maintaining a sense of beauty. We see some shots of the girls from the past two seasons crying and fighting. Tyra says Yoanna went from a babysitter to America’s Next Top Model last season. This season, thousands of girls applied, but only one will be the winner!

We see some of the semi-finalists arrive in Los Angeles. Amanda says she just got off the plane from North Carolina and hopes to be ANTM. Toccara feels she is great and fabulous, and wants to do well. It’s already obvious that she is “plus size.” Cassie is nervous and stressed, but very happy. Josie has a teddy bear named “baby” and brings him everywhere she goes. A shuttle drops off some girls at the hotel, and we meet Mary, who says this will be a tough competition since they are all gorgeous. Natalie says she loves competing and one girl, Kimberly, says she’s sizing up the competition. All the girls walk into a room where Jay Manuel is waiting for them. He’s the art director of all the shots and also a makeup artist for Tyra. He tells the girls they will meet a panel of judges that will judge them on everything from their bodies to the personalities to their potential. There will be a cut later on in the week and some girls will go home. With that, Jay tells the girls to enjoy themselves for now with food and the pool because the real competition begins tomorrow.

The girls hit the patio for some food and chat. Ann and Eva hit it off right away and mesh well together. Yaya isn’t sure what to say to anyone, and sticks to herself. In comes Tyra! Everyone stands up, claps, and leaps for job. Yaya says that Tyra is so beautiful she looks like a hologram. Some of the girls are even crying. Tyra gets them all hyped up for a little while, and Nicole says she thinks she’s in a dream. Tyra tells the girls that she’s from Los Angeles and knows some of the girls there are from very small town but this is where she got her big break and wants to give them the same opportunity. She admits that this week will be tough on the girls and hopes they are ready. Then, off she goes!

Norelle flips just knowing that Tyra saw her video and chose her to be there. Eva is ready for the competition to get down and dirty. All the girls get into their swimsuits and head for the pool. Some get in but others don’t want to get in the water and have their hair wet. Ann doesn’t care if she gets wet and neither does Eva, so they begin pulling other girls into the water, with some girls screaming that they don’t want to get wet. Geeze, I’m not sure who the bigger babies are – the girls that are PETRIFIED of water, or the Ann and Eva for having to drag them in. Ann feels the other girls are intimidated by her and Eva, but doesn’t care. Mary worries that there are two plus sized girls and isn’t sure how that will play out. Toccara doesn’t really feel that Mary is plus, and that she carries her 180 lbs. much better than Mary carries her 160.

In the morning, everyone begins to get ready. Brianna is really nervous and doesn’t want to mess up. Amanda tells us that she has a son, Elijah, and it will be stressful on her to be away from him, but she has to do this in order to give him a good future.

Time for session one of the auditions. J. Alexander, runway expert extraordinaire, is present, along with Jay Manuel, who will help Tyra with the screening process. Tyra says that J. Alexander is known as Mrs. J, while Jay Manuel is Mr. J.

Ann introduces herself as an all-American sporty kind of girl. Mrs. J loves her legs. Ann admits that she doesn’t like to lose and tells the camera this has been a great experience. Actually, it hasn’t, but she really wants to get in that house!

Cassie is 19 and says she will win the whole thing. She used to be a stripper, which she feels is not an all-American job. Mrs. J disagrees. She feels that she would be stripping and people would tell her she should model. He dad won’t help her, so that’s why she had to do this. She refuses to drop out of college, and the judges question her from the beginning. Mr. J thinks she may be a little to “stripperish” when she walks, and nobody is sure about her.

Julie says she’s a great example of Indian girls. She is there to represent all Indian women. Oh God, here we go. She shows them how to dance and Mrs. J doesn’t look impressed.

Magdelana rolls up in the place and says she’s a junior in nursing school and giving it all up for this. It’s what she always wanted. I like this girl!

Tiffany says she knows she may be ghetto, and in 8th grade she turned into the devil. I know the feeling. She was out of control, and when asked why she wants to model, Tiffany replies that she wants to show people that even though she was a bad egg, she can still accomplish something. She’s sick of disappointing everyone, and wants to soften up. On that note, the first session is over.

The girls pile into a van and head out to party. Amanda says everyone is having fun. Some local girls come walking up and looking at the model-wannabes not knowing who they are. They begin to call the model girls “skank.” Geeze, I feel like I’m on Maury. Yaya says that somehow, a dance competition begins. Tiffany starts dancing with a local girl, and as Tiffany so elegantly puts it, “bitch poured beer on her weave.”