America’s Next Top Model 9: Ranking the Models – The Top 7

1. Heather (2): Heather is undoubtedly the most popular model of this season, and perhaps ever on the show. I’m pretty sure her Cover Girl of the week win number five is some kind of record. She would have even scored better if she didn’t look too Tim Burton-y during the wall slide and floor crawl. (Challenge: 5, Video: 10, Misc: 8, Tyra’s rank: 2nd, Episode score: 8.5, Cumulative score: 8.2)

2. Jenah (1): Jenah was given a scare this week, but her rank is no where near as low as her order in the photo dissemination. Even with just an OK week, Jenah is very strong and poised to saunter into the finale. (Challenge: 8, Video: 6, Misc: 8, Tyra’s rank: 6th, Episode score: 6.4, Cumulative score: 7.8)

3. Saleisha (4): Saleisha was barely visible during this episode and during the video. Her brief segment was fine, but nothing amazing. She should stick around for a while yet. (Challenge: 9, Video: 8, Misc: 9, Tyra’s rank: 3rd, Episode score: 8.3, Cumulative score: 7.4)

4. Lisa (7): Every time I think Lisa is about to crash, she ramps it up and nails her shots. Lisa did a very good job in the video, but it was a little too overt for my taste. Lisa has gained back some confidence, but the hair’s still doing nothing for me. (Challenge: 6, Video: 9, Misc: 8, Tyra’s rank: 1st, Episode score: 8.5, Cumulative score: 7.2)

5. Chantal (3): Chantal is wavering and it’s mostly because she is out of touch with reality. Chantal did better in the video than the judges said she did, but her bangs swallowed her face, so it was hard to tell what was going on there. She’s fading, but I have hopes that she can step it up again. (Challenge: 4, Video: 6, Misc: 6, Tyra’s rank: 7th, Episode score: 5.0, Cumulative score: 6.9)

6. Bianca (6): Bianca is back to her old ways. For that, she gets a low miscellaneous score and plops back down to the bottom. I thought she wsa ascending steadily, but I can see she isn’t growing as a person throughout this experience. Let’s shave her head again… maybe her eyebrows too. (Challenge: 7, Video: 6, Misc: 3, Tyra’s rank: 4th, Episode score: 5.5, Cumulative score: 6.3)

7. Ambreal (8): Ambreal got a stay of execution because the judges used poor criteria this week. I disagree that her slide was “hootchie,” but honestly, I can’t understand where one draws the line. Ambreal keeps talking about the need to improve without really doing it. She was once a favorite of mine, but next week I think she’s a goner. (Challenge: 6, Video: 5, Misc: 6, Tyra’s rank: 5th, Episode score: 5.4, Cumulative score: 5.9)

Eliminated: Sarah (5): Sarah, what were you thinking? You have to starve yourself or gorge yourself to stay in the competition. You couldn’t possibly have thought that maintaining an average weight was going to help you be successful, could you? Shame on you for losing weight, and double-shame on your for not losing enough! (Challenge: 9, Video: 8, Misc: 8, Tyra’s rank: 5th, Episode score: 7.7, Cumulative score: 7.1)

Realistically, people, Sarah’s elimination is probably the most frustrating for me in years. I’m almost ready to say the show’s jumped the shark. What kind of message were they trying to send? I didn’t think Sarah was that strong in the competition, but she certainly shouldn’t have gone home for the reasons they gave.

When the judges were talking about Sarah’s self-consciousness about her weight, they were using footage from when it was pretty clear the girls weren’t even in character. Sarah didn’t look self-conscious, she looked like she was trying to figure out if her body was positioned well.

I’m not sure if Sarah was losing weight or not, but either way, the judges shouldn’t use this as the primary reason to send her home. Also, if Sarah had been losing weight, don’t you think she would have known this and not contradicted the judges? Oh well. Maybe what this show needs is one season of all real-sized or plus-sized models.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out these other recent America’s Next Top Model articles:

Asher Streets is a food engineer and musician who lives in Madison, WI. He has a love for all things Italian, most especially gelato, wine, espresso, and cheese. Asher appreciates your opinions too and can be reached via email: asher.streets@gmail.com.

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