America’s Next Top Model 8: Why Kathleen is Not a Top Model

I have to admit, I didn’t like Kathleen as much as recapper Phil Kural did. Her personality was too over-the-top for me, and the fact that she had no idea what she was doing indicated to me that she wouldn’t have lasted much longer if she hadn’t been cut first. No matter how much Kathleen wanted to be America’s Next Top Model, her unfamiliarity with modeling and her inability to give a good first shoot spelled her doom. But what other Top Model Tips did she struggle with?

Tip #1 is to be open to and welcome change. Even though Kathleen had never modeled before, she knew it was what she wanted to do, and coming on the show meant that she was open to doing something new. Kathleen didn’t make it to the makeover episode, so we don’t know how she would have handled a whole new look, but I have a feeling she would have been okay with it. (She wouldn’t have had to cut her wild hair; it was a piece.) She was willing to do whatever it took to be a model, and having a makeover would have probably been something she knew she had to do.

The second tip is to know something about the fashion industry. As stated above, Kathleen had no experience modeling, and it didn’t look like she knew anything about the industry either. I’m always amazed by the number of girls every cycle who say that they’d love to model but don’t know anything about it. It’s a little like saying you want to be an actress but have never actually seen a movie. Kathleen’s lack of experience hurt her a lot, but it didn’t have to – if she’d picked up a couple of magazines and studied up on modeling, she would have had an advantage over the other girls. She might have at least known how to pose. This leads to…

Tip #3, which tells the girls to practice walking, posing, and working on their flaws. Granted, Kathleen wasn’t around long enough to learn what her flaws were, so she didn’t know what to work on. But Kathleen’s lack of familiarity with modeling meant that she had no walking or posing experience. In her first (and only) shoot, she was unable to impress Jay or Nigel with her posing because she just had no idea what she was doing. (Not to mention the fact that she didn’t know what it meant to be anti-fur.) If she’d practiced her posing and walking before coming on the show, she might have known what to do in her shoot.

Tip #4 says that personality counts. Kathleen did have a memorable personality, but I for one didn’t really consider it memorable in a good way. She was slow to figure out what was going on, and she was loud and over-the-top at times. My favorite models from past seasons have been those who are funny, friendly, and energetic. Kathleen didn’t stand out in any of those ways.

True, we’re so early in the cycle that it’s hard to differentiate among many of the girls, since we haven’t seen enough of them to know which have the biggest personalities. But often the more memorable models are the ones who stand out right from the beginning. Kathleen did stand out, but not for the right reasons. Her personality overshadowed her talent, and it couldn’t make up for what she lacked in modeling ability.

The fifth tip is to focus on yourself, not the other girls. Kathleen did this well, paying attention to the competition and not getting involved in the others’ issues. She seemed to be well-liked as well, judging from many of the others’ reactions to her elimination. She at least knew that to get what she wanted, she needed to focus on it and not on what the others were doing.

Tip #6 tells the girls to roll with the punches and not fight with the judges. In a way, Kathleen did roll with the punches – maybe a little too well. She had no idea what she was doing in her photo shoot, and she tried to go along with the anti-fur theme anyway, but it didn’t quite work out. Even when faced with a challenge, Kathleen tried to make the most of it. Too bad she couldn’t bluff her way through the shoot. Sometimes rolling with the punches can hurt you, if you try too hard to please the judges and don’t actually know what you need to do to take a good photo.

The seventh tip tells the girls to show the judges they want to win. By “rolling with the punches” and trying to succeed her shoot, Kathleen showed the judges that she wanted to fight to be America’s Next Top Model. She didn’t want to appear dumb by admitting that she didn’t know how to be anti-fur, and she didn’t want to show that she didn’t know how to pose well. Even without the experience or knowledge the other girls had, Kathleen did demonstrate to the judges that she wanted to learn and become better. This is one of the few tips she followed.

The last tip says to be confident, not cocky. Cockiness is confidence out of control, and it’s not something you want to see in the models on this show, but lack of confidence can also hurt them. Kathleen seemed confident, but maybe not as confident as the other girls. Plus, when you don’t have the talent to back up confidence, confidence doesn’t mean a whole lot. She could have been extremely confident and still gone home because she couldn’t cut it.

As I said earlier, I’m pretty sure Kathleen wouldn’t have made it too much farther in the competition if she hadn’t gone home this week. The judges will crown the girl who follows these tips the closest, and Kathleen was definitely not that girl. No matter how much she wanted to win, she didn’t have the talent, knowledge, or personality to be a model. The judges knew she wouldn’t be able to stand up to her competitors, so they cut her loose. Kathleen had a lot of small problems that added up to the inability to deliver and perform, and that’s why she’s not a Top Model.

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

Jenn Brasler is an Assistant Editor of Reality News Online and an aspiring writer from Falls Church, Virginia. By day she works for a court reporting firm, and by night she’s a spy for a covert branch of the CIA. You can e-mail her at luckyjenn@hotmail.com. As of right now, her favorite girl is Whitney.

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