Runway Review

The Girl Who Gets Thrown in the Pool

Sarah, a photographer from Lake Zurich, Ill., was the sixth girl eliminated during the eighth cycle of The CW’s hit reality series “America’s Next Top Model,” reducing the pool from 8 girls to 7.

The girls were greeted by Twiggy and ANTM: Cycle Seven participant Melrose who taught them the importance of having a memorable name. Each girl was given the task of creating a unique name, which they had to use when introducing themselves at a Hollywood party filled with celebrities. The girls enjoyed mingling at the party with stars including rapper 50-Cent, Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, and were excited to learn Tyra’s manager, Benny Medina, was there as well. They soon realized they were being challenged to impress Medina with their personality and choice of name; Dionne was later named the challenge winner.

The next day, the girls met with Jay for their photo shoot where they were each responsible for their own hair and make-up and for choosing the four personalities that best represented them to portray on camera. Sarah frustrated Jay as she continued to struggle with over-thinking the shots and not relaxing in her poses. “Week after week after week, I keep pushing Sarah to go past her safety zone, to make her poses look more genuine, make them more real,” Jay said.

During the judging, the panel all agreed that Sarah’s photos looked too posed and unnatural. “The judges feel like your pictures are posed, but they don’t feel like there is anything extra, and they feel like they haven’t seen the real you,” Tyra said to Sarah before eliminating her from the race to become “America’s Next Top Model.”