AS SEEN ON: ANTM offers new batch of model wannabes
By Brittany Coombs, The Dartmouth Staff
Published on Wednesday, March 4, 2009
If the past 11 seasons of supermodel Tyra Banks' "America's Next Top Model" have taught us anything, it's that a pretty face alone cannot conquer the elite and savage world of professional modeling. Attitude is an edge, confidence is a must and a willingness to shamelessly peddle CoverGirl cosmetics will all but win you the title.
Tonight, as the 12th "cycle" of "Top Model" premieres at 8 p.m. on the CW, we'll finally meet the newest batch of hopeful stuff-strutters -- and cross our fingers that somewhere behind each woman's doe eyes and puckered lips is the talent to become the next Tyra.
The two-hour "Top Model" season premiere will feature a photo shoot in Central Park called "Return to Innocence," in which the 13 model hopefuls play "games that young girls played back in the day, [like] dodgeball, jacks, [and] double-Dutch jump-rope," Banks said in an interview reported by StarPulse.com.
A physical challenge likely won't be any problem for Cycle 12 contestant Sandra Nyanchoka, 19, who recalls a tomboyish childhood in her official interview package on CWTV.com.
"In Kenya we don't have snow, so we used to spend a lot of time outdoors playing hopscotch and catch," Nyanchoka said.
Nyanchoka, who prefers speaking in her native Kiswahili, joins a diverse crew of models this season, who represent a variety of sizes, figures, skin tones and backgrounds.
"I'm really into art and artistic photography," Allison Harvard, 20, said in her official interview, "and I wanted to try to bring something that hasn't been done ... to any and all of the photographs that I take."
Another contestant, Kortnie Coles, 24, will try to become only the second plus-size model to win the reality competition.
"Your body is a temple, and sometimes my temple wants cheesecake," Coles jokes with the judges in a brief preview of the first episode on CWTV.com.
Despite the producers' best efforts to keep everything as tightly wrapped as a geisha top, some Cycle 12 spoilers have still managed to leak out -- and boy, are they doozies. Good looks aren't everything, but this season sure looks good.
"Top Model" airs tonight on channel 16 of DarTV.