#afntm1

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#7 Cheandre

I love this video of Cheandre, this was really up her alley as she looks better in motion than in still shots anyways. I love how active this video is and how dynamic everything she’s doing is. I love the shot of her laying on the couch seductively and I adore the superhero like moves she did at the end. She also looks like she’s genuinely having fun in the close-up, and the whipping of her hair looked really good in motion. She really made an impression of her and her personality in this video and she’s a stand-out here. It’s sad that it gets dragged down by her still shot because this could’ve easily reached the top 5 videos on it’s own.

I really dislike the still shot as I said. She looks very clueless here, like she didn’t even know the picture was being taken. I get that it’s the first challenge and she isn’t expected to look perfect, but she definitely could’ve done more. I don’t like the half open mouth and it certainly doesn’t go with the crosseyed eyes. She also has some eyebags in this lighting, which she should be able to conceal with a different angle.

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#1 Aamito

I had made up my mind for number 1 a long, long time ago. There is no question in practically anyone’s mind that Aamito deserved her win. From the second the cast was announced, Aamito was branded the clear winner, and someone miles above an already great cast, and I agree with that. She had the most stunning, high fashion face, the best height at 5′11.5′’ (not the tallest, but the most bookable), and definitely one of the best bodies. She also performed during the cycle, and really never dissapointed me - which is why I was SO surprised to see her come in third in my averages. I think I just subconciously judged her harder for great performances - which the show did as well, landing her two bottom 3 appearances early on. However, she quickly picked it up, and went on a FCO streak until the finale (which she almost did in my rankings as well). Something else I loved about watching Aamito, was her drive and how much she wanted this. She actually travelled 16 hours from Uganda to even be able to audtion - now if that isn’t a success story I don’t know what is. To be honest, I have no doubt in my mind that she would’ve made it into the fashion business with or without the show, but I’m glad we got the opportunity to see her on tv.

Post show, Aamito truly is one of the NTM franchise’s biggest success stories. Actually, one of the fashion world’s biggest successes too. She landed on the Models.com hot list immediately and is still there, years after her win, and is signed with DNA Models in New York, Viva Paris, Viva London, Viva Barcelona and Why Not Model Management in Milan. There is literally so much work to go through, so I’ll list her biggest jobs. She’s shot editorials for British Vogue (yesterday actually), Vogue Ukraine, Vogue Japan, Elle Italia, W Magazine, Vogue Mexico, American Vogue, Vogue Italia, Harper’s Bazaar US, Vogue Germany, Vanity Fair France and Italy, should I go on? I could. She’s also shot covers for Elle UK, Allure Magazine and Styleby Magazine. She’s no stranger to the runway either, having walked for Miu Miu, Zac Posen, Hermès, Burberry, Gucci, Marc Jacobs, Hugo Boss, Balenciaga and many more. This girl is a star.

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#2 Opeyemi

There she is, my favorite on my first time watching the show. What a beauty, literally every time she was on screen my jaw dropped. She didn’t have a really high fashion look, but she had the most amazing bone structure, and would kill as a commercial model. Anyways, I loved Opeyemi’s portfolio on the show. She produced great shot after great shot, including the best shot of the cycle for most people. She really defied the odds, being 26 and not the tallest, though she never looked like either of those things. Her downfall, however, seemed to be her plateauing around the middle of the competition. She was still never in the bottom, but was always outperformed by either Michaela or Aamito, and that’s what cost her my number 1 spot. You know, I feel like her and Michaela are actually like polar opposites, one radiated a negative energy but improved qua pictures, and the other radiated such a positive energy, but kind of plateaud qua pictures. For me, I enjoyed watching the latter more, and that happened to be Opeyemi’s arc.

Post show, Opeyemi has defied the odds and is now a working fashion model, quite opposite to Michaela once again. She is signed with Boss Models in South Africa, and has shot editorials for Marie Claire South Africa, Ingqephu Magazine (and covered), Cosmopolitan South Africa, Schick Magazine, Factice Magazine and Elle South Africa. She’s been featured in ads for Foschini, Total Sports, and Adidas. She’s also a must-have on the runway, having walked in FW South Africa multiple times, for designers such as Woolworths, Marianne Fasler, Shana, Hugo Flear, and many more.

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#4 Roselyn

Roselyn has really climbed up the ladder in this ranking, as I originally had her multiple spots lower. I was never really impressed by her good weeks, and she just seemed to blend into the background most of the time. However, when I started really paying attention to her, she just struck me as much more beautiful and skilled than I originally thought. Her portfolio is actually really good, her videoshoot and township couture are gorgeous especially! In motion she has this regal presence as well, and her skin is just flawless! I guess her two bad last shots just stuck with me and gave off a bad impression. Anyways, back to the positive. I loved her runway walk as well, and I really don’t get why the judges didn’t. She really has the height for it too! Writing all of this, I really wish I had payed more attention to her earlier on, as I feel like she could’ve possibly ended up in my top 3.

Post show, Roselyn has surprisingly been one of the most succesful girls of the cycle. Apparently she was already a pretty famous model in Ghana pre-show, and she has continued to work post-show as well. She is now signed to 3 agencies; MHOMS Agency in Spain, Outlaws Agency in South Africa, and ICE Model Management in South Africa. Her more well known jobs include shooting for Levi’s, Women’s Secret and Women24. She’s also appeared on covers for Club Magazine, Debonair Magazine and Nubian Bride Magazine. Literally, the list goes on and on, from commercials to tons of gorgeous print work. She also won Model of the Year from the Glitz Style Awards in 2017! I’m very impressed!

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#5 Cheandre

This was totally a last minute decision, as I originally had her at number 4. I was just looking over her portfolio, and I realized that while all of her shots are good, she didn’t have as much of a standout moment as the girls above her. Her highest call-out was 4th (when there were only 5 girls left) - which should speak for itself. I didn’t really dislike any of her shots either though, except maybe the suits one, so that lands her this high, as I did strongly dislike a photo or two of everyone below her. Anyways, her runway walk was really good, so that’s a plus. She also always seemed professional on set, and the clients loved her week after week. She definitely seemed the most experienced on the show, and I liked that vibe. Personality wise, we saw a lot of her this cycle, as she turned into the narrator after Joyce’s elimination. I must say I kind of loved her accent and just plain delivery - it was so strange but also so intruiging. ‘’The mood just dropped to the floor and shattered after death mail’’, who talks like that?! I loved it!

Post show, Cheandre signed, and is still signed, with Boss Models in Johannesburg. She’s a full time working model now, and looks amazing with her new platinum hair! She’s shot ads for Stitch & Steal and some other pretty big companies, and appeared in the Sunday Times, Grazia South Africa, Sawubona Magazine and Gaschette Magazine. She also seems to be a mom now, so congratulations to her!

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#6 Michelle

Michelle lands at number 6, seems about right considering she placed 6th on the show as well. When I first saw the cast, Michelle was one of two (the second one being obvious of course) girls that stood out to me. She has these beautiful, big green eyes and a gorgeous smile. Sadly, her beauty never really translated in photographs (to me) - her highest call-out being 3rd on her last week. Another thing that was lacking, was her height. I think she was the shortest girl of the cast, or at least she looked like it - I think it might just be that she has a longer torso or something. That height definitely hindered her runway walk as well, as it was quite good, but designers are never going to book shorter girls in the real world. Personality wise, she seemed like a really kind person - even though the edit tried to turn her into a villain with the vegetarian incident. She definitely radiated a positive energy from her confessional to me though, and her accent is just really cute! Her makeovers did wonders for her, by the way, the red transformed her into an absolute supermodel! That’s kind of all I have for her.

Post show, she got signed with Ice Model Management in South Africa, and has shot an ad for Cirque Beauty. Most of her work consists of test shots though, which are SO gorgeous! She posts all of them on her instagram, so definitely check those out!

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#7 Safira

I had a really hard time ranking Safira, probably even moreso than Rhulani, because her call-out average doesn’t represent my thoughts at all. The reason she lands at #4 in those is because I only ranked her first shoot (which I loved), as her second and elimination week consisted only of a runway, which I didn’t rank. She would’ve definitely been knocked down multiple spots had I ranked it though, because, - let’s just say that runway isn’t her forté. Anyways, her terrible walk and early exit combined with her gorgeous first shoot lands her at number 7. She definitely showed promise that first week, as her face is truly stunning (just look at the shot above), but what held her back most was her language barrier. Literally, this girl did not speak a word English, just Portuguese. I think she just didn’t understand what the judges wanted from her, and ultimately the show just couldn’t work with that. Had she improved upon her walk and spoken better English, her face could’ve taken her very, very far, and she could’ve easily given Aamito a run for her money. She was such a sweetheart as well, you could tell that she really wanted it.

Post show, Safira doesn’t seem to have continued modeling too much - probably because English is the primary language in today’s modeling industry, but she has still worked here and there in Mozambique. For instance, she’s walked for it’s FW a couple of years ago and has done some stunning test shoots.

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#8 Rhulani

Rhulani really was a difficult one to rank, as I said earlier. Her performance was incredibly inconsistent - going from the bottom of the pack, to the top, to the bottom again. Her one high, the P&G products ad, was absolutely amazing though, and it showed me that she does have some potential. That shot alone ranks her this high, but being amazingly tall (6′05′’) definitely helps. Sadly, I just don’t think Rhulani knew much about modeling on the show - I just don’t think she was ready, and her being a rookie was brought up quite often. However, she did surprise me with a great performance in the runway challenge - which she was petrified of as she had never done that before. Anyways, her face was definitely unique. I hated her look at some times, but she has really interesting features that are really high fashion the more that I look at her. I wish she had shown more of what she can do on the show, but  I can’t say I disagree with her elimination because of her inexperience and inconsistency.

Post show, Rhulani has continued to model and is actually really great at it, to my surprise! She has signed with Fabulousdotcom Models and is building a great portfolio for herself. She has definitely mastered her face in the newest tests. She has yet to get any work published, but I’m sure her time will come!