#antmcycle3commentary

[jaytopmodelrankings]

Toccara Jones

Place: 7th

Panel Call-out Average: 5.86

Personal Call-out Average: 4

Favourite Performance: Nivea Beauty Shot

Least Favourite Performance: Dooney & Bourke Purses in Rollerskates

Eligibility to Win/Place Higher:

She should have made it overseas, even though I believe the panel and their international destination would be severe limitations of her making it that much further in the long run.

Thoughts:

She is beauty, she is grace, the queen we’d all like to embrace. Toccara was my favourite contestant, and is right up there in my favourite contestants ever from the franchise. I have yet to meet a Top Model fan who dislikes her. What really made her stand out was that Toccara wasn’t just a great model, but a great person. She was such a giver, and a sweetheart from the bottom of her heart. Vivacious, happy-go-lucky and lovable. I loved seeing her interact with the other girls because you could tell everyone loved her and she was always there for them as the tough mama of the house. Toccara shocked me upon my first ever rewatch, because the first time I ever watched the show, I never grasped how strong her portfolio was. In hindsight, apart from one busted shot, she never failed to deliver- she was in my Top 2 for the first three weeks. Her walk was fierce too, I loved her attitude. She wanted to use her abilities to help make the world a better place and inspire other plus-size women to love themselves the way she did. It was endearing and inspirational to watch her, not the least because she was just damn gorgeous in the first place. Toccara was just beautiful from the inside-out, and I hated seeing her confidence waver as weeks went by. While I think she deserved to make it to Japan, I agree that the market there and the judges would cut her soon thereafter. Toccara is an icon, and she moved on to better and greater things. Her Vogue shots give me life, and it is a life-long wish to someday meet her.

[jaytopmodelrankings]

Cassie Grisham

Place: 8th

Panel Call-out Average: 6.17

Personal Call-out Average: 8.16

Favourite Performance: Lee Jeans Topless

Least Favourite Performance: YJ Stinger Energy Drink Trampoline

Eligibility to Win/Place Higher:

Cassie was eliminated at the right time.

Thoughts:

Cassie was quite simply the worst of the best (or best of the worst depending on your taste) in terms of the contestants of Cycle 3. Most of her portfolio was solid and definitely usable, but never that eye-catching or outstanding. She constantly delivered satisfactory pictures, but that wasn’t enough when everyone else was bringing shots of higher calibre that she couldn’t manage. Her lack of variety dragged her down, and she was more on the commercial side. I did like her look, but it didn’t blow my socks off or anything. She left at the right time. Cassie was… I haven’t made my mind up about her, because obviously I was worried for her eating disorder, but I didn’t want to let that dictate my opinion of her. At the end of the day, Cassie was usually lowkey and sullen, though I think the disorder and the pressure of the competition probably brought those into the foreground more than anything. I actually live for her reactions during Browniegate 04, but apart from that she never gave us anything iconic. I will admit I wanted to hug her when that designer kept commenting on her body and you could see her eyes dull even further.

[jaytopmodelrankings]

Eva Pigford

Place: Winner

Panel Call-out Average: 3.18

Personal Call-out Average: 3.09

Favourite Performance: Covergirl Wet Slicks Crystals Ad

Least Favourite Performance: Swimsuits in Jamaica

Eligibility to Win/Place Higher:

Eva was the rightful winner of a truly spectacular cycle. Period.

Thoughts:

I do love Eva as a winner. I know a lot of people are hard on her because she was quite a mean girl in the beginning. However, I will never forget how she reacted to Tyra calling her out. It dawned on me that Eva wasn’t being genuinely mean. She just lashed out and bitched out of her own insecurities since nobody in her family wanted to support her. I do believe she realised that she didn’t want others to hurt the way she hurt. She was loud, brash, and outspoken, but she was a good person when it comes down to it. She was blunt and honest, which I appreciated, and she was funny in her confessionals. Basically she grew on me upon rewatches. Eva started off rather terribly, but after that first week, she really improved, and she never was out of my Top 4 after the third week. Her Covergirl could very well be the best ad in the show’s history, and she knew how to work her look and make herself present and alluring. Plus, she has the most entries in my Top 10 list, and was consistently improving herself as a model. Truthfully, I felt like Eva matured both as a person and a model on the show. Her walk was the best, with lots of attitude and her own flair, and her shortcomings like her heights were rarely apparent in her shots. Eva really deserved to be our third champ, and I was quite happy to see her take it home. She flourished, and branched out into other things post-show, and she really proved she was a star in the making. I was really happy with how the cycle ultimately turned in her favour.

[jaytopmodelrankings]

Yaya DaCosta

Place: Runner-up

Panel Call-out Average: 3.27

Personal Call-out Average: 3.45

Favourite Performance: Verragio Diamonds Tarantula Beauty Shot

Least Favourite Performance: Harajuku-inspired Motorcyclists

Eligibility to Win/Place Higher:

Yaya’s decline had me against her winning the whole thing, but her track record validated her making it so far (even though she should have been sent home before Amanda).

Thoughts:

Yaya is an icon. My first ever memory of Cycle 3 is her screaming on the phone, which is one of the most hilarious moments of the show (especially the girls reacting to her). Yaya came across as an intelligent, driven and cultured girl. At the same time, she tended to come across as arrogant and snobbish (and I loathed her for her comment on wanting to study Psychology because of Eva). That made Yaya rather unlikeable most of the time, but I did appreciate that she was proud of her heritage, and I will defend her to the death (as we all should) on the hat situation. I wish she could have conveyed her education in a less superior way, and she should have stayed out of drama instead of being so extra and inserting herself in situations that didn’t involve her (we still appreciate Respeito though, don’t get me wrong lol). Modelling-wise, Yaya started off as the main front-runner. She grabbed the first FCO rightfully, and was consistently showcasing her posing ability. Her Tarantula Beauty Shot is the iconic shot of the cycle and before Japan she seemed a plausible winner. However, she appeared to have left her talent behind in the States, because Japan was her downfall. Not only were her shots subpar, but she delivered her worst performance in a classic case of Quicksilver Top 4 Syndrome. Her strong start and delivery of some of the best shots in the season legitimised a spot in the Top 3/4, but she should have never beaten Amanda for a finale spot when her decline was so obvious.

[jaytopmodelrankings]

Amanda Swafford

Place: 3rd

Panel Call-out Average: 3.45

Personal Call-out Average: 3

Favourite Performance: Nivea Beauty Shot

Least Favourite Performance: Lee Jeans Topless

Eligibility to Win/Place Higher:

If Amanda had won, I would have been happy, even though she wouldn’t be my first choice. However, she deserved to be runner-up over Yaya considering her superior portfolio and overall performance in Tokyo.

Thoughts:

I have a love-hate dilemma with Amanda. I really liked her in the beginning- she seemed genuinely caring and kind, but post-makeover, she really did seem to change. I was outraged at how she outed Cassie’s eating disorder (even though she did seem somewhat remorseful from what I remember) and it was unfair of her to accuse Eva of stealing with no proof and not even apologising properly. Perhaps her doing so well made her conceited. She did mellow out and become much more watchable later on, but I can’t ignore her initial sneakiness. She was pretty funny at times, I’ll admit, and I couldn’t help liking her in Japan. But anyway, as a model, Amanda was the one to beat. She had the strongest portfolio of the cycle, and apart from two weeks in the middle, she was always one of the upper call-outs. 5 FCOs is the highest I’ve ever given so far, and Amanda certainly deserved all of them, with some of the best of the show in her book too (her Nivea Beauty Shot gives me chills). She was already striking, but she knew how to model and give us great pictures in the process. Her walk wasn’t my favourite, but it was definitely passable. Amanda should have been in the finale, point-blank. i was mad she was eliminated before Yaya and with one of her best pictures, too. She could have won honestly, but I think the fact she was legally blind was an obstacle I doubt the judges would ignore in realistic terms.

[jaytopmodelrankings]

Ann Markley

Place: 4th

Panel Call-out Average: 5.5

Personal Call-out Average: 5.2

Favourite Performance: Lee Jeans Topless

Least Favourite Performance: YJ Stinger Energy Drink Trampoline

Eligibility to Win/Place Higher:

God no. Ann shouldn’t have even made it as far as she did. Overseas was fine, but she should have been the first to go in that case.

Thoughts:

As much as I feel like the judges tended to be harsher on Ann, I still found myself disliking her. Nobody can deny that she was drop-dead-gorgeous, and her post-show career proves that, but on the show she failed to deliver more than she succeeded. Her portfolio was a roller-coaster that didn’t have as many highs as a Top 4 girl should. Ann overstayed her time by several weeks. Her portfolio only had two great shots, the rest were either average or horrendous. Her walk was fine, but again, nothing special. I really can’t fathom why the judges kept pushing her and pushing her when it became clear in Japan that they weren’t squeezing anything else out of her. As a person, I was appalled by Ann, as you can see from my awards this cycle. She was obviously insecure, and seemed to need Eva at her side to even breathe properly. Then she seemed to throw it all out the window and didn’t eve dignify her “best friend” with a hug which I thought was unnecessarily mean and cruel when you could tell Eva genuinely cared for her. Furthermore, Ann was unapologetic and problematic, which is not a good combination. She was immature, and tried to hard to come across as the tough girl, and didn’t seem ready to own up to her mistakes which was insufferably irritating to watch. While I agree that it was unfair to single her out constantly during her final weeks, she was still one of my least favourite contestants.

[jaytopmodelrankings]

Norelle Van Herk

Place: 5th

Panel Call-out Average: 5.67

Personal Call-out Average: 5.67

Favourite Performance: Ford Alter-Egos

Least Favourite Performance: Japanese Campbell’s Soup Commercial

Eligibility to Win/Place Higher:

Norelle was another contestant eliminated more or less when she should, although the presence of Ann should have allowed her another week in the competition.

Thoughts:

Norelle was adorable. She really was one of the most endearing girls, and I really enjoyed watching her. She was funny in the way that only the innocent and naive can manage- some of her confessionals leave me in stitches, like establishing that she’s not ok with dying, or her assertion that Japanese food is pretty much like Panda Express (rude). All in all, she really seemed to grow throughout the competition. She started off rough, but her pictures while never the best, were actually quite strong at times, and there was a unique quality to them since her look was so extraordinarily unorthodox. While she was eliminated more or less where I thought she should, I would have given her another week over Ann since Japan and Southeastern Asia were definitely her market and she had been showing improvement while the former didn’t.

[jaytopmodelrankings]

Nicole Borud

Place: 6th

Panel Call-out Average: 4.25

Personal Call-out Average: 4.13

Favourite Performance: Verragio Diamonds Tarantula Beauty Shot

Least Favourite Performance: Japanese Campbell’s Soup Commercial

Eligibility to Win/Place Higher:

This girl was finale material. I said what I said.

Thoughts:

I absolutely adored Nicole. She was one of the quieter girls, but you could tell just from her photos that there was a playful mystery to her, especially in her eyes, where she could smize like nobody’s business. Nicole became one of my favourites because even though they didn’t give her much screen time overall, the times she did she was downright hilarious. She had this dry quick-wit which I really like, and she seemed fun without having to go over-the-top. Not only that, though, Nicole was undoubtedly one of the strongest models in the competition. I’m inclined to even say her book was overall stronger than Yaya’s out of pure consistency. Yaya had more standout moments, but Nicole was consistent in delivering fantastical shots. She was super creative, and her face was always on point. I loved her makeover, too. I think the colour really suited her and made her pop even more than she did with her looks. So robbed. I can’t believe she was the first to go in Japan. I hated how the panel equated her more reserved nature to her being boring. Her personality was great, and it the forgettable excuse was shite. What a travesty.