#auscycle7contestants

[antmrankingskd]

Australia’s Next Top Model Cycle 7 Call-outs

My call-out orders for the seventh cycle of AusNTM, including individual call-out averages for each model. The first average listed doesn’t include the Parisian Chateau shoot since that was technically still part of the semifinals casting week; the second average in parentheses includes the Paris shoot. I also combined the Dubai Street and Desert shoots into one call-out value for the three finalists since that’s how it was judged on the show (since my call-out order was the same for both shoots it doesn’t really affect much).

[antmrankingskd]

Montana

Place: Winner

My call-out average: 2.3 (2.36)

Panel call-out average: 2.6

Favorite Photo: Desert

Least Favorite Photo: Coffin

Montana has to be one of my favorite winners of any Top Model season I’ve watched. She was just incredibly modelesque and her face was a perfect fit for both high fashion and commercial markets. I had high expectations for her based on her look and she proved early on that she would be a force to be reckoned with in photos. Week after week she delivered amazing photo after amazing photo, and I don’t think there was a single bad shot in her entire portfolio. In fact it was really difficult for me to choose a least favorite since even her weakest shots were still quite strong, but I settled on her Coffin shot since it lacks impact and memorability compared to everything else she did. It was similarly hard for me to determine which of her pictures was my favorite since there were so many to choose from. I picked her Desert Shot because it was a true supermodel moment and the culmination of everything she accomplished during her time on the show. Montana handled everything that was thrown at her with ease and showed a ton of versatility. She nailed commercial briefs (Blackmores), excelled with more simple fashion-oriented shoots (Swimwear, Sunday Magazine, Lingerie, Dubai Streets), and crushed dramatic/ over the top concepts (Pink Paint, Starlets, Desert). I was always amazed by how natural she was in front of the camera, she totally came alive and had an innate knowledge of her angles and how to pose her tail off. I also thought she had one of the strongest walks of the cycle; she could’ve toned down the way she swung her arms, but there’s no denying that she had a magnetic presence on the catwalk. Montana completely dominated the season and had by far the best portfolio. There were several strong contenders in the mix, but none of them came close to matching her level on a consistent basis. Montana was such a deserving winner and one the strongest contestants in the entire series.

[antmrankingskd]

Liz

Place: Runner-up

My call-out average: 5.1 (5.27)

Panel call-out average: 3.7

Favorite Photo: Dubai Streets

Least Favorite Photo: Great Gatsby 

Liz has just about everything it takes to be a successful model. I loved her height, she had a ridiculously amazing body, and her gorgeous face was so distinctive and instantly identifiable. The only thing she lacked was self-confidence and it was a major hindrance at certain parts of the competition. It was really heartbreaking to see her get so down about her appearance, and even though her confidence did improve towards the end I was never convinced that it was fully there. Liz ended up having a strong portfolio as a whole, but upon the rewatch I did for this ranking I noticed that she was actually pretty inconsistent, especially in the middle part of the competition. She had her fair share of lackluster photos, including her Sunday Magazine, Blackmores, Lingerie, and Great Gatsby, the last being her lowest point of the season. I think the reason for her weaker shots was that she didn’t always commit to her poses and/or expressions; if she gave anything less than 100% her pictures tended to fall flat. However, she had quite a few fantastic pictures as well, such as her Swimwear, Coffin, and Tribal shots. Where Liz truly blew me away was in the finale, she rose against the high pressure and produced her best work ever in both of the photoshoots. My personal favorite was her Dubai Streets picture; it was so modern and cool, and it could be straight out of any high end fashion editorial. When she had total control of both her face and her body she produced such stellar photos. I’m still undecided on if Liz’s overall body of work was enough to warrant her advancing all the way to the finale. I think she was one of the correct candidates based on who made it to the Top 6 and Top 4, but she could’ve easily been a casualty in one of the weeks where she was off her game. Still, I was happy that Liz made it to the end and she proved in the finale that she was a great model.

[antmrankingskd]

Simone

Place: 3rd

My call-out average: 4.4 (5.18)

Panel call-out average: 4.6

Favorite Photo: Dubai Streets

Least Favorite Photo: Tribal

I was a fan of Simone from the beginning due to her beautiful face and bombshell body, but I really didn’t expect her to make it as far as she did. The main reason for that is her extremely commercial look, which is usually a kiss of death on modeling competition shows. Thankfully she lucked out with an awesome makeover that definitely gave her more of a high fashion edge. Simone started off somewhat under the radar but gradually became one of the most consistent competitors in the cast. Her portfolio was pretty strong overall and the only real dip she had was when she faltered in the Tribal shoot. Otherwise she continually delivered very good shots week after week. The only thing is that she didn’t have any true breakout moments. Her Sunday Magazine and Great Gatsby photos certainly came close, but they were a bit forgettable compared to the high points in other girls’ portfolios. All of her pictures in the finale were awesome as well, but she was still outperformed by her fellow finalists. Because of that it was a bit hard for me to choose a favorite shot from Simone, but I settled on the one from the first finale photoshoot on the streets of Dubai. I think that picture is outstanding and really shows the evolution of her high fashion capabilities (I mean look at it side by side with her Tribal shot, it’s night and day). I also thought that Simone was one of the most memorable personalities in the cast and she added a lot of entertainment value to the cycle. She was hilarious and I loved her dry humor in her confessionals (though her comments about Alissandra after her elimination didn’t sit right with me). Overall I think that Simone did well enough to earn a place in the finale and it was great to watch her hone her modeling skills throughout the weeks.

[antmrankingskd]

Rachel

Place: 4th

My call-out average: 8.5 (7.56)

Panel call-out average: 5

Favorite Photo: Blackmores Vitamins Ad

Least Favorite Photo: Lingerie

Rachel was by far the most frustrating contestant of the cycle for me. I still can’t think of any legitimate reasons for why she was kept around until the Final 4. She was clearly a very pretty girl and a totally adorable sweetheart. However, there was nothing about her look besides her height that made her stand out from the crowd and quite frankly she had some of least potential in the entire cast. I haven’t really been talking about runway much in these commentary posts, but Rachel also had the worst walk of the season. Her portfolio was very lackluster overall. I don’t think she had many completely catastrophic photos besides her Lingerie and Coffin shots, but at the same time she was severely lacking in pictures that I would consider to be truly good. I loved her Blackmores ad since it was so natural and sweet, and she had a few other technically passable pictures such as her Sunday Magazine, Pink Paint, and Starlets (though the latter two were still the worst of the week). The thing is that for a 4th place finish her book was super duper underwhelming. Her photos were constantly plagued by awkward or tentative poses and uncomfortable facial expressions and those issues never seemed to get critiqued or improved upon. The most aggravating part for me is how much the judges coddled and overpraised her, especially in the first half of the season. In the first few weeks the girl could probably present a picture of her peeing in a diaper and the panel would’ve given her a standing ovation, the level of praise was nearly that ridiculous. I don’t want to rain on Rachel’s parade too much since she seemed like such a nice girl, but there absolutely no way that she should’ve made it nearly as far as she did and several more deserving competitors were taken out in favor of her.

[antmrankingskd]

Hazel

Place: 5th/6th

My call-out average: 5.13 (5.67)

Panel call-out average: 5.88

Favorite Photo: Tribal

Least Favorite Photo: Swimwear

I didn’t pay any attention to Hazel in the first part of the competition. I thought she had a lot of potential and I really loved her bone structure. However, I figured her youth/inexperience would be her downfall and she’d be destined to be another filler girl whose best hope would be a finish around 10th place or so. Some of her early work (especially her swimwear shot) seemed to reinforce this belief. Then out of nowhere she delivered a stellar shot in the Sunday Magazine and I began think that there was some hope for her to go further than I first expected. I really don’t know what came over her, but she hit her stride not long after starting with her high fashion magazine cover-worthy Tribal shot and continued to dominate with her Great Gatsby and Pink Paint photos as well. She did falter a bit in the Lingerie photoshoot but that probably shouldn’t have been enough to send her home, and I don’t think it would have if it hadn’t been a double elimination. At the same time I can sort of understand why she was cut. As great as Hazel’s aforementioned standout shots were I noticed that she often needed a lot of direction on set; she didn’t quite have her instincts in front of the camera fully honed yet. Even though she was still very green I wish she had been allowed to stay. If Hazel survived the late double elimination I genuinely believe she could’ve given the rest of the girls a run for their money.

[antmrankingskd]

Izzy

Place: 5th/6th

My call-out average: 6.25 (5.78)

Panel call-out average: 6.63

Favorite Photo: Parisian Chateau

Least Favorite Photo: Blackmores Vitamins Ad

When Izzy walked into the Top 100 bootcamp with her violently pink/blue hair and unconventional look I had no idea what to make of her. She quickly became an early favorite of mine once I saw her energy on set as well as the way she killed the Alex Perry fashion show. Her greatest strength was her posing: the girl could flow so effortlessly between positions and had a ton of creativity on set during a lot of the shoots. Her most significant triumph was definitely her Chateau shot and it was mesmerizing to watch her on set. I thought that Izzy was a definite frontrunner at the start but she lost steam and became inconsistent almost immediately after her amazing debut picture. As great as she was at posing she wasn’t nearly as adept at working her face in pictures and that was the main cause of some of her more lackluster photos. She didn’t have the most typically modelesque features and if she didn’t nail the angle she just didn’t photograph well (the prime example of this was her Blackmores shot, where she didn’t look like a model at all to me). The weird thing is that the judges slowly began to hop off her bandwagon right as she was regaining her consistency. In fact, I thought she was rather strong in her last four weeks and delivered good to great shots from the Tribal shoot onward (her Pink Paint shot being the peak of the second half of her book). In the grand scheme of things Izzy probably placed correctly, but since she was doing pretty well at the time of her elimination I wouldn’t have been against her advancing a little further.

[antmrankingskd]

Madeline

Place: 7th

My call-out average: 7.71 (7.38)

Panel call-out average: 6

Favorite Photo: Parisian Chateau

Least Favorite Photo: Coffin

My opinions on Madeline flip-flopped a lot during her run. Not gonna lie, I had pretty much written her off right from the start due to how much makeup she caked on her face along with the sloppy way she styled her hair. However, she rapidly won me over with her gorgeously elegant Chateau shot, and then followed it up with an equally excellent performance in the swimwear photoshoot. Her look translated so well to her early pictures and there was an Emily Blunt-ish-ness to her face that I adored. I wish Madeline had maintained her strong start, but she just nosedived spectacularly right after the first two weeks with disastrous photos in the the coffin and Sunday Magazine shoots. She did start to gradually improve after that pair of train wrecks, but she never managed to return to the strength of her start and she was quickly outpaced by nearly all of her competitors. As a whole, her portfolio was a bit of a letdown and the judges probably should’ve let her go a week or two earlier than they did. Even though Madeline slightly overstayed her welcome I didn’t mind having her around since she was one of the more entertaining girls in the cast. At first she seemed like a major drama queen but eventually I found her to be a pretty hilarious character.