#cycle18ranking

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Cycle 18/British Invasion

My call-out orders for the eighteenth cycle, including individual call-out averages for each model.

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1. Laura

My call-out average: 3.33

Panel call-out average: 3.09

Cycle 18 was a season where I would’ve been pleased with either of the final two winning, but at the end of the day I think Laura deserved it just a tiny bit more. The girl was a really gifted model and established herself as a force to be reckoned with right out of the gate. She had such a stunning face and her look could fit both high fashion and commercial concepts. Laura had the best overall portfolio of the cycle for me. She lacked versatility at times and had one or two middling shots (Hats/Cars and Dinner Party), but I don’t think she had a single poor photo during her run. She was definitely one of the strongest girls in the cast during the first half of the cycle but she began to fully own her frontrunner status once things headed overseas. All three of her stellar shots in Macau (Silk Dress, Tower, and Dream Come True) would probably land in my top ten favorite pictures of the cycle and she finished off her portfolio with a very good CoverGirl print ad. Her over-the-top style of modeling could make things seemed too forced and/or contorted at times. However, when it worked, which was much more often than not, it really worked and I’d say she was one of the most talented and creative posers of the cycle. Laura may not have excelled in other areas as much as she did in photos, but she was capable enough that I think she could be labeled as a full package. Her walk was her major weak point, but it still wasn’t awful. She was okay towards the beginning and was able to initially book 2 shows in Toronto, but I think getting fired from Pink Tartan was a big hit on her confidence, causing her walk to suffer from then onward. Luckily she pulled things together in the final fashion show and gave a passable performance. Laura was a solid spokesperson when it came to scripted work; her ad lib commercial was a hot mess but she did a decent job of toning down her zaniness just the perfect amount to deliver a very good CoverGirl commercial. I think Laura was the strongest overall model of the cycle; her portfolio was matched by none and her competency in every other area helped her to be one of the most well-rounded girls. For that she has earned the number one spot on my leaderboard and she would’ve been a worthy champ.

Laura’s personality was somewhat polarizing, but I happened to like her a lot. I liked her gung-ho demeanor and how she fully embraced her “Zagalicious” brand. Normally sob stories annoy me (which probably makes me a horrible person), but even though a lot of Laura’s confessionals talked about her rough past I didn’t find myself irritated at all. She was too aggressive with her dislike towards Kyle and Eboni at times though. I really admired her determination throughout the competition and found her to be a wonderful addition to the Cycle 18 cast.

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2. Sophie

My call-out average: 3.5

Panel call-out average: 3.18

If a British girl had to win the competition then Sophie was definitely the best choice. She had a very high fashion look and especially stood out after her cotton candy pink makeover. Her photos were pretty strong right from the beginning, and her portfolio was remarkably consistent with her only low point being her Hats/Low-riders shot. However, her body of work was lacking in standout moments, especially when compared to Laura. Her Very.com photo was brilliant and her CoverGirl and Dream Come True shots were fantastic as well; outside of those shots her performances (while still very good) were rather unmemorable. What made Sophie a worthy winner to me is the fact that she was very well-rounded. She was a good photo model and excelled in other areas as well. Her walk wasn’t the most amazing walk in the world, but it was still one of the strongest of the cycle. Her walk always seemed to work well for the clothes and it was super distinctive: if all I could see was a silhouette on the runway I would be able to pick out Sophie in an instant. Another thing is that her ability to consistently impress clients at castings set her apart from most of her competitors and showed that she could potentially book work in the real world of modeling. She was pretty much the go-sees queen of the cycle since she booked the most jobs at all three casting challenges and won 2/3 (and probably should’ve won the Dorchester; Alisha primarily won because her designer won, although she did well on the runway too). Finally, Sophie was very charismatic and showed tons of promise as a presenter, commercial model, and/or spokesperson. She excelled in the ad lib commercial challenge and delivered a terrific CoverGirl commercial in the finale. Although Laura was slightly stronger in my opinion, I think Sophie earned her win since she had no glaring weaknesses, plus she sort of dominated Laura in the final exams (CoverGirl Print Ad/Commercial and the Final Runway). Sophie is not the strongest winner ever but I was very happy with where she placed on the show.

Sophie was another one of my favorite personalities. She was far from innocent since she participated in the paper throwing incident and let Kyle take the blame for ripping Laura’s teddy bear. However, I did appreciate how she owned up to her mistakes, as demonstrated by when she apologized to Alisha for leaving her dress out. She was also one of the funniest girls in a cast full of humorous characters and I always loved her confessionals. I also loved her genuine friendships with Laura, Annaliese, and Ashley. Sophie was a fantastic contestant and Cycle 18 wouldn’t be the same without her.

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3. AzMarie

My call-out average: 4.67

Panel call-out average: 5.33

AzMarie is without a doubt one of the most robbed contestants in the show’s history. She had so much natural modeling talent and her androgynous appearance helped her to stand out even more. She really could move seamlessly between masculine and feminine looks and it allowed her to be extremely versatile in photos. As robbed as she was, I think a lot of people forget that her portfolio was not quite squeaky clean and flawless. Her first two photos were underwhelming and her noncommittal music video performance was a letdown (though I don’t knock her too much for the latter). That being said, her outstanding three week run of her Very.com, Hats/Low-riders, and Maple Syrup shots (the first two both easily placing in my personal Top 5 favorite photos of the cycle) is enough to catapult her into the upper reaches of my ranking. AzMarie took her brand and ran with it, applying it to every aspect of the competition. I also thought that she had a terrific walk and she instantly owned any room she entered with her strong presence. AzMarie was a star, and if she hadn’t been eliminated so early she very well could have landed in the top spot in my ranking. As for personality, I really liked Az. She had such a calm cool and collected vibe that I loved. She did get cocky as the weeks went by, but I think she had every right to be: getting heaped with praise for three weeks straight by both her fellow models and the judges for killing shoot after shoot would inflate just about anyone’s ego. When it came to her elimination, I appreciated AzMarie for standing up for her brand since the tooch pad teach contradicted everything she had been told up to that point. She could’ve stated her point better, but her apology at panel showed true professionalism and also showed that she was willing to take in critique and humble herself. Sadly/infuriatingly, the panel decided to cut her without giving her a chance to prove that she could improve her attitude. It was completely unfair. Tyra said that she thought that AzMarie would’ve been a finalist and could’ve possibly won; that is an assessment that I totally agree with, and I’m still mad about her too-early exit.

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4. Annaliese

My call-out average: 4.64

Panel call-out average: 5.55

Straight up, Annaliese is one of my favorite contestants in ANTM history. Everything about her was so endearing and she was overflowing with personality. I loved the way she stayed friends with everyone even when the house became more divided as the cycle progressed and I haven’t seen many people as effortlessly effervescent as her. It was refreshing to see someone who managed to be simultaneously laidback yet super determined and she really just took everything the competition threw at her in stride. Her confessionals and talking head interviews were hysterical and almost always my favorite parts of each episode, and I loved every second of screen time she got.

I loved Annaliese right from the start, but I was worried that I wouldn’t get to see much of her based on how rocky her early performances were. She was a bit inconsistent in the first 5 weeks and even her good photos were on the modeling 101 side of things. Thankfully she stepped things up and showed significant improvement from the Music Video onward. Her track record was pretty fantastic, only falling out of my top 3 callouts on one occasion in the final 6 weeks. She even turned in one of my favorite shots of the cycle (Hello Kitty) and showed that she could bring some high fashion appeal in addition to her natural commercial ability in some of her later pictures. Annaliese was the shortest girl in the cast, but it was rarely a problem in photos and she knew how to pose in the best way to flatter her body a majority of the time. The thing is, even with Annaliese’s tremendous progress through the competition, I don’t think she was as naturally gifted as some of the other girls in the cast and her portfolio was a step below Laura and Sophie. While she was solid in photos, her real strengths lie on the runway and in commercials. Annaliese is a natural when it comes to being on camera, which was shown by her win in the ad-lib commercial and strong showing in the Fighting Scene with Nicholas Tse (a challenge that she also should’ve won, imo). She also had the best runway walk of the cycle for me, and her consistently great results in all three go-see challenges seemed to validate that. Even though I have Annaliese placed 4th, I was so happy to see her make it to the Final 3. I think she earned her place in the penultimate week with her upward trajectory throughout the competition, and that combined with her amazing personality made her my favorite girl of the cycle.

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5. Kyle

My call-out average: 5.29

Panel call-out average: 5.29

Before my rewatch of Cycle 18 I was fully expecting to rank Kyle much lower than this, but she was much stronger than I remember. I much preferred her pre-makeover look, but her appearance was one of the most model-like in the cast and she didn’t have to do much to churn out great photos. Now, her body of work was far from perfect: her Toddler and Dinner Party shots were quite bad, and let’s not forget about her smiling for miles music video travesty. However, she produced a few stellar photos during her run. I gave her a FCO for the Trampoline photoshoot (her shot was one of very few I could take seriously that week), and she delivered some amazing shots in the Very.com and Hats/Low-riders photoshoots. Her walk was fine, nothing special, but it could’ve been improved with less creepy buggy dead eyes and less head swaying. Obviously her runway ability was enough to book her a couple jobs in Toronto (although Pink Tartan fired her). Kyle’s performance did slip in her final few weeks, but her previous excellent showings should have made the judges give her another chance. It’s hard to say whether or not she was a threat to make the Top 3, but I think she had at least 2 or 3 more weeks to give. Kyle seemed to be a major target and I think it was because she was one of the early frontrunners without even trying. All of the other girls’ feelings towards her ranged from indifference to hatred. I really didn’t think Kyle was that bad. Yes, she was boring as heck and her outbursts about quitting (while understandable due to how some of the girls were treating her) quickly became annoying. However, she never did anything too malicious or antagonistic to justify the overall dislike thrown her way. Kyle was far from my favorite, but I think she was just misunderstood.

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6. Catherine

My call-out average: 4.89

Panel call-out average: 5

Catherine was a funny case because she was robbed in the sense that a couple of weaker girls outlasted her on the actual show, but in the grand scheme of things 6th place was the correct spot for her to finish relative to the entire cast. She was mostly consistent throughout her run and only had a couple dips in her portfolio: Very.com and Silk Dresses, the latter most likely being sabotage anyway. While her photos were generally solid on a week to week basis I can’t say that she had a standout moment outside of the music video (although her Maple Syrup shot came close). Catherine had a unique look that stood out even more after her amazing makeover, and it translated well onto film most of the time. However, she was lacking when it came to her skills on the runway. She struggled with balance which appeared to stem from her lack of confidence, but even when she was steady on her feet her walk was rather weak (this was most apparent at the Dorchester challenge). If Catherine had a better walk she probably would’ve jumped up a spot in this final ranking. Her overall body of work was definitely the top third of the cast and I sort of wish we could’ve seen more of her in Macau, but it wasn’t meant to be. Catherine seemed to be a pleasant enough person. I liked how she never got directly involved with any drama, and while she was very competitive she was still a very sweet girl (I particularly loved how she cheered on the rest of the girls in the Toronto castings and how she complimented AzMarie after the challenge). She was one of the more mature girls in the cast, and like nearly all the British girls her screen time was often humorous.

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7. Alisha

My call-out average: 6.4

Panel call-out average: 6.2

Alisha was a just a weaker incarnation of Aminat/Eugena to me: an amazingly stunning and modelesque girl who didn’t always perform at the level her potential promised. She was an immediate stand out to me based on appearance alone and I assumed that she would be a threat right from the get-go. I assumed wrong. Alisha’s portfolio was a massive letdown and she really only delivered 2 strong photos (3 if you count her music video slayage): her Hello Kitty and Macau Tower shots. Considering she lasted 10 weeks in the competition that’s not a résumé to be proud of. Her photos were super bland week to week and were nearly always lacking in some aspect. Sometimes her face would be alright but her pose was painfully amateurish, or her pose would be passable but her face would be dead. It was frustrating to see her fail to deliver so many times. I know that she had supermodel potential but her actual performances didn’t justify her outlasting some of her stronger competitors. The only real reason she made it this high in my ranking is because of her incredible look and her ability to deliver on the runway and at castings (plus the girls below her weren’t exactly strong or consistent either). Alisha had one of the best walks in the bunch and just had a commanding presence in person. Even though photos weren’t her strong suit I think that she had lots of promise as a catwalk model. Alisha outstayed her welcome by a few weeks; the panel wanted her to be better than she was and she was given too many chances in my opinion. 

My view of Alisha’s personality is somewhat mixed, but mostly positive. She was downright hilarious in her confessionals and seemed like a super fun person most of the time. However, she had some cocky moments that bordered on arrogance (especially when she came back for the final runway), and her attitude seemed to deteriorate once the competition went overseas. It was hard to see her be so defeated and beaten down at the end when she quit. I sincerely hope things improved for her after the show.