#cycle22ranking

[antmrankingskd]

9. Dustin

My call-out average: 7.6

Panel call-out average: 10.25

It’s probably an unpopular opinion to place Dustin this high (and above Stefano), but I’ll do my best to justify my opinion. I think that his look definitely had potential (although he’s way too muscular nowadays to be a true fashion model). He had a very guy-next-door commercial appearance, but he had a dash of high fashion appeal, especially in profile. He also had a good runway walk and proved that he could book jobs by having a good record in the go-sees challenge. All of that puts him on par with Stefano leaving their portfolios as the tie-breaker, and I personally think Dustin had a slightly stronger book. His first two shots were lackluster, but I actually really liked his Unretouched shot, plus his Dog Editorial was fantastic as well. I wasn’t too angry with Dustin being the comeback kid since the comeback was sort of a waste no matter what in this cycle; as I’ve said before, I don’t think any of the eliminated models had any hope of lasting more than a week or two against the remaining contestants. I would probably rank Dustin below Stefano if the latter had a longer portfolio, but based on their actual bodies of work this is how I think they stack up. I have mixed feelings about Dustin’s personality. At first he was one of my favorites since he seemed so goofy and fun-loving, plus I loved his friendship with Nyle and how he took the time to learn how to communicate with him. However, once he earned the comeback I didn’t care for him much. He came across lazy and acted like he could just coast by without doing anything. Overall I didn’t mind Dustin, but my impression of him would’ve been more positive if he hadn’t returned to the competition.

[antmrankingskd]

2. Nyle

My call-out average: 3.75

Panel call-out average: 4.27

I had extremely high expectations for Nyle at the start of the competition and he definitely met them. I personally thought he was the best overall male model of the cycle and his place in the finale was well-deserved. He immediately stood out from the pack even in the larger crop of people during casting week. He was one of the most modelesque male contestants to me along with Justin; his chiseled features and piercing eyes helped to make his look one that would work for a variety of briefs, from high fashion and luxury brands as well as commercial and mainstream concepts. At the beginning I was mildly worried that he would just be a coaster who relied on his looks to get by since his first few photos were good but unmemorable. However, he performed well in the Unretouched photoshoot and was one of the frontrunners from then on. Although his overall portfolio is just a tiny bit weaker than Lacey’s and Mamé’s, he still ended up with the highest call-out average since he was so consistent. Despite a few bland shots here and there I don’t think he gave a single truly weak picture, and his standout moments were some of the best pictures of the cycle (Dog Editorial and Zappos Spread). The biggest thing Nyle needed to work on was his facial versatility (I’m sounding like a broken record at this point). He relied on his intense signature sexy smolder too often, and while it worked wonderfully a majority of the time it would’ve been nice to see some different expressions from him, especially since he had a dazzling smile and was really animated when he signed. Still, I can sort of excuse that issue since Mikey and Lacey had the same problem, plus Nyle typically gave a lot of variety with his poses on set. All in all I’d say that Nyle had a fantastic portfolio and he even ended up with 3 FCOs from me, the most of any contestant. He was a strong competitor outside of photos as well. His walk was one of the best out of the guys, and while his finale performance could’ve been a bit better he still impressed me at other points, especially in the Zappos challenge. His standout look helped him to excel at go-sees, showing that he could potentially book jobs in the real world (which he seems to be doing quite well nowadays). Nyle even showed that he was good at acting since he was one of the top performers in the Shakespeare challenge, and he even had a solid deodorant commercial despite lacking rhythm with Ashley due to their language differences. His Bootyful performance also proved that he was comfortable being in motion and could kill it in front of a moving camera. Even though I have Nyle ranked 2nd I was still thrilled with his win. He had an awesome portfolio, was well-rounded, and his look had the potential to make him a breakout star. He was definitely a worthy ANTM champion!

Nyle was definitely my favorite personality of Cycle 22 and actually one of my favorites in the entire series. He was so positive and pretty goofy, plus he always did his best to get along with everyone. He started off slightly unsure of himself but not insecure to point of it being exhausting, and as he improved he became super confident without ever becoming arrogant. I liked how he often comforted people when they were feeling down, such as Courtney when she was crying in the shower or being one of the people to console Hadassah when she found out about her makeover. Nyle understandably had some moments of frustration since most of the cast didn’t know or learn ASL, but I thought he handled things super well and kept a mostly positive attitude considering that he couldn’t always communicate effectively. I also loved his general attitude about being deaf (i.e. not treating it like a sob story) and his message about being able to work towards your dreams even with a disability. He was a great advocate for the deaf community and it was definitely inspiring to see him succeed on the show.

[antmrankingskd]

5. Justin

My call-out average: 5.14

Panel call-out average: 5.57

Justin is another model that should’ve gone farther than he did. He had probably my favorite look out of the male models: his bone structure was incredible and he had a great physique that was muscular but not too bulky (he also had an amazing sense of fashion!). I also loved that he had a very smooth/chill style of modeling that almost always worked well to highlight the clothes. He started off the competition with a bang, earning a FCO and a SCO in the first two weeks. After that point he did sort of coast week to week, although his photos were still quite good. He only had one truly bad photo (Dog Editorial), but unfortunately it came at the worst time. His shot may have been the weakest of the original Top 7 but I still would’ve given him another chance based on his past strong performances. In fact, I sometimes wish they would’ve just skipped the comeback and let Justin stay in the competition instead; I think he could’ve potentially given the models in my Top 4 (aka the actual Top 4) a run for their money. Justin was also pretty strong in areas outside of photos. He had a solid walk and had a good showing in the go-sees challenge, minus the part where he and Dustin rudely crashed Mikey and Ashley’s casting. He even proved to be adept in commercials, delivering an excellent performance in the Boom Boom Boom ad despite the cringe-tastic script. Justin was a terrific and well-rounded contestant, and for that I think he deserved to last much longer than his 8th place finish. In addition to being one of my favorite models, Justin was also one of my favorite personalities in the Cycle 22 cast. His J-Smooth persona was a little annoying at first, but other than that he seemed like a great guy. He pretty much got along with everyone and I liked his ability to be competitive but super relaxed at the same time. I also liked his relationship with Mamé for the most part. They had a ton of chemistry and were honestly really cute together, but I don’t blame him at all for being pissed at her for cuddling with Mikey and whatnot. I thought he handled the issue well enough when he came back for the finale at least. Overall Justin was a really likable person and I wish we had gotten to see more of him.

[antmrankingskd]

1. Mamé

My call-out average: 3.83

Panel call-out average: 3.64

There was a lot of stiff competition at the top of pack in Cycle 22, but I think that Mamé would’ve been the most deserving winner. She really didn’t have any weaknesses and was one of the frontrunners from start to finish. Her portfolio was consistently very strong and she rarely faltered; her “low” points (Dolls, Dog Editorial, and Night Creatures) were all still solid. While her Unretouched shot and her photoset from the shoot with her mother were her only shining moments they were still among the best performances of the cycle. She showed a ton of creativity with her poses and she had a lot of facial versatility from week to week, something that the rest of her fellow Top 4 members lacked. I don’t think she really transformed much in front of the camera, but that really didn’t matter much to me since I thought that she was one of the most stunning girls to ever be on the show. She was pretty much a goddess in person and her look translated perfectly on film and worked for both high fashion and commercial concepts. All of this gave her one of the best portfolios in the bunch. I would also say that Mamé’s runway walk easily ranked as the best of the cycle. She had so much poise, regal-ness, and strength on the runway and she knew how to showcase both the clothing and herself to perfection. Even though she was disqualified from winning the go-sees challenge for being late I think she tops the leaderboard there too since she booked the most jobs. She even gave great performances in the Boom Boom Boom deodorant commercial and Bootyful music video, showing that she wasn’t just only a photo model. While I thought she was the strongest contestant of the cycle I was not surprised that she didn’t win. The judges often mildly to severely undervalued her work and seemed far more invested in Mikey, Lacey, and Nyle. They thought that she was too controlled at times, but I never thought that was an issue at all since she gave it her all on set every single week. In fact, I was actually a bit shocked that they advanced Mamé to the final 2 over Lacey, even though the former definitely earned that spot based on her performance throughout the cycle. I think Mamé was the best overall model in the competition. She was a well-rounded complete package who had everything I look for in a winner. I was very happy with Nyle’s win, but at the end of the day I think Mamé should’ve taken the Cycle 22 crown.

Mamé kind of flew under my radar at first but she rapidly became one of my favorite personalities of the competition. She was full to the brim with confidence and I like that she didn’t take crap from anybody (I will always laugh at her whipping her hair around in Stefano’s face after he behaved like a child in front of the confessional booth). She may have been THE pageant girl of the cycle but she never came across as a typical beauty queen which made me love her even more. Her diplomat’s daughter backstory was definitely interesting as well since we haven’t really seen a similar case on ANTM before. I can’t imagine how difficult it must have been for Mamé to grow up without having her parents around, and it was really touching to see how much she wanted to make her mother proud. Finally, I can’t finish this off without talking about her relationship with Justin. Normally showmances on ANTM annoy me, but I thought they were super adorable together and had a great vibe. I have no idea what Mamè was thinking when she canoodled with Mikey in the cabin and that was pretty much the only time she got on my nerves. Like girl, I get that you’re lonely but it’s only been like a week since Justin left, keep it together. Overall I thought that Mamé was one of the more likeable cast members and I was happy that she made it to the end.

[antmrankingskd]

4. Mikey

My call-out average: 4.92

Panel call-out average: 3.55

Cycle 22 ended up with pretty much the correct Final 4 and all of them were strong in their own way. Mikey came into the competition as one of the biggest frontrunners due to his past experience and it showed in how comfortable/natural he was in front of the camera. While I personally don’t find his appearance all that appealing he definitely looked like a model: he had a great face that photographed well and his long surfer hair made him stand out. I’m not sure if his look was fully versatile enough to fit every brief (as evidenced by how disappointed I was in his Zappos spread) but it worked out more often than not. When it comes to portfolios, Mikey falls short of my Top 3 but he still had one of the stronger books of the cycle. He started off great in the first couple of weeks but hit a slight rough patch soon after. However, from the Doll photoshoot onward he delivered strong photos consistently. Most of his best performances came in the later portions of the competition (Fierce-A-Grams and Night Creatures), but I don’t think he had a huge standout moment besides maybe the shot with his mother. The big issue with Mikey was that he lacked facial variety in most of his shots, although since most of the top competitors this cycle struggled in that area I can somewhat excuse it. The judges tended to vastly overrate his weaker and/or underwhelming performances (Unretouched and the Bootyful Music Video come to mind) and my irritation with their feedback used to taint my view of his portfolio. After looking back over everything I think he had a terrific book. Mikey was pretty adept in areas besides the photoshoots. He was probably the best at runway out of the male models; he had a ton of confidence and swagger but still managed to make the clothes the focal point. His strong walk helped him to be one of the frontrunners in the go-sees challenge. I wasn’t convinced by his ability to act in a commercial, but since the test for that this cycle was the Boom Boom Boom nonsense and the weird Shakespearian challenge we probably didn’t get the best representation of his acting talent. Mikey was for sure one of the strongest models of the cycle and I have no issues with how far he made it based on his skill, but I think he’s stuck firmly and definitively in 4th place behind my Top 3.

While I can appreciate Mikey’s modeling talents I can’t say the same about his personality. He honestly might be my least favorite contestant ever, or at least in my top (or should I say bottom) three. He was such a manipulative sleazy slimeball, especially with how he treated Courtney; it was so disgusting. He was also the pinnacle of horniness over even Marvin, and the way he always talked about how “(insert name here) wants me” sent shivers down my spine every time (he had the creepiest/nastiest voice ever). It was odd how the show seemed to be setting him up for a redemption edit in the second half of the competition and I was fully convinced he was going to win the whole thing since Tyra really seemed to be rooting for him. They showed him apologizing to Bella and whatnot and how he wanted a clean slate after rubbing so many people the wrong way. Color me unconvinced. In addition to talking about wanting to bang everything he began to babble incessantly about his backstory and how he had broken the cycle and avoided prison (wow, what a huge accomplishment). I just could not bring myself to care about his sob story since he had been supremely annoying and unlikeable throughout the entire competition. Mikey is easily my least favorite person in Cycle 22, and I’m annoyed that we had to deal with him for the entire season since he was one of the strongest models.

[antmrankingskd]

7. Hadassah

My call-out average: 5.89

Panel call-out average: 7

Hadassah would definitely win the award for most improved contestant. I was shocked that she survived the first three weeks since her photos were extremely lackluster and her attitude rubbed the judges the wrong way, plus being a pageant girl can be the kiss of death on ANTM. However, she produced a breathtaking photo in the Possession photoshoot and did consistently well until her elimination, Bootyful music video aside. Although her portfolio ended up being solid overall she still had some struggles. Her biggest issue was that she hadn’t fully mastered her face. Her profile was insanely amazing and her strongest photos (Possessed and Dog Editorial) were from that angle. However, when photographed straight on she tended to look blank, and even though she showed some improvement in that aspect it wasn’t quite enough. Another problem is that she sometimes looked short on camera, but once again she improved in that area as the weeks went by. The major reason (besides her growth arc) I have Hadassah ranked this high is that she surprisingly excelled in and won the go-sees challenge. It was a bit of a shock, but since she had a gorgeous appearance in person as well as a terrific walk I can see why she booked so many jobs. Speaking of runway, I thought she had one of the best walks of the cycle, second to Mamé; her runway performances would’ve been flawless if she had given some more life in her face. I fully expected Hadassah to be an early elimination, but I was definitely impressed by her significant progress throughout the competition and she ended up having a fairly strong run overall. I was also expecting to be annoyed by Hadassah’s personality but she ended up becoming one of my favorites. She was bitchy and unnecessarily cocky at times, but managed to be so in a very humorous way (in words of Cycle 9′s Bianca, Hadassah was a bitch, but a fun bitch). I laughed at her guts in openly questioning Kelly about being in the bottom 2 and calling out the judges apparent “favoritism” of Lacey. It was also nice to see her and Mamé get over their differences, and seeing her openly rooting for Mamé in the finale was really sweet. Despite being the judges’ punching bag most of the time, her elimination was super positive and it was nice to see her go out in a cheery way.

[antmrankingskd]

10. Stefano

My call-out average: 9.33

Panel call-out average: 13

I had some trouble figuring out where to place Stefano. Based solely on potential he would be in my Top 6 or 7; he had a very fashionable look and showed a lot of promise during casting week. He also had a pretty decent walk and performed well at the go-sees challenge during the week of the comeback. However, his actual portfolio was rather disappointing to me. His first photo was pitifully awful, and while his second was a step up it was still flawed. His Dog Editorial shot was very strong and definitely his best, but he was still outperformed by several other contestants in that week. If Stefano had stuck around longer to deliver more photos/had gotten the comeback or had taken stellar shots in every week he competed in he would’ve been a few spots higher. Sadly his body of work was so short and not exactly impressive/consistent and I can’t fully justify placing him higher based on the three photos he did take. I didn’t care for Stefano’s personality. He was extremely arrogant and antagonized people on a few occasions. During the comeback week he seemed way more chill and likable though, so a portion of his assholery was likely played up by the editing. I think Stefano was set up to be a villain, but since this cycle had so many options for that role they didn’t feel the need to keep him around long, which is unfortunate.

[antmrankingskd]

Cycle 22- Guys & Girls 3

My call-out orders for the twenty-second cycle, including individual call-out averages for each model. I also included a call-out for the Dog Editorial splitting the remaining contestants from the comeback contestants; only the main call-out including all 14 contestants was used in determining call-out averages.