Well, it’s Thursday again, which means that it’s time for yet another recap of the latest episode of Asia’s Next Top Model Cycle 5. Last week we saw the remaining twelve model hopefuls receive some refreshing makeovers and bade farewell to Jennica after she failed to perform in a tough denim-centric photoshoot, and if you thought that things couldn’t get more exciting than that, well…you’d be kind of right. It’s understandably hard to top an episode where the girls…y’know, drastically change their entire look by chopping off their hair, but there are nevertheless still some OMG moments in Episode 4 that make it worth an hour of your time.
For Episode 4, it happened literally within the first 5 minutes of the episode. Tu tells the camera that she’s been having trouble sleeping, and it’s not helping her health issues at all. And nope, it’s not a case of insomnia, but rather, a roommate who won’t stop talking into the late hours. Said roommate is revealed to be Clara (we’re not in the least surprised, tbh), and the scene quickly cuts into a confrontation.
In front of a few other girls, Tu accuses Clara of talking way too much. Clara insists she’s stopped doing it since she was first told to, decided to point a finger at Tu amidst the heated exchange of words, and… kaboom. Tu flares up, and unleashes the B-word. Clara retaliates immediately with “Bitch! Slut!”, and the two have to be physically dragged apart. Whoa.
At this point, we feel Tu’s concerns are legit: when you’re struggling to get enough rest nightly, and with your health issue compounding the problem to boot, there’s nothing more annoying than an inconsiderate roommate who isn’t able to realise it’s bedtime. This small altercation reveals more of Clara’s hot-temperedness to us, and we have an inkling this will keep coming up as long as she stays in the competition.
Back to the weekly challenges. This episode’s takes place bright and early in the morning — instead of receiving some good ol’ Cindy Mail, the girls are woken up in person by none other than Drea Chong, who sneaks into the model house to take pictures of the sleeping models, in their least glamorous selves.
After being so abruptly roused awake, the girls are still in their pyjamas and haven’t even had to chance to put on a shred of makeup (or brush their teeth, now that we think of it), which is fitting because they’re going to receive a crash course in how to put a lot of effort into looking like you haven’t put in a lot of effort. Welcome to 2017, folks.
After receiving some useful tips from the social media expert (which we ourselves will probably be using from now on…who says reality TV can’t be educational?), the girls are grouped into teams of three to four, armed with selfie sticks and tasked with using nothing but their phones to take some Instagram-worthy shots that are meant to convey the whole #IWokeUpLikeThis lie people seem to like buying into.
Being forced to cooperate with each other naturally causes some friction within the teams. Shikin, who’s paired with Layla and Dorothy, expresses her annoyance at Layla’s passiveness, saying that she’s tiring of constantly having to ask Layla what she wants while helping her to snap her shots. We have to say we’re annoyed too, actually – at this point, we just want to give Layla a good shake, and given she’s representing our nation, exclaim, “We were rooting for you! We were all rooting for you…”
Even Drea notices, and comments that Layla doesn’t seem to have put in much effort into this challenge, and she ends up being ranked last. Valerie comes up tops with her artfully-filtered photo of herself looking glamorous while sipping coffee and flipping through some fashion magazines.
And… it’s time for Cindy Mail! This one is cryptic enough, the message hinting to the girls that they’ll have to work at standing out among the crowd. But the more pressing matter of the moment is that there’s a spread of food and alcohol laid out by the poolside, so most of the girls aren’t going to bother thinking about the next challenge. It’s pool party time!!!
Fun as a poolside party might be, it doesn’t last very long, because it’s time for another high pressure photoshoot challenge. the girls might have avoided Yu Tsai’s inevitable wrath earlier in the episode, but everyone’s favourite Creative Director is back on set…and as if his presence alone wasn’t enough, it’s revealed that he’s going to be the photographer for the shoot as well! Of course, Yu Tsai on camera duty — as scary as it might be — isn’t that exciting of a challenge on its own, so the show ups the ante even further by making this a group photoshoot… in the tight confines of a SMRT bus, no less.
The producers have upped the ante of this challenge by putting the girls back in the same teams as the previous Instagram challenge, so… too bad for those who don’t work very well with their teammates. That means Shikin’s team might be at a disadvantage if Layla doesn’t buck up, and Nametha is once again forced to work with Clara, who seems to be fast becoming her nemesis.
This being a team shoot, only 4 shots are required, essentially. That’s why the challenge passes quickly enough, and there isn’t much drama – no fainting, or crying this time round – but all the problems that emerged during the previous challenge resurface. Layla isn’t able to be in sync with Shikin and Dorothy once again, and her weak excuse is that she’s never been in a group photoshoot before. 😑 Nametha and Clara obviously aren’t the most pleased at having to pose next to each other, but Yu Tsai actually manages to turn this situation around by drawing out their hostility, and getting them to turn it into some serious fierceness for the camera.
We’re whizzed into the elimination segment quickly enough, and this week’s judging panel is joined by models Jason Godfrey and Madi Ross.
As the judges go through the 4 photos, calling out the contestants individually as usual, Yu Tsai’s displeasure at some of the contestants emerges. Comment of the week, with regards to Shikin, Layla and Dorothy’s shot: “You’re like a bunch of chickens trapped in the back of the bus. A bunch of crazy chickens pecking at each other!” He sure has a tendency to compare the models to animals, huh.
When it’s Layla’s turn to step in front of the judges, they straight-out ask her if she even still wants to be in this competition, because her behaviour week after week seems to indicate otherwise. The tears start coming, and she stammers that she’s honestly not sure. The disappointment is evident in Cindy and Yu Tsai’s expressions, and this would be an appropriate time to insert this gif:
And in what is probably the least surprising result of the season, it’s revealed that its Layla who’s leaving us this week, which cuts our chances of a Singaporean winning this competition by exactly half. after struggling through most of the challenges and literally saying that she wasn’t here to win last week, it looks like the judges have had enough of her passive attitude and lack of drive, and while we’re sad to see homegirl go we’d be lying if we said it wasn’t justified at this point of the competition.
And with that, we’re a month into the competition and left with ten girls in the running to become Asia’s Next Top Model. This week’s show was kind of a filler episode, to be honest, but that can only mean that much bigger things are headed our way in the coming weeks. Will there be more group photoshoots? More guest stars? More bitchiness among the girls? Well, we all know the answer to that last one, but for the rest, you’ll be getting your answers in the upcoming instalments of our recaps.
Asia’s Next Top Model Cycle 5 airs every Wednesday at 9pm, only on Star World (Starhub TV Ch 501/Singtel TV Ch 301). asntm.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.