Welcome to Episode 7 of Asia’s Next Top Model Cycle 5, which officially puts us just before the halfway mark of the season. Eight top model hopefuls are currently still left standing, but we’re still reeling from the fact that as of last week, Singapore officially has zero chances of having one of our own make it anywhere near to the end of the competition.
To be entirely honest, we’re disappointed with Nametha. She did well enough last episode to avoid risking elimination on a non-elimination week, yet she got booted off for flouting the strict no-going-online rules. Wifi doesn’t make the world go round, indeed.
At the opening of this episode, some of the other contestants are still trying to cope with the shock ending of last week as well. For Dorothy in particular, who looked the judges straight in the eye and told them that she felt Nametha should be punished for what she did, dealing with the guilt is a struggle. Not everyone’s upset, however: the twins, who masterminded what happened to Nametha, are full of glee. “I’m so relieved that justice has been served,” says Valerie. “That’s what happens when you pick a fight with us.”
Seems unnecessarily catty, but we guess the stakes are getting higher than ever, so maybe we can’t blame the girls for letting their claws truly come out. We have to move on from all of that though, because Cindy Mail is here, and it bears this message: “Life isn’t perfect, but your outfit can be.” Which means this is going to be a fashion episode, and yup – it’s going to be all about the Zalora clothes.
We start off as usual with the social media challenge, and despite the camera panning to a makeshift runway very excitingly set up on top of the pool in the model house, it’s not about strutting down it. Model mentor Cara G is joined by style icon Kim Jones, and they tell the models that this week’s challenge is to style themselves in Zalora and have their pictures taken… while working in pairs.
Australian-British-Filipino fashion influencer Kim Jones with Cara G McIlroy at the social media challenge for the week
Ugh, yes it’s teamwork again. Valerie’s paired up with Dorothy, Veronika with Shikin, Tu with Cindy, and Clara with Maureen. Is this good girl-bad girl kinda setup deliberate? Sure seems like the producers were trying to create some drama, and it worked. Valerie says she has trust issues when it comes to having other people take her photo, which is basically a roundabout way of saying that she doesn’t think Dorothy’s good enough with a smartphone camera. Clara’s claiming that Maureen isn’t giving her enough directions on how to pose, and Tu’s complaint is that Cindy really doesn’t know how to pose; nor does she know how to take photos. Veronika’s struggling with her poses too, and soon gets accused by Shikin of being a copycat. “Bitch, that’s my move,” says the sassy Malaysian representative. To be fair, it’s a rather generic pose…
You know that annoying friend who keeps making you re-take her #OOTD shots?
Guess this hand-on-hip thing is a “Shikin move”.
Kim Jones announces that Cindy wins this challenge, and we can only assume that it’s her partner Tu’s guidance that paid off. Which seems unfair to Tu though. Dorothy’s photo scores the lowest, which definitely ominous, given that she was the lowest scorer at last week’s elimination.
The judges might have liked Cindy’s photos, but we’re not sure we’re 100% on board with her styling…
The second Cindy Mail announces the photoshoot challenge of the week, and turns out it’s not a photoshoot: it’s the first-ever video shoot. We’re whisked away to a beach setting, one that looks like a more secluded part of Sentosa. Dorothy gushes, “I come from the beach, and we’re here at the beach! I’m in paradise!” Um girl, no need for the sweet talk – we all know that man-made landscape ain’t no beach. We’re sure your hometown is much more of the real deal.
Cara G with Kevin Ou, who’s creative directing the video shoot challenge.
Anyway, what they have to do is shoot a fashion film for Zalora, and the person behind the lens this week is Kevin Ou, well-known creative director and photographer (also a familiar face to us here at NYLON!). To absolutely no one’s surprise, the girls have to remain in the same pairings as in the social media challenge. Cue the frustrated sighs and worried side eye, but then the girls are told that they will have a third co-star: a male model. And suddenly, they’re all squealing.
With those luscious locks, no wonder the girls found it a challenge to stay focused during this shoot.
The storyline they have to portray is this: together with the male model, pretend they’re three best friends frolicking by the sun, sand and sea. Straightforward, but considering that most of the pairs are pretty far from even friends, we know there’s going to be plenty of awkwardness and tension to be anticipated already.
Indeed, right from the get-go: Cindy’s completely lost with how to pose with the male model, and Tu gets upset that she’s getting dragged down with her (and rightfully so). Kevin gets frustrated as well, and ends up having Tu leave the shoot temporarily so Cindy can be shot alone with the male model – that does help a little, at least.
So much awkwardness radiating from this one picture.
Dorothy and Valerie’s shoot feels incredibly awkward – but we’d be surprised if they actually did have chemistry, considering how these two have really been at each other’s throats the whole episode so far. They end up continually trying to one up each other, which doesn’t seem to be helping to make the shots any better.
Clara’s tactic is to steal the show by breaking out some dance moves once the camera starts rolling, pretty much completely ignoring what Maureen is doing. Maureen says it’s hard to work with Clara because she’s never a team player, and the two end up just doing their own thing, functioning as separate entities in this one video shoot.
Clara’s tactic: When in doubt, just break out the random dance moves.
Shikin’s also struggling a little to get in sync with Veronika at the start of their turn. But the two manage to get into the zone soon enough, and fake the BFF vibes pretty well. It is soon very plain that their video is going to be the best one.
This week’s panel of judges: Rayne Reed, Head of Private Labels at Zalora, Cara G McIlroy, Cindy Bishop, and Yu Tsai.
Off to elimination, in front of judges Cara G, Cindy Bishop and Yu Tsai, who this week are joined by Zalora’s Rayne Reed, who’s here to give the client perspective of the shoot. The first pair up for criticism is Clara and Maureen; the judges feel that Maureen didn’t really know how to sell the clothes, but Clara “slayed it”. Guess all that dancing as distraction worked out.
The awkwardness between Dorothy and Valerie on set showed through in the video, plain even to us. “If you’re three ‘best friends’ acting like that – I don’t want to be your friend,” says Yu Tsai. Neither do we.
As we predicted, the judges heaped praises on Shikin and Veronika’s video. Especially on Shikin, who got commended for truly making her Zalora outfit shine (we now really want the floral blue jumpsuit she was wearing in the video, and we’re going to seek it out on the Zalora site right after we write this).
Cindy is told she is extremely lucky to have Tu, who saved her from being a complete flop in this shoot. The editing was another saving grace, by including shots where Cindy thought the camera wasn’t rolling – the only ones in which she looked natural. Tu is also advised to stop trying to help Cindy and focus on her own success instead, something that can’t be more crucial at this stage in the competition.
Once all the criticism is done, Cindy says, with a heavily ominous tone, that she has an announcement to make. It’s double elimination week – two girls are going home. The models’ jaws drop, and ours do too. For once, the cameras follow the girls backstage as the judges deliberate their decision, where the tears flow freely as they grapple with the shock announcement. It’s the twins who take it the hardest, because all of a sudden, the prospect of one going home without the other seems very likely indeed.
The judges finish the scoring, and as expected, Shikin is the top scorer of the week. Veronika is called third, but she moves to the safety zone with no relief in her eyes – she only has eyes for her sister. Her worst fears come true: Cindy is the last person to make it through, leaving Valerie and Dorothy as the casualties of the week.
Definitely did not expect to be losing these two this week.
We’ve never particularly liked the twins, what with their constant need to be more catty than necessary, and especially so last week with the whole Nametha situation. But as we watched the sisters deal with their separation, we couldn’t help but almost feel the tears coming on, because their sorrow was heartbreaking to watch. The slogan “Expect The Unexpected” never rung more true than today.
This also marks the beginning of the second half of the competition, so we can only expect more of the unexpected. Next week, the remaining models will head out for their first go-sees, and we are told to expect a shift in alliances. With the “bad girls room” down to two occupants now, we guess there’s a need for more balance – but apparently it’s going to be Tu who’s moving in. Say what? We’ll be back next week to offer more of our thoughts on that.
Watch Shikin’s winning fashion film here:
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
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