To be honest, this week’s episode wasn’t the most exciting one — oh there’s drama alright, more bickering on whether Maureen deserves to stick around because she’s ‘just a pretty face’, Clara’s childish but supposedly endearing antics, and a photoshoot challenge that plays on the models’ fear of heights — but we still expected more. And you know what, Asia’s Next Top Model, true to its theme, did deliver the unexpected, right at the very end. The kind of revelation that sends the comments section in a frenzy. It’s best you stick around for that, because we’re about to dive straight into the episode.
As you know, it’s the Subaru episode, which has two things that the entire Fast & Furious franchise manages to capitalise well on: fast cars and hot girls. This has both, but compared to last episode’s bondage-themed photoshoot, there’s somehow less excitement in this one. After a short bout of “real talk” that Shikin and Tu helpfully give to Clara (to which Tu echoes our sentiments with “you cry like a little girl”), both taking the tone of respectable older sisters, the models are whisked over to a large open space, and greeted by a rather imposing crane. That, and well, a car that’s moving while balancing at a 45-degree angle off the ground.
Welcome globally renowned stuntman, Russ Swift, who’s here to show us some cool car tricks. The theme for this week’s photoshoot: ‘Defying Gravity’, a name that we can’t help but belt out too thanks to the musical Wicked, but yes, it means that the models will be a) hung on a trapeze and soaring through the air at a height that won’t be comfortable at all, and b) doing this while Swift executes some death-defying stunts right below them. It sounds way harder that we put it.
Already, Clara looks terrified at the notion. But surprisingly, she soldiers on when it’s her turn. Sure, she looks rather stiff but, well, unexpectedly, we didn’t get any unnecessary drama or whining from her, which is doing herself a lot of favours actually. With flowy dresses, leather harnesses and fierce hair we love, done in tight braids with little metal ringlets, each of the girls manage to give off warrior vibes while going back and forth on the trapeze, despite how it must have been incredibly difficult. Shikin’s photoshoot brings this out clearly — she’s got her face perfect, but it’s the timing of the toss of her hand, which sends the fabric flying out into the wind, that she can’t seem to get right. Then, there’s the having to balance on heels on a terrifyingly skinny ledge, while keeping your face serene and body graceful, and while paying attention to the click of the camera, making sure that you’re on your most flattering tippy-toes while the swing’s at its highest point. And that’s not counting the fear that you might fall smack into a high-speed car below. Not easy.
Both Tu and Shikin are definitely the high-flyers of this episode though. Despite a long list of things that can go wrong, both creative consultant Daniel Boey and photographer Kevin Ou were impressed with her poses, encouraging her that the only thing she needs to get right is the fabric, and that everything else is on point. As for Tu, you’d never have guessed that she was afraid of heights at all; she looks both brave and soft at the same time, at at one point of the show, you see her heels nonchalantly sailing through the air as she braces herself for the shot. Maureen, whom the show’s now painting to be the dark horse, is also a key part of the race, and gets good shots despite admitting to overthinking some aspects of the shoot. However, it’s dear, sweet Cindy that struggled with this one. She can’t seem to shake off her fear, and almost every camera flash captures her downturned brows and worried expression, along with some rather flat and unimpressive poses. At this stage of the competition, with only 5 girls left, it’s not a good sign.
But hey, here’s a perk-me-up! “We’re going out!” cries one of the girls after Cindy Mail, and suddenly it seems like living in the model house may not be as fun as we thought. Anyway, TV host and model Bobby Tonelli’s right in the driveway to pick the girls up and head over to the Subaru Motor Show. The twist? Because of course there is one — only 3 of them get to travel in style. Shikin, Tu and Maureen get a comfy car ride straight to the destination, and even ice-cream along the way, which is a rather uplifting reward; we’ll keep that in mind the next time we’re on an Uber. However, the bottom two, based on last week’s results, Clara and Cindy, have to make their own way there… on the bus. The way the music dramatically plays out, and how the camera pans to the girls’ reactions, makes it seem like public transport’s an actual punishment, which, yes, we’ll also bear in mind when we’re next on an SBS bus.
While in the car, Bobby wastes no time on quizzing the girls on ‘who they think is gonna win, egos aside’. With zero hesitation, Shikin jumps in: “I’m gonna win!” Which leaves 18-year-old Maureen, the youngest and least experienced of the bunch to feel awkward, so awkward that she feels like she has to say her piece before the end of the car ride. “Don’t underestimate me,” she says, referring to how the other models think she doesn’t deserve a place in the competition. She sets things straight by explaining how she knows she’s always seen as a ‘pretty face’ but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have the skills or potential to be a great model, stuff that she’s already been called out for, multiple times on this show. It gets old. This isn’t the first time we’re hearing this, but this time, Maureen said it with such grace and strength that we can’t really fault her at all. Still, we feel the heat when Tu and Shikin immediately disagree, with Tu finally concluding with a scathing ‘sorry, I don’t see it’. It’s not meant to be bitchy, just brutally honest, but we say, cut that girl some slack already! Oh, as for Bobby? He’s just laughing along — aha, he’s definitely asking all these questions on purpose!
Cut to Clara and Cindy, and let’s just say we’re perplexed. Cindy thinks Clara’s fun, but if you think someone literally whining ‘mummy…’ while running on the road heels off and bare feet, you’re probably way too nice for this recap. They finally make it to the bus stop, and Clara’s downright delirious at this point. Cindy explains how a doorbell works — we don’t mean she’s doing a Bill Nye, we mean she has to explain that you press the doorbell to signal to the driver you’re getting off at the next stop. It’s a pretty universal concept, no?
Well, at the Subaru Motor Show, all the models finally gathered to meet Glenn Tan, Subaru executive and guest judge this week, and heave a sigh of relief because there won’t be any challenges this week — they finally get to enjoy themselves and watch Russ Swift perform some amazing car stunts, including drifting and the magical feat of parallel parking on high speed. So far, and apart from the car ride, there’s very little drama. Something’s brewing, alright.
We move on to the judging panel — with no challenge score to fall back on, the girls have to rely entirely on the earlier photoshoot to move on to the next stage. As evident, Tu and Shikin come up top, with plenty of praise. Shikin got her silhouette down, with a neat contrast too that Yu Tsai points out; her body’s facing one way, and wonderfully conveys strength, while her face, arms and the dress all face the other direction, making the picture visually interesting to his photographer’s eye. Boey, however, mentions she’s like a jigsaw puzzle, and she needs to work on making all the different parts — face, eyes, body, dress, environment — work together seamlessly to achieve perfection. Not a bad comment if you think about how the judges are nitpicking now, which means they see potential perfection.
Yu Tsai also heaps praise on Tu, saying that she’s the stunning embodiment of being soft but not weak, and that she has come very far especially since she learns a lot from the judges’ criticism. Similarly, the pick on small things like her feet, but the judges were still impressed. Glenn even says that he’ll use her in his campaign — as the client, here to represent real-world views, that’s certainly a good thing to hear.
For Maureen and Clara, they fall more into the middle of this increasingly small pack. The ‘pretty face’ looks regal in her photo — but only the top half of her body. Her legs look stuck to the trapeze. However, the surprisingly supportive Yu Tsai stood up for her this week, with an honourable speech that says she’s the one to look out for, and that Maureen has been quietly and steadily growing throughout the competition. “You look like Joan of Arc,” he even comments on the picture. His words of advice? Embrace your pretty face. Like a sweeping romantic scene made for reality tv (oh wait…), the misunderstood ingénue Maureen nods, and emboldened by faith, makes a confident speech of her own too. And guess who jumps in with a final word of encouragement? Glenn. You may or may not know him from last season’s eye-rolling debacle, but here, he makes a 180-degree turn in attitude, and kindly corrects her words: say “I will be”, not “I think”, as he encourages her to own her confidence. Not bad at all! Clara, on the other hand, gets poor mixed reviews, with the judges commenting on her broken hand pose that looks ‘like a little bird that broke her wing’. Remember what Tyra said? H2T!
Okay, you know who’s up… Cindy. She already looks nervous, and true enough, her photo’s the most disappointing of the lot. The pose is alright, if a little lasklustre, but it’s her face that gives it away — you can tell from the furrowed brows that she’s not happy to be here at all. Once again, the judges get Cindy to shout things.
Not before long, we get to the results. Tu’s the winner, and Shikin’s a close second. No surprise there. And… Cindy gets the lowest scores of the week.
Which is irrelevant, because she gets a second chance!! NOBODY IS GOING HOME. This is the best news we’ve heard this entire competition.
BUT we know what’s truly on your minds. Yes, the girls look great and everything, but right after the judging and happy reunion hug that sees all 5 girls huddling together, we notice that judge Cindy’s still talking — is this a belated challenge, or something else? Way to keep us in suspense. “Come on out!” Cindy Bishop says a bit too cheerfully, and from behind the curtains, we see a new girl strolling into the room. Like so.
Consider our jaws dropped. We’re shooked. Who on earth is Xiao Qing? Is she a new contestant? How is any of this fair?? After this week’s madly skilled driving, are they taking it further by trying to pull a stunt on us?! (See what we did there.) Well, we are living in an Internet age, so with a little bit of amateur snooping — we’re talking about the great keyboard warriors of the Internet, by the way — they found out certain key details which we will gladly recount now. First, her Instagram account offers a better look of how her face actually looks like.
Other than a model, she appears to be the Owner/Creative Director of fashion label X.Q.ZHANG as well. A quick check on her website says that her fashion brand started in 2004 after a successful career as a fashion model in Paris and London — she was even based in Singapore for a while from 2006, before moving over to Shanghai to expand there. So, logically, we can conclude that she could be a new model mentor, or a client, basically someone brought on board to give advice to the girls.
Until this incriminating piece of evidence that is…
The plot thickens. What does this mean?? Why do we feel like she could be a “fake freshie”? Is she a spy or an actual contestant? Whatever the case, we’re very, very intrigued — though we’ll only know the week after next because the recap episode’s up. All we can say is this, a PSA to the fans who’ve been flaming x.q’s social media accounts, and in the name of world peace: you guys need to chill, we know you already have a favourite model, but no one deserves all this reckless hate. In the legendary words of Toy Story’s Woody: play nice.
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