Americas Next Top Model :: Season 3 :: Episode 9
(Information Copied From The UPN Website)
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NOT SO MEMORABLE: NICOLE NIXED
This week, AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL goes global. The girls head to Japan to try their hands at being big-time celebrity endorsers--in Japanese. And though Norelle , the 19-year-old sales associate from Newport Beach, California, and Eva , the 19-year-old student from Los Angeles, California, struggle with the language, it is Nicole , the 21-year-old former punk rocker from Minot, North Dakota, who falls short in becoming America's Next Top Model.
PREPARE TO DIE WITH TAYE BY YOUR SIDE
The girls chat about what they would change about their bodies, and the importance of having a sparkling personality necessary to be a top model. Tyra Mail then arrives, which reads, "Prepare to die. Be ready at 9:15 AM." Unsure of what they're getting into, the girls head to their destination, which turns out to be the Sande Shurin Acting Studio. Sande has the girls place one hand on their heart, the other on the pit of their stomach, or what is known as the solar plexus and asks, "What do you see in your mind's eyes?"
Amanda , the 25-year old mother from Hendersonville, North Carolina, visualizes her son and it makes her cry. Norelle is not quite sure what she's supposed to see and the other girls just do the best they can. They finish the emotional exercise and move on to the main event: acting a death scene alongside the star of KEVIN HILL , Mr. Taye Diggs.
Eva is first to go and as she lies on her deathbed with Taye looking over her, she tries to say, "…very challenging cardiomyopathy with paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea." She fumbles around, and Norelle is equally challenged. She says, "I couldn't read that if my life depended on it." While everybody struggles, only Amanda makes the mistake of not staying dead long enough. She dies once, and then before the scene is finished, she dies again.
Taye and Sande review the girls' performances. Eva is told she messed up some of the words but still managed to stay in character, while Ann is told she has good projection but should try to be more conversational. They are on the verge of announcing the winner when they realize they slid right past Nicole. After glossing over Nicole's performance, Sande and Taye direct everyone's attention to a big screen, where they see that Yaya , the 21-year-old student from Harlem, New York, is the winner--for the fourth challenge in a row.
Suddenly, Tyra appears from the wings of the stage, dressed up as a sexy nurse, and after Taye gives her a playful hug, together they read off a very exciting piece of Tyra Mail.
You've taken a class,
Been challenged by me
But now it's time to act for TV
It's not going to be easy
You'll be on the go,
Pack your bags girls,
You're going to Tokyo!
As winner of the acting challenge, Yaya gets to fly luxury class and take one person with her, while the other girls have to fly coach. She chooses Amanda.
As the girls pack up they express their different thoughts and desires on the trip. Norelle doesn't know whether to call residents Japanese or Tokians. On the ride to the airport Norelle, Ann and Eva talk about how they all have each other's back with Eva adding, "All I got to say is we got to promise not to get bitchy."
HOLY TOKYO!
Following a 13-hour flight the girls deplane and are met by their tour guide, Toko Niwa. Their first stop is at a local shrine where they meet up with Tyra. She greets them with a "Konichiwa," and says, "I brought you here because I want you to experience the most avant-garde fashion capital of the world. It's important for models to know different cultures."
The aspiring models share in a purification ritual designed to bring them protection, prosperity and good fortune. Apparently it works as Norelle immediately spies her favorite store, Hello Kitty, on the walk to the hotel.
Arriving at the hotel, per Japanese custom, the girls leave their shoes at the door and walk down to their 'rooms' in the Capsule Hotel. As it turns out the capsule in Capsule Hotel refers to their sleeping quarters--long, rectangular 'capsules' that lie one on top of the other. As Amanda puts it, "It's a very condensed YMCA."
Just as the girls are thinking of taking a nap, their tour guide arrives with a bi-lingual Tyra Mail. Though they can't read the Japanese they understand English, and the English says, "Be ready in half an hour."
MMM, MMM GOOD--JAPANESE STYLE
Despite feeling jet-lagged, the girls put on their best face and head off to meet Jay Manuel, who greets them in a kilt. After offering his sympathies about having to work after a long flight, he tells them they are going to get to make use of their acting lessons. "You're going to do a cold read for Campbell's Select Soups…in Japanese." Norelle is the first to admit how difficult that might be, saying, "I can barely speak English and they want me to do it in Japanese?"
Jay introduces the girls to the director, Zente Yoshie, who doesn't speak any English and, according to Nicole, neither does his translator. They explain the concept of the commercial, that models are busy and don't have time to eat because they are always on the go. The girls are told they have thirty minutes to learn their lines and off to make-up and kimono fitting they go.
Yaya feels confident as she's been listening to the way people speak since she got off the plane, and her confidence helps her do her cold read well. Eva is a little stressed out: "They give you a script, give you thirty minutes to read it, put you in a kimono and tell you to execute." She doesn't make it through the entire script without a mistake even one time.
Eva's bummed and in the dressing room she lets everybody know it. "I have good pictures and I messed up, hopefully somebody with bad pictures will mess up." This sets Ann off: "What do you mean? You hope me or Norelle do poorly?" Eva tries to cover up, calling a conference in the corner with Ann, but Ann will have none of it. Ann feels like since she thinks she did well, she probably did badly and since Eva thinks she did badly, she probably did well.
Norelle's fears are confirmed, as she has almost no connection between what she is reading on the cue cards in Japanese and what she is saying. Her take on her performance is, "I did so bad I was a joke." Amanda's Japanese is good, but something about her attitude seems off, and the director looks a little put out as she sings, "I'm so white, I glow on my own."
After the last girl reads her lines, Zente Yoshie comes in and hands them an envelope. Norelle reads it and it is their call to go to panel.
SMILE WHEN YOU SAY THAT
It's judging time in the Land of the Rising Sun. Tyra welcomes the six remaining contestants and before she introduces the panel, including guest judge Zente Yoshie, she tells the girls how she has taken off her shoes as a sign of respect. After recapping their earlier Campbell's experience Tyra tells the girls that their challenge for today will be to do a cold read for a commercial selling a Japanese delicacy called uma boshi.
Ann is first and continues to rock it, though when it is time to sample the uma boshi she makes a face that says it all. Nicole goes next and while competent, she also pales at the taste of the uma boshi, saying, "What the hell is this stuff?" Norelle blows the line but is super-cute and bubbly. Yaya reads dramatically and well and then Tyra asks that she eat the uma boshi.
Yaya puts the treat in her mouth, makes a series of giggling noises and then spits it into a nearby bowl. The judges are not pleased.
Eva is the first to have her individual Campbell's soup evaluation and Janice has some fun at her expense: "She's a Campbell's Soup rap star." Zente Yoshie's translator says that Eva's Japanese sounds like Chinese, but Tyra thinks she has a great voice for selling product.
Nolé tells Ann she needs to hold her face more pretty. Norelle hears about her lackadaisical Campbell's soup performance from Janice: "It's like you were on your way back from a nightclub." But since Norelle rocked the uma boshi ad, Janice called her, "Bubbly and radiant." Tyra added, "Confident."
Amanda is accused of lacking passion and then Tyra says, "Now it's time for the judges to deliberate." But she's forgotten to give the panel a chance to critique Nicole, which, considering the same thing happened earlier at the acting studio certainly does not bode well.
GET YOUR JUDGE ON
Nolé steps up and admits that for the first time Norelle has really come through for him. But while Norelle worked for Nolé, it looks like Nigel's love affair with Amanda may be coming to an end. "Amanda has to get over the fact that she's gorgeous and has beautiful eyes." Tyra seconds that emotion, "I was disappointed to see how dead she was."
Next up on the reviewing block is Ann. Tyra says, "This is a big shock for me but Ann is in the group leading the pack." And just like that old saying, "What goes up must come down," it seems that Yaya's run of four straight wins has put her in the precarious position of having nowhere to go but down. Nolé is first to express his disappointment: "Yaya should never have spit the product out." Tyra thinks Yaya's action was pompous.
Nicole is too "flat" for the judges. The Japanese director wanted more and Tyra says, "Nicole is 'blah' when it comes to connecting with a broad audience." Eva, despite her disastrous turn with the Campbell's can still earns high marks. Nolé calls her a "Tokyo Disaster and a Cocoa Puff mess." Janice comes to her defense: "When she stands in front of us, she smolders!"
ANN ON TOP
Tyra calls the girls back in. Ann, gets called first and Tyra says to her, "Who would have thought that Miss Stiff Ann in a picture blows all the girls standing behind [her] away." Eva, who admittedly muffed her Japanese audition, gets high marks for having a wonderful voice. Tyra tells her she has been chosen for "the sound and tone" of her voice. Norelle, who also struggled with the Japanese, is next, as Tyra tells her, "Your eyes are absolutely breathtaking."
Nicole and Yaya are the last two girls standing. To Nicole, Tyra says, "It's important for a model to be memorable. Today the judges found it very difficult to remember anything about you that stood out." Then she lowers the boom on Yaya: "It is important for a model to respect product. A top model has to be humble and likable." She pauses, looks down and hands Yaya's picture to her before saying, "I suggest you go to the nearest bakery in Japan and order up the biggest slice of humble pie." It's the teariest goodbye yet as Nicole is forced to leave the group. She feels good about how far she's come. "No matter what they say, I didn't give up. "
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