Wednesday, March 9, 2016

[Recap] Asia's Next Top Model Season 4 (2016) Episode 1: I'm here for the competition, not for this girls.

The new model mentor, Kelly Tandiono and Kenneth Goh as the creative guru welcome the girls to the competition at National Stadium Singapore Sport Hub. They introduce the fashion icon and their new host, Cindy Bishop. Patricia recognizes Kelly and Tawan recognizes Cindy as they are well-known in their own country. First impression count and it will make or break you. The girls are facing their first challenge which is to walk in an inclined runway. They have to strike a pose when they reach every corner.

Angie feels her walk is strong, but as the opening, she is kind of a disappointment. She is afraid to fall. So, she is looking down and her poses are not suitable for this kind of runway. Tawan impresses the judges as they feel her to look elegant and expensive. The judges do not see model in Maya. She does not scream model material. The judges praises Jessica for making it down, but that's it. The judges feels Mai Ngo looks like she is walking in the mall. The judges feel Sang In looks angry because of her fierce face.

The judges feel Aldilla's walk is not bad, but she is looking down all the time. Patricia gets a universal praise from the judges and the girls as well. She hears the judges say wow, while Angie thinks Patricia is killing it. Ken feels Patricia is a top model material. Julian has an angel face and a decent walk, but she needs to slow down. Gwen has great legs, but her walk is too pageantry and trying to look like a model.

Alaiza has a modern look and her walk and poses are good. The judges feel Tugs has a great body, but she does not look modern. Her poses are date, but they believe it can be fixed. May looks very bend. The judges do not get her poses and they immediately realize it is May's first time to walk in this kind of runway. Tuti realizes that she has an edgy look and she embraces it. The judges feel her walk and poses are strong.

The girls go to their model house which is in South Beach. They will live in suite room on 21st floor. The girls are amazed by the house as always. They run and save their own bed. There are also products from sponsor, such as Maybelline, Close Up, and TRESemme. Unfortunately, there are only 13 beds for 14 girls. Sang In has no bed and May offers her to share the bed with her.

Cindy Mail! There is a video of Cindy reminding the girls not to get too comfortable because there will be unexpected changes. The girls will get judges score after each challenge and photoshoot. The girl who fails to impress them on the runway and receives the lowest score has to say good bye immediately before even has the chance to unpack.

Challenge score:
Patricia 9.5
Tuti 9.0
Tawan 8.3
Alaiza 8.0
Julian 7.7
Tugs 7.5
Gwen 7.3
Aldilla 6.7
May 6.7
Sang In 5.3
Jessica 5.0
Angie 4.2
Mai Ngo 4.0
Maya 3.3

There is one girl asking which one is Maya. It is funny and sad at the same time. Maya gets a group hug from the girls. She feels she does not deserve to be eliminated first and she could have gone further. She will continue to pursue modelling. Her message to the judges is it is really a big mistake to eliminate her and someday when they look back, they will regret it.

Another Cindy Mail! It is about bubble and stumble. The girls immediately think bubble ball. Tuti guesses that she is going to be a hamster (in a bubble ball).

The first photoshoot is inspired by 1960's "Bubble Series". It was from Harper's Bazaar in 1963. Kenneth asks for elegant, sophisticated, and high fashion photo. If they do not do that, it will burst their bubble. Cindy shows them how to do it and with another twist. They have their bubble will be in the air. The photographer this week is BJ Pascual. Kelly Tandiono is also there to be model mentor.

Tuti is the first one to go and she impresses the judges. Tutu's poses are cute, quirky and cool. The judges feel she knows what she is wearing. Gwen tries too hard to give high fashion poses, but the judges feel she is overthinking. Jessica's poses are too expected. The judges even need to give input to her to play with the skirt. Patricia is very confident, even though she is insecure with her height (trivia: she is probably the shortest girl in the competition). The judges feel she poses well and a bit exaggerated, but she burst our laugh.

Angie gives great poses, but the judges feel her poses do not work with her skirt. Tugs has phobia of height. She is focusing on her face, but the judges are bored with the same poses all the time. The judges likes Tawan's angle and praises her for having the most elegant poses. May is very scared because she has claustrophobic. However, when she is in the air, the judges do not see nervous from her. She keeps going and blew Cindy away. After she is finished, she is immediately collapsed and shaking. Ken hugs her to calm her.

The judges love Sang In's face. The judges like how Alaiza plays with her legs. Aldilla serves elegant, sophisticated, and expensive which what Kenneth asks from the girls. The judges feel Julian has the best seating down pose because the other girls who did the same poses are awkward. The judges like Mai Ngo's energy and they question where her energy was during runway walk.

The girls are back to the house. Mai Ngo immediately opens fridge. The girls notice Mai Ngo's behaviour. Tuti, Angie, and Alaiza are bothered because Mai Ngo eats a lot, drinks the whole drink which is supposed to be shared, and Mai Ngo is always the first one to eat. Mai Ngo is there only for the competition and not for the girls. Alaiza hopes the elimination will not come so fast. However, Tuti cannot wait for the elimination. So, they can let Mai Ngo goes home. Mai Ngo also does not get along with the girls. She puts her headphone and just sleeps.

Judging Panel
Aldilla
Cindy sees black widow in Aldilla. Kenneth feels she is successfully embodying elegant, sophisticated, and high fashion. Kelly feels it is a perfect photo.


Gwen
Kenneth feels she is pretty in the photo, but it looks like Barbie in bubble. Cindy still gets a beauty queen vibe. Kelly feels that Gwen already has everything, she just needs to work for that.


Jessica
Cindy feels her face is gorgeous. Kelly feels her photo works well for commercial. Kenneth finds it cheesy. He feels she is super pretty, but she needs an edge.


Tugs
Kenneth is disappointed because she can touch every corner, but she did not.


Patricia
Cindy loves it. Kenneth likes her confident and asks her to bring it on every set.


May
Cindy feels it is cool and work with her outfit and personality. Kenneth goes feels she is young, but she can bring maturity on set, like she has been modelling for 10 years.


Julian
Kenneth feels it is beautiful. Cindy feels like she is in holiday.


Tawan
Kenneth feels her photo is mild. Cindy feels the photo needs more pop and graphic. Kelly expects more than just elegant.


Sang In
Cindy feels her face is soft and she looks like she is floating. Kenneth feels it is sensual, but it does not capture the fashion very well.


Tuti
Cindy feels it gives a boom boom boom vibe. Kelly feels she knows how to work with her outfit. Kenneth likes how she remember her clothes and gives architectural shape and modernity.


Alaiza
Cindy loves it. Kenneth loves her perfect Chinese maiden finger pose. Kelly sees her as Angelina Jolie from the Philippines.


Angie
Cindy sees her pose different than the others', but not in a positive way. Kelly feels she knows how to work with her body, but it is not suitable for the dress. Kenneth dislikes how she is contouring so much.


Mai Ngo
Mai Ngo loves her photo. Cindy is shocked with her photo. Cindy feels she is fun to watch.


The tension between Mai Ngo and the other girls arises during their waiting time. Aliza confronts how rude Mai Ngo is, but Mai Ngo does not feel she is rude at all. Mai Ngo feels that she is nice to everybody, but they are rude to her. Mai Ngo feels Angie is rude, but she does not give a damn about it. Tuti complains about Mai Ngo taking clothes from her wardrobe without her permission. Mai Ngo tells them they are rude, again. Tuti feels Mai Ngo is irrelevant. I get the vibe that Mai Ngo might not understand most of the conversation because her reaction is quite random and as Tuti said, irrelevant.

Call-Out:

Call-Out
Contestants
Cindy
Kelly
Kenneth
Challenge
Total
1
Tuti
10
10
8.5
9.0
37.5
2
Aldilla
9.0
9.0
8.5
6.7
33.2
3
Alaiza
8.0
8.0
8.5
8.0
32.5
4
Patricia
7.0
7.0
8.0
9.5
31.5
5
Julian
7.0
8.0
8.0
7.7
30.7
6
May
8.0
7.0
7.5
6.7
29.2
7
Mai Ngo*
7.0
8.0
8.5
4.0
27.5
8
Sang In
8.0
7.0
6.0
5.3
26.3
9
Tawan
6.0
5.0
6.0
8.3
25.3
10
Tugs**
4.0
2.0
5.0
7.5
18.5
11
Jessica
5.0
5.0
4.0
5.0
19.0


*Cindy tells Mai Ngo that she has the best photo this week. If it was not for her poor challenge score, she would be on top.
**It is weird that Tugs gets lower score than Jessica, but she is called earlier.

Who stays? Will it be Gwen who has the most experience, but she needs to break from her beauty queen background? Will it be Angie who has the angel face, but she needs to back it up with the confidence?

12
Angie***
x
x
x
4.2
18.0
Eliminated
Gwen***
x
x
x
7.3
17.3

***There is no breakdown of the judges' score for the bottom 2 girls.

The judges feel they are not impressed with most of the girls' performance on the runway, but the girls step it up in the photoshoot. So, the judges decide that there is no elimination on panel.

Next Episode: Jumping on trampoline photoshoot! Injury might cost one girl's place in the competition!

I was surprised with their decision to change their judging system. I always prefer deliberation to scoring system in order to do the elimination. I was also confused by the judges' score for Mai Ngo. Cindy tells Mai Ngo that she gets the best photo, but Mai Ngo's combined judges score is still below Tuti, Aldilla, and Alaiza. However, their score is more reasonable than ANTM so far. I am also waiting for Yu Tsai to appear.

I also like how extreme Kelly in her scoring. She gave 2 for Tugs. I asked her about it during press conference. She said that she is a straight forward person and we can expect to see such low scores from her in the future. Nevertheless, I think the first episode brought enough entertainment through Mai Ngo. I do not think that photo is that great and she looks short as well. The challenge and photoshoot were good. I am rooting for Patricia and Tawan so far. Who are you rooting for? Sound off below!

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