The Ladder of Model Success
First aired September 10, 2008
The contestants met posing coach Benny Ninja and contortionist Bree Robertson for a lesson on extreme posing inside fabric tubes. The following day, the posing challenge featured Tarina Tarantino jewelry and handbags. Many of the girls utilized awkward poses, and Sheena's inappropriately suggestive pose was criticized. Elina won the challenge, and received a handbag full of the featured jewelry for being the best, as well as the unaired prize to do some work with the brand.
At the house, Isis was shown injecting hormones to aid in her gender transition which made her nauseous. Elina kissed Clark during a game of truth or dare. Tensions rose when Hannah – who had already made nasty comments about Isis – absent-mindedly pushed Isis for "crowding her" in the jacuzzi, even though she was surrounded by other girls, and was later confronted about it in a large discussion inside, and then again later on where some of the other girls accused of her discrimination towards Isis and towards the girls of darker skin.
The photo shoot challenged the models to hang from a rope ladder, with the images later digitally composited to photos of a hot air balloon. At judging, after first denying that she had surgery, Sheena admits she did have breast augmentation.
Lauren Brie's photo was perceived as one of the best pictures in the history of the show and was Tyra's all-time favorite picture at the time. While most of the girls also impressed the judges, Brittany's photo was deemed average (but Tyra was convinced that she can earn a million dollars doing catalog modeling) and Analeigh was criticized for overthinking the shoot, which showed in her picture. Isis' plain appearance at the judging panel and uninspiring close-up photo landed her in the bottom two with Nikeysha, who was eliminated for an unsatisfactory photo, together with her overly-verbal personality and an admonishment for her very thin body. Though the judges thought that Isis had taken a major step backwards.
- First call-out: Lauren Brie Harding
- Bottom two: Isis King & Nikeysha Clarke
- Eliminated: Nikeysha Clarke
- Featured photographer: Mike Ruiz
- Special guests: Benny Ninja, Tarina Tarantino, Bree Robertson
- Top Model in Action: Shannon Stewart (Cycle 1)
Read more about this topic: America's Next Top Model, Cycle 11, Episode Summaries
Famous quotes containing the words ladder, model and/or success:
“You will see ... that it is easier to go down the social ladder than to climb it.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“The Battle of Waterloo is a work of art with tension and drama with its unceasing change from hope to fear and back again, change which suddenly dissolves into a moment of extreme catastrophe, a model tragedy because the fate of Europe was determined within this individual fate.”
—Stefan Zweig (18811942)
“All of the valuable qualities ... like helping in the development of others—will not get you to the top at General Motors, were that path open to women.... The characteristics most highly developed in women and perhaps most essential to human beings are the very characteristics that are specifically dysfunctional for success in the world as it is.... They may, however, be the important ones for making the world different.”
—Jean Baker Miller (20th century)