Cycle 19 of the America's Next Top Model is just around the corner and the press-ready stories are still coming in thick and fast. As you'll recall, in the midst of the attention surrounding Naomi Campbell's new show recently, Tyra Banks decided to sit down with the Post telling them that she nearly walked away from the show and now, on cue, another ANTM story has been emerged.
Talking to the Hollywood Reporter, Banks said that she got a call from her bosses at CW while she was in class at Harvard telling her to shake-up the show's line-up. 'I got a note that said you need to get out of class and take this call,' she told Page Six. 'My boss said...there are no sacred cows, and you have to do some crazy changes. It was a mandate.'
America's Next Top Model is about to hit the air and with Naomi Campbell's show launching later this month, the big ANTM press push is on. Last week Tyra sat down with Page Six, where she revealed that she almost walked away from the show and yesterday more news was revealed about who we can expect to see in the guest judge seat.
According to Essence, Alicia Keys and Tyler Perry have both filmed appearances as mentors on the show's nineteenth cycle. As yet, Key's role is still unclear but what we do know is that Perry directed the girls in their acting challenge. I haven't watched the show for years but with the new mentors, judges and the pressure on the show to up the ante, I'm slowly being convinced.
With all the attention on Naomi Campbell's new modelling show, 'The Face', it was only a matter of time before 'America's Next Top Model' did something to try and compete for press attention.
So on a cue, Tyra Banks sat down with the Post revealing that she almost walked away from the show. 'I've thought about turning the reigns over [at Top Model]. I had to be reminded that [the show] is my baby,' she said. 'A few years ago, I was willing to give my baby up for adoption!' While I'm a big a fan of Tyra as the next person, how and why this needed to be released leaves question marks. The only good thing about the competition between the two shoes, though, is that hopefully they'll have to up the ante.
Will you tune into The Face when it airs on August 24?
Dickinson, who used to be a judge on America's Next Top Model of which Cutrone is now a part of the panel, recently spoke out again criticising former boss, Tyra Banks. Talking to Fashionista, Cutrone defended Banks and gave the self-titled 'world's first supermodel' a run for her money as far as having a sharp tongue is concerned. 'Janice is a bitch. You can quote me on that. She's an erratic, unpredictable bitch. Last time I saw her on TV she was on Dr Drew's Celebrity Rehab, so I'm not going to take her as a credible source against Tyra Banks,' she said. 'If someone puts you on TV, even if it's just for a year, you need to be thankful.'
When 'America's Next Top Model' producers announced that male model Rob Evans would joing the judging panel, it became pretty clear that we could expect to see him in one of the shoots and now it's happened. For the second shoot of the competition Evans poses with the contestants in a series of black and white underwear shots, which have already dropped online.
What's interesting about the process so far is the real-time audience participation that the team is pushing this cycle to help shake things up. Viewers will be able to rate the hopefuls shoot performances, like this one, on the CW Network's website. What the grading means on the results each week is still unclear but what we do know is that they did contribute to the create the final thirteen line-up from the original group of 30.
Will you get involved in the online participation?
Janice Dickinson, or the self-titled world's first supermodel, isn't really one to mince her words and definitely not when it comes to Tyra Banks. Ever since she bitterly parted ways with 'America's Next Top Model', Dickinson hasn't wasted an opportunity to criticise her former boss so her latest comments come as no surprise.
This week she was on the red carpet at Fox's American Idol finale show where she spoke about Banks' recent decision to fire Jay Manuel, Nigel Barker and J. Alexander. '[She's] fired everybody, she'll keep firing people,' she told Fox. 'She's soulless, she's heartless, and she's cold.' But Tyra isn't the only person that Dickinson isn't happy with. When asked about Vogue's new healthy model initiative, she said: 'Please, look at Anna Wintour. She's thinner than thin. I just don't buy it.
Despite many people not watching for years, producers at 'Amercia's Next Top Model' have only just realised that the show needs a make-over to get people interested. Unfortunately for them, they've left it so long because they now have competition. Yesterday Oxygen, the show's network, confirmed that they are broadening their horizons in the modelling reality show stakes and are already working on a new franchise. Interestingly, Naomi Campbell has been booked as the main judge on the show.
Anyone that watched 'The Tyra Banks Show' will remember that episode where Tyra Banks confronted Campbell about feeling bullied by her in the earlier years of her career. Oxygen's decision then to put Campbell in the same position in a different show then is far from a coincidence is an undoubtedly aimed at garnering a buzz around the show. According to the release, Campbell is one of the three supermodels judges on the show, titled The Face. The premise of the show is no different to ANTM apart from the fact that the models on the new show will be scouted by the judges respectively and join their teams.
Do I think we need another modeling competition show, well no, but will I tune in - yes. Will you?
The news about the changes at 'America's Next Top Model' has had us all talking this week. At the time the changes were announced, Page Six reported that a blogger could be in with a chance of joining the judging panel and in an interview with Fashionista, Kelly Cutrone confirmed that the people involved are 'really good'. Unlike Cutrone, though, former ANTM winner Eva Pigford isn't for the idea of bloggers becoming involved.
'[Bloggers] are just people with opinions that don't do this business,' she told Fashionista. 'It's like me giving you an opinion about your blog. I don't have a blog so who am I to tell you about your blog?' She continued: 'I'm sorry, three months as a blogger is not gonna prepare you for what this world is.' Rather ironically, legitimacy wasn't an issue for her when it came to her swift venture into acting after a short period of modeling but we'll let that one slip.
Do you agree with Pigford and if so, who would you like to see involved instead?
Models have long forayed into different branches of the entertainment industry. Cameron Diaz, Tyra Banks and Heidi Klum are just three models that have managed to make the transition into film and TV. Saying that, not many have managed to move into music but that's exactly what Ruby Aldridge and Miranda Kerr are reportedly looking to do.
At Coachella Ruby Aldridge told Vogue.com that she's part of band called Texture (ironic, no?), which held its first concert recently at an art opening in New York. 'We did a cover of 'Astro Zombies' by the Misfits and three of our own songs,' she said. 'I was so nervous about the show, I almost didn't show up! ... I don't consider myself a musician yet. I'm just a fan who's excited to be making music for the first time.' Miranda Kerr is also tapping into music but don't expect her to release anything anytime soon. 'I have recorded a couple of songs, actually, that no one knows about! You probably won't hear them but I love to sing,' she said.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a big a fan of Tyra Banks as the next person, but she left me disappointed on Sunday night at the 2011 Teen Choice Awards. Something about a skin tight black catsuit in broad daylight at a teen event doesn't sit well with me but according to her, she was channeling a "fierce bumble bee."
