America’s Next Top Model: Whew. That Was Close.

No koalas. Or wolves or monkeys for that matter. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, see the comments on last week’s article. The remaining girls did, however, take pictures with an animal. That’s a teaser. We’ll come back to it.

The girls arrived in New Zealand after what I can only imagine is one heck of a long flight. They were greeted by a group of aboriginal dancers on the side of a volcano, which is pretty freaking awesome no matter how you slice it. They were also greeted by Jay Manuel, who told them their challenge, which was the day of go-sees, began immediately.

As always, the girls went by themselves on a set of go-sees to local fashion designers, and had to report back to a home base by a certain time. Out of the six remaining contestants, only three made it back before time was up. Raina and Krista were slightly late. Alasia, to no one’s surprise, arrived a full forty-five minutes after the deadline. The remaining girls – Jessica, Alexandra, and Angelea – were greeted by Sara Tetro, host of New Zealand’s Next Top Model. Of the three girls who were not disqualified, Angelea was the only one who managed to make it to all six go-sees, and she booked them all. The girl has a knack for fooling people into thinking she’s a classy, put-together person. Jessica got one booking, with several of the designers accusing her of being too commercial. Alexandra got zero bookings, most of her criticism revolving around her lack of make-up and casual dress. Needless to say, Angelea is this week’s challenge winner.

The photo shoot put all of the girls into the same gorgeous dress, challenging them to make it stand out as their own. They had to do this on a grassy hillside while posing with a sheep. It had horns. His name was Prince. I liked him.

Alexandra had a great shoot and appeared to have turned last week’s dismal performance around. Krista had another great week, along with Raina. Jessica struggled with having a high fashion face, Alasia checked out of the entire shoot again, and Angelea…well, I don’t know what happened to her. Krista won best photo for the second week in a row, and Jessica landed in the bottom two with Alasia. Much to my surprise (and delight), the judges chose to give Jessica another chance.

I like Alasia, I do. She seems like a sweet girl, but she has a lot to learn and some growing up to do. I think Jessica is the prettiest girl left in the competition, and it makes me feel like I’m learning something about fashion as long as she remains part of the show. Will she make the cut next week? Only time will tell…

For more information on the judges, photographers, or designers, click here.

Season 14, Episode 8: Welcome to New Zealand (originally aired April 28, 2010)

For more on America’s Next Top Model, click here.

Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.

Photographs courtesy of The CW, Martina Monica Tolot, Nigel Barker/Pottle Productions.