#auscycle1

Yeah, Jeana did not get a favourable edit. She has constantly been a background player since the makeovers really, but even just seeing her in the background of panels and challenges you can see she is constantly annoyed when she doesn’t win. I wish this had been featured more in the past, as her edit this episode just came across as so sudden and dramatic. There had been nothing but positive moments shown for ages, and now she is this massive drama queen? Really? It just feels like a weak editing.

I'll start with the judges. Outside Charlotte Dawson, who was easily one of the best parts of any NTM franchise for me, the judges on AusNTM were always a bit either meh or frustrating, so choosing an All-Star worthy panel is difficult.

Honestly, all of the hosts can go, like none of them ever made an impact with me. I think Megan Gale would've been my choice to take over that position, she was enjoyable enough when she judged and I always enjoyed when she popped up in earlier cycles. Alex Perry of course has to be there, even if I can't say I was always his biggest fan, but he was part of what made the show great. Outside those 2, honestly none of the other judges were good enough to stand out for me. Just give me a rotating guest judge as the additional one

As for the cast, if I was given entirely free ranged, with the assumption of no winners and that everyone would accept, regardless of their post-season success, my choices would probably be:

Sam from Cycle 1, for the TV drama and having Cycle 1 be represented.

Simone and Madeleine from Cycle 2, Simone is one of my favourite early season models, give her a second chance, and Madeleine perfect combo of modelling potential and drama.

Paloma and Jordan from Cycle 3, again both great drama, vibrant personalities, and had their moments modelling wise.

Samantha and Caris from Cycle 4, Caris just deserves a chance to shine without that group hanging over her, and Samantha served some of my all time favourite shots so of course I'd have her back. Maybe also throw in Alamela for some early boot representation, and she deserved a second chance.

Cassi from Cycle 5, while I do think there were a lot of solid people from this Cycle, Cassi is the only one who screams All-Stars, maybe Clare too.

Joanna, Sophie and Kelsey from Cycle 6, Joanna is another personal favourite of mine, loved watching her, great look, so I'd have loved to see her back. Sophie is just an icon. And Kelsey of course would be brought back, and they'd show that finale moment over and over and over, probably even giving a All-Stars 5 Shea style story to the victory.

Simone and Neo from Cycle 7, Simone would be an obvious lock, and then I'd have one of the more underrated models from this cycle, went with Neo but any of her, Yolanda or Jess would work.

Shanali and Duckie from Cycle 8, incredible models, enjoyable people to watch, the best this cycle had to offer.

No one from Cycle 9, flop cycle, and while there were some solid models and good TV personalities, doesn't deserve to have anyone on All-Stars in my opinion. Alex would be the closest though.

Hm, good question. Right now my ranking of Aus winners would probably be:

1: Montana is a clear number 1 for me, killed every aspect of her season, even her worst shots were good, and I don't think I'd ever have her below the top half. Her post-show work really does speak for itself.

2 - Alice is only a slight step behind, still such a clear winner, especially on her season since at least Cycle 7 had a few other really strong potential models. Only slight thing holding her back was her confidence, but if she had been more confident then she would be on par with Montana.

3-4: Aleyna and Gemma, I think based on their seasons they are a step behind the top 2 only because they still had competition from other strong models on their seasons in a way Montana/Alice didn't really have. They did both feel like front-runners, but never to the same extent, always felt like others could still win.

5: Amanda I'd then have a step below those 2, brilliant model, but Cycle 6 was a masterclass pretty much all around, there was so much competiton and while Amanda was always a competent model, she really wasn't a clear winner at any point.

6-7: Brittany and Tahnee both were solid winners for me, but I personally perhaps would have chosen someone else, but was still very happy, and felt they deserved to make it as far as they did.

8-9: Eboni and Melissa would then be next for me, and both were winners I was a bit disappointed with. They were nice, and I do get their appeal and look, but both had really clear winners of their seasons for me (Shanali and Simone), and I am not even sure I would have had either make the end to be honest.

10 - Demelza is my choice for last, I am still confused as to how she won, let alone made the end. Plus the whole bullying issue...like yeah, I don't get it. Cycle 4 may have produced my favourite photo of all time, but yeah, was no where close to producing my favourite winner.

I honestly just can’t see how anyone would be on the hairdressers. That is the kind of thing I feel would never be allowed on any new cycle, I can’t believe it wasn’t reprimanded the second it started, especially for the sake of Madeleine.

As for Caroline, I never really had any strong opinions on her, but I definitely think she made it exciting. I did feel bad for her, in fact now I think about it, she was sort of like Christina from the cycle that is just airing. Sort of backed into a corner by the other girls, and then just constantly berated for just defending herself.

Gemma’s definitely was the best of the bad bunch from that photoshoot, of all the photoshoot concepts from AusNTM, that had to be one of the worst. It could have been done gracefully, but the fashion was so tacky as well. A massive dissapointment, as most of the photoshoots were solid in that cycle.

Yeah, Sam’s overconfidence just irritated me. Had she just been a bit less extreme, I could have liked her. Her modelling was a bit cliche, but none of her photos were bad. In fact, more were pretty solid.

And agreed, all of the Sim(m)ones have been great. Simmone had such a laid back personality, and while I can’t remember the specifics of when she was eliminated, I do remember just being confused. Though Simone Viljoen still takes the top spot for me, absolutely loved that girl. Cycle 2 was kind of shit apart from her. How Eboni won over her is just beyond me.

Sam was probably the typical popular beauty on the cast, and while I found her endearing at first, she grated on me. I still remember her saying something about how she was glad to lose a challenge, because she was sick of being the front runner. And then the whole deal with her signature pose just irritated me.

I loved Simmone, she just seemed like such a great person. Her elimination came out of nowhere for me, I honestly though she was going to make at least top 3, then suddenly out for one bad shot. I’d have loved to see more of her, Zoe, and so many other members of the cast, rather than centre of Allana, Sam and Gemma.