#auscycle9

Don't get me wrong, it is still a solid season. But the shift from Cycle 8 to 9 felt like AusNTM lost its heart. Charlotte Dawson was a huge part of that, the show fully suffered without her, but also the point system (what a horrid implementation of an already meh idea), the more over-produced element, the quality of the shoots...it just felt overly slick now. The individual photos were often solid, the black and white shoot is still incredible, and there were some good models, but behind just those photos I definitely enjoyed it less than the other cycles.

Cycle 10 suffers from a lot of these issues too, but the one key difference was who succeeded. With 9, you had Lucy and Brittany as the F2, and while I think Brittany was a fine winner modelling wise, can't say I was excited to see her win. Same goes with Lucy making it so far. Izi, Phoebe, Lauren, these were the models I was rooting for, so seeing them go early, somewhat unfairly sucked.

Contestant Commentary

Top 10 Favorite Photos

Call-out Orders

Week 1: Black & White Natural Beauty Portraits

Week 2: Individual Personas

Week 3: Jean Paul Gaultier Gowns on Hosier Lane

Week 4: Couture Swimwear at Bondi Beach with Male Models

Week 5: 90′s White Shirt Group Shots

Week 6: Valvoline Raceway Editorial for Cosmopolitan

Week 7: Fight Club with Alyssa Sutherland

Week 8: Glamorous VIP After-Party

Week 9: Avant-Garde Editorial in New York’s Meatpacking District

#1 – Brittany Beattie

I found Brittany to be incredibly overrated throughout the season, but somehow I still agreed with her taking the win. I felt the judges hyped up Brittany from the start, and the editing was really poor this cycle for concealing the winner. Both of these made it hard for me to root for Brittany, as I felt as if I was obligated to. They could have edited her story better, giving her a more underdog vibe, rather than someone with natural talent who just owned it from the start. Still, I do think Brittany was naturally gifted. Her look is beautiful, especially her face. It was stunning. However, I am not sure she was a natural model. Her first few photos showed some level of natural beauty, but it was a slow start. Suddenly however Brittany blew up, and her portfolio became consistently great. The end game was her best show though, and she really swept up the competition in the last few weeks.

As I said, her initial few photos were not amazing, but none were actually that bad. They just straddled the line between model and pretty girl. The only actual bad photo she took was in week 7, where she truly looked confused. It is another opportunity they had to make her seem more relatable, and give her a shock bottom 2 appearance, leading to a sudden redemption. Guess they didn’t want to give her that angle though, and instead decided to give that to Lucy (for some bizarre reason). Choosing her best shot is far harder, a lot of her portfolio is really quite strong. She got three first call-outs, and was in the top 3 for half of the weeks. Her best was her New York shot, it was another one where she dominated the competition. Her shot was just incredibly fashionable, easily the same quality as stuff running in the top magazines. As I said before, it was the moment she won the show for me.

#2 – Jess Thomas

Jess was fast on her way to topping this list, but she unfortunately faltered when it mattered. The last few weeks of her portfolio were no where near as strong as the start. In saying that, she still wasn’t that bad. Jess had a great look for modelling, she looked very young, and had some elven like features. Her makeover definitely helped take her to the next level. She was also surprisingly versatile, given how niche her look was. In fact Jess only fell out of the top 4 twice, once on a shoot where everyone did pretty consistently, and the other one…well, that was a minor blip. She dominated from earlier on, and had it not been for Brittany having a last minute surge, she would have sure fire been my winner. Jess was also a really sweet girl, this cycle had a lot of great personalities, and Jess was definitely one of them.

As I said, the majority of her portfolio was pretty strong. She had a lot of great shots, and ended up having the most photos on my top 10 list. All three of those shots were especially brilliant, but given my love for her look, of course her black and white beauty shot would be my favourite. It is just a beautiful shot of Jess, she is gorgeous girl with a killer face. There is such an adorable innocence. Still, both her other shots are commendable too, and as I said, show such a different side of Jess. On the negative end there was only one real flaw, one minor blip on her trajectory. Her fight shot was just wrong, I don’t know how she has photographed so badly there. It just doesn’t look like her in the slightest. She proved the next week though that her bottom 2 appearance was a fluke…well at least in my eyes, still don’t know what the judges were thinking that week. Her portfolio was definitely strong, and probably actually a contender for the best of the cycle.