#ausntmc2contestantcommentary

12. Natalie (11)

Like Tawan, Eboni is such an odd case to me as a winner. First, let’s focus on Eboni as a model before we get to the big ass elephant in the room. She freaking rocked the first 2 weeks of the competition for me, her jewelry shot being one of the best of the cycle (and her personal best) with her circus shot close behind. She also had one of the most unique looks of the bunch and even won the runway challenge. She really was the one to beat for the first few weeks. However, from week 3 to 6, she was one of the weakest to me. I think it was her cockiness and thinking she was the bomb because during those 3 weeks (excluding the one where she skipped out, which I’ll get more into), she often had either a good face of good body, with a shitty body or face to go along with it. Then, she was gone for an entire week and 2 girls went only for her to come back like it wasn’t some big deal. I understand that she was one of the strongest girls at that point but letting 2 girls go and then letting Eboni have a free pass over everything just reeks of favoritism. Ignoring that, I though her performance that week was just her getting all the praise in the world by the judges to justify her staying. Her soccer Girl Scout photo that week is probably one of the worst of the cycle, which is funny considering that Sarah exists. However, Eboni was able to get her shit together the final few weeks with 2 good shots, though overshadowed by a robbed frontrunner and a bad underdog. I didn’t like Eboni’s walk either honestly as well. Her limbs were all over the place and she had a weird resting face whenever she did it. I preferred Simone’s walk anyways. It seemed like Eboni was the favorite child of the group, which soured my love for her as a result. They constantly pushed her, ignoring her flaws, and when she ended up winning, she quitted very early on her career, admitted to not wanting it, and then her being forced to go back to the hospital because of the injury she got on the show. Plus she was charged with “obstructing police after jumping on the back of an officer and being removed from a club kicking and screaming after punching someone”. Great shit man, this is why I always blame production most of the time. It wasn’t Eboni’s fault that the judges gave her so many second chances only for her to ruin it. Now, on modeling, she had one look but she worked it pretty well most of the time, though she didn’t have a lot of versatility. She was babied into the win and then ruined the prize for those who actually worked and could’ve handled it better. I blame production, not her, she should’ve given time to recover or come back to a later cycle (Cycle 4 mostly because I love chaos).

In the actual final 3 given to us, I would most likely have Simone winning rather than the 2 bimbos. I’ve mentioned it before but Simone had by far the best attitude of the entire cycle. She was so professional, thus why she would win a whole bunch of challenges and was the least irritated girls of the bunch. She also had a very interesting look, she reminded me of Jane from ANTM C16, with her square jaw. However, in terms of photos in the first few weeks, she never blew me away, also making her worst shot with that frankly ugly circus shot, which could’ve easily gotten her eliminated. However, she just did a full 180 after that with 2 awesome FCOs, with her bombshell of a shot with the emotions and the subtle yet regal couture farmhouse shoot. She did slug a bit with her decent swimwear and BAD soccer shot, which started a big decline on her. Still, in those weeks, where the toxicity was worse and worse, she still stayed a sane mind and was even the only girl in the group to celebrate Ebony coming back, which was a sweet moment towards the end. However, she would rebounded with her great red dress and ended her time here on a strong note with a great beauty shot. However, my biggest problem with Simone would be how boring she was. Notice on how on a bunch of my rankings (meme ones aside), she would be the shortest passages of the group. With the shots I don’t love, there isn’t much to say, just a eeh and move on. It’s odd, her walk was smooth and confident and again, I loved her personality but she lacked a spark in me in terms of photos. Thus why, out of the original final 2, Simone would be the only one in my actual final 3. She was strongly consistent though bland but had a great showcase everywhere else and it’s a shame she was beaten by the end when she seemed fine to be the winner.

MY DARLING! She was personality of the cycle for me and no one else had a chance to pass her! I was shocked at how the judges never seemed to mind her since most of the time, she was either very horny or a drunk bitch. She made the cycle so entertaining for me with her commentary and overall powerful personality. Even in photos, her personality just showed since she was the only one in the cast (in the final 4 at this point) who started to do different things during the set. She gave us a pinup vibe with her first nude shoot and then a streak of awesome photos with her grungy yet chaotic circus, her frankly beautiful emotions, badass couture, and cocky swimwear. Watching her move on set was such a delight since she was willing to do new things and was always easy to work with. Yeah, she hit a large rock with her sabotaged soccer shoot (which everyone besides Louise did terrible in so I can excuse her) before she finally made a great shot with her red dress shot (even if she did struggle to it). She was also improving in terms of walk since she was one of the worst walkers of the cast. My biggest problem with her had to be her confidence though. Despite what it seemed in photos, Madeline was clearly unsure about her body since the judges always commented soon her being the heaviest of the cast or whatever, which put her down a lot. It was sad seeing her lose confident more and more as dietitians asked how she was losing weight and what not, because her body was sick! Madeline would obviously be my winner, as it shows in my average and in the show in general. She was the full package with her body, walk, and photo quality and it seemed sketchy that they would eliminate her. It was as if they had to justify Ebony’s win somehow so they had to get rid of the strongest girl. Whatever, she has a cute baby now.

Louise is such an odd case for me as I loved a lot of her photos but her personality makes me split on her. She was one of the most unconfident girls I’ve ever seen on film (and that’s saying a lot since I’m as self conscience as her). She always needed help and reassertions in order to do well and often was judgmental whenever she looked at her photos. Seeing her try to point out the flaws in her shots was just cringe to see, for the judges and me. Plus, she was the resident bitch of the cycle, constantly talking gossip for everyone and then crying when no one liked her at the end. To be fair, I loved how bitchy she would be before crying and wishing she had friends, she was the only other drama maker of the cycle alongside Hiranthi and I love that for her. It was also hard to see her move on set, though I feel like it was over-exaggerated by everyone. She moved well on set, it’s just that she was so unsure that it was hard to see. However, the photo that came out of all that hurricane chaos was one of the best of the cycle. I’ve already made my love for her swimwear shot clear for everyone to see, it’s one of the best shots of any NTM because of how wrong-it’s right to me. Plus, her jewelry and circus has grown on me as of recent! Even with all the complaint Louise would do, she clearly was the frontrunner with photos alongside Madeline. Said before, her circus and jewelry has grown on me, but I also grew on her emotions shot alongside her country couture. Hell, she was the only one to do decent on the shit soccer week since it wasn’t a cheesy mess like the rest. Seeing her mov eon set was a bit of a pain to watch but when she was in the mood, she was one of the best of the week. However, her attitude would get in the way in a lot of challenges and photoshoots, though I’ve sided with her for a bunch of them (swimwear week where she and Lara had to pose almost naked in front of a bunch of men, she had every right to joke around because who the fuck is ever going to do that?). Louise and Lara have always switched around with me but due to Louise’s growing confidence, improvement on set, and overall consistent portfolio, she would be an easy third place to runner up for me. Plus, I really loved her look, mostly her long face and resting confused face. Also, she’s living my damn dream right now, she lives in Japan as an architect, fucking iconic.

If Louise had my favorite overall look in the group, then Lara is the cutest of the group! She, alongside Simone, Louise and Madeline, were one of my favorite personalities of the group. She had a carefree and snarky attitude, plus her pranks made the cycle pretty iconic for me. All I can say is poor Hiranthi and her eyebrow since Lara was the mastermind against that. As for photos, like the girls above her besides Jessica, she was also shockingly consistent in photos. I like her jewelry and circus, with her emotions being the peak of her portfolio. She did take a hit by the end with her country couture being a very polarizing shot for me (thought I have grown to love it) and her swimwear ending her portfolio with a rough patch. However, I’m willing to save her from that point due to the “bullcrap of the favouritism” week. I’ve said it before, but she reminded me of a younger Ariana Grande in many angles and shots. I loved her bone stretch and even if she looked decent in person, on photo she just shined in the best way possible. Unlike Jessica, she was able to make her look stand out on camera instead of letting herself get overpowered by the makeup and styling. Watching her pose on set was lovely to watch and despite her shortcomings, she made it work. Her biggest issue for her though would have to be her height. She would look the shortest in every situation, no matter the heels given to her. It’s a shame since with her face, she could do so well in the finale, with the beauty shot. It’s hard to place Lara somewhere. I find her pretty robbed and would say she was the most consistent girl of the cycle, however, her personality would hurt her in the longrun and her walk was one of the worst of the bunch. It’s hard to tell but hey, I would love to see her go further!

Caroline was the most calm spirit of the group. She clearly favored education over the show and was always worrying about little things. However, despite that, she was also one of the most consistent girls of the cycle. Now, to be far, she wasn’t the best in anything, her photo quality was eeh, her walk needed improvement and as much as I loved her voice, her commercial skills were one of the worst of the group. Not saying her photo quality was even bad or anything, she was pretty talented and knew how to move on the camera. However, it was always safe. She never took a lot of risks and then she tried to, it ended up with her looking tired or bored out of her damn mind. It’s a shame, she did have a pretty boring look but it translated on film pretty well. Like I said in her final post, I was ok with her quitting and unlike Allana, I respected her for doing it. She didn’t have selfish reasons for it or doing it because of some ugly guy, she just wanted to focus on her education and realized that she much rather do that than model and waste the judges time. She was respectful about it unlike Blondie #1. She was a sweet gal and made a nice personality in the cast but in the end, she was forgettable in terms of photography (besides her emotions, that was beautiful).

Hiranthi was the resident princess of the cycle and I enjoyed every second of her existence. She made every girl hate being around her due to her lazy and spoiled attitude that got her the name "Princess Hiranthi". She would never do chores, left the girls locked in to work out, and overall was an annoyance to everyone around, including the judges and girls. Well, except to me, I love a dramatic spoiled bitch. However, she wasn’t able to carry her explosive personality on her photos. She was stiff as a board during set and on photos, it showed. She often had a disgusted look on her face and her pose, while fine, would be one of the most boring of the bunch. She often had to be coached into her best shots and to be fair, most of her shots sans her emotions shot were not good. I have grown on her circus shot so ignore what I said about her emotions being the best, her circus is the only time where I think her pose and face mixed together for a decent shot. I do think she suffered a lot in confidence due to the shaved eyebrow of 2006 but overall, she was the weakest left in the top 7 and her elimination was rightly deserved.