Cycle 15, Episode 4: Matthew Rolston

The contestants have a photo challenge on a roller coaster, and the winner gets a photo shoot with Tyra.  After some girl drama back at the house, they have a photo shoot with Matthew Rolston.  The aspiring model who cannot portray an undersea goddess must pack her belongings and get the hell out.

Roller Coaster Challenge
The girls head to Knott's Berry Farm and must ride a roller coaster then strike a pose based on an emotion that Nigel or Ms. J call out when zooming past a mounted camera.  Nigel stressed the importance of the models maintaining their composure.  Oh, no problem, Nigel!

One of the best quotes came from Serena (Chris) who was terrified of roller coasters:

"The feeling I get when I'm on a roller coaster is the same feeling I would get if a killer were chasing me down the street with a butcher knife.  No ma'am! No sir!" -- Serena (Chris)

For the fun of it, let's review the worst photos:

Challenge Winner
Denise Huxtable (Liz) was the challenge winner and got to bring two friends to have their photos taken by Tyra.  The photo will appear on Tyra.com to help Tyra yet again promote herself (of course). 

The winner's job was to "out-fierce" Tyra by recreating a photo of hers.  Honestly, Denise HUxtable (Liz) looked better in person than she did in her photo. The final result was pretty blah, definitely not fierce.  The same thing happened to Mop Top (Kayla) who also looked better in person than the shitty final result. What's with the girls becoming clay robots??  Tyra, you can do better!

On the plus side, for those of you rooting for Mop Top (Kayla), Tyra thought she did a great job modeling, saying, "Look at you! You don't need any direction!!"

The only girl who got a decent shot and may come close to out-fiercing Tyra was Serena (Chris):

The most beautiful shot of the day.

After the photo shoot, the lucky three had tea with Tyra "like ladies."  However, Tyra was behaving a bit strangely (as per usual) and pulled a gangsta' move, spillin' some drank for the homies in the ground:

The ever lady-like, Tyra, toasts to tea and gives one up "for the homies."

Too Much Estrogen
Back at the house, we see the effects to twelve women living together in a house for four weeks. By now, they are all wiggin' out simultaneously on their lady hormones and we get to witness the PMS bitch-fest!  Uma (Lexie) starts the night out by passive-aggressively bitching about ReRun (Kacey) not cleaning up after herself.  And, of course, rather than talk to her face to face, Uma (Lexie) puts up a note and rants  to those around her while doing the dishes:

"I'm always spending my time cleaning other people’s shit. I’m really sick of cleaning up after everyone! I don’t know what everyone else is doing with their time, or what they do when they see a sink full of dishes, I don't know what their thought process is..."

[Later in the confessional]:  "Kacey never cleans. And she makes a lotta messes. I’m definitely at the breaking point with Kacey."

What happened to Uma (Lexie)'s previous statement that she was going to "focus on herself" rather than the other girls because she was winding up in the bottom again and again?  And here she is once more focusing on drama rather than sticking to her objective of "keeping ReRun (Kacey) at arm's length." 

ReRun (Kacey) asks stunned: "Everyone here doesn't like me, is that what it is?" The silence is deadening.She proceeds to confront ReRun (Kacey), but rather than asking her to clean up after herself more and resolve the issue, instead she decides it's the perfect time to let her rival know that no one in the house likes her. 

Things turn from bad to worse when the rest of the girls admit they think ReRun (Kacey) is fake.

Lucky (or not) for us, there is no extreme cat-fight throw-down.  Just a lot of awkward silence when ReRun (Kacey) demands people tell her exactly what they think about her.

In the end, ReRun (Kacey) decides she will continue being herself and not even bother trying to accommodate the other girls in the house.

"The girls in the house, it's their loss," she says.  Oh really?

Bad Fashion Side Note
ReRun (Kacey) just doesn't learn! She's wearning that damn ugly shirt again (above photo) even though the judges specifically told her not to!  Later, during juding panel, she gets called out again -- this time for her fugly shoes!!  At least she didn't combine them with her jewel-encrusted shirt or she would have really gotten slammed.

The judges pick up on the bad fashion instantly.  The hair on the back of their neck prickles up as ReRun (Kacey) steps towards them.  Horrified, they stare at her feet...

Andre: "Gold lamé shoes?"

Nigel: "Yeah, those are bad. I agree."

Tyra: "Those are bad."

The judges/fashion police make her take them off immediately to  swap for Tyra's sexy black heels.  Thanks to our powerful and insightful judges, another fashion crisis has not gone out into the world.

Photo Shoot & Judging
The girls must take a highly stylized beauty shot with photographer Matthew Rolston.  On set are millions of dollars worth of jewelry, as well as gross dead "sea creatures." Surprisingly, no one has a terrible freak out about the animals.  Rolston asks the contestants to think about portraying the character of an “undersea goddess” during the shoot.  Because the girls will be photographed through water while suspended over water, their movement is restricted and the challenge is to not have their faces become too mannequin-like.

Overall, the girls did very well, but there were a few standouts.

Uma (Lexie) had some trouble with the splashing water, and turned into an expressionist painting.

But that wasn't as bad as Casper (Chelsey) who became an amateur drag queen [again].  However, this time the judges called her out on it during panel.

Out of the mouth of Tyra, Casper (Chelsey) gets officially labeled "amateur drag queen."  Tyra even says she looks like she was eliminated early from RuPaul's Drag Race.  This is significant. Getting labeled can mean you have a limited time left on the show.  Casper (Chelsey) will have to work to overcome her new label.  If the same label is repeated a few weeks in a row, she will surely have a ticket home.

 

Even Nigel admits she looks like a drag queen, and offers Casper (Chelsey) this super helpful advice to make her feel better: "Some people just don't wear makeup as well as others."

Another standout was Denise Huxtable (Liz), but not because of her photo but rather because of her diva behaviour on set.  She kept giving excuses and had a lot of trouble during the shoot.  Mr J's reaction shot (photo right) says it all.

"Liz is a pain in the butt! Everything is a complaint from her.  You should be able to pose through ANYTHING.  She might have been the challenge winner this week, but in my opinion, she could have taken that roller coaster all the way home!"  -- Mr. J

If Denise Huxtable (Liz) keeps it up, she will find herself going home for sure.  In fact, her constant complaining alone led her to wind up in the bottom two.  Unbeleivably, even after finding out she would be staying in the competition, she continued to provide excuses.

Denise Huxtable (Liz): "I couldn't see. My contacts were jacked up..."

Tyra: "What do you need to see? The camera sees you; you don't need to see the camera."

Matthew Rolston summed it up best: "Never complain.  Never explain. Just be it."

Someone who knows how to "just be" was Giraffe (Ann), who killed it on the photo shoot.  She has had an incredible winning streak, and once again took home best photo.  I love Giraffe (Ann)! She is quirky, and quirky girls usually end up going home, unfortunately, so I'm proud that she is doing so well.

While she may not be able to sustain her lead, I think she really fits what Vogue Italia wants.  Frankly, she's a strong contender for sweeping the whole damn compeition.  Nigel even said that Giraffe's (Ann's) photo looks just like what they would do for Beauty in Vogue.  SCORE!!!

Crockpot Theory in Action: Get Labeled, Go Home
As we know, once a model is officially labeled in a negative way, it's just a matter of time before she goes home.  A few of the models are falling into categories and starting to get labeled.  For example, Casper (Chelsey) is an "amateur drag queen," Chester (Esther) is a "movie actress," Blockhead (Jane) is "Town and Country."  This week, we see an extreme example of a model getting labeled and going home in the same episode.

Poor Tumbleweed (Rhianna) was treading dangerous waters from the beginning of the episode.  She talked with Mop Top (Kayla) about her direct competition, Giraffe (Ann), who was on a winning streak. She realized that if she didn't step it up, she risked going home.  When you've got a "twin" in the competition, you need to be able to stand out, otherwise there is no reason for you to be there and you get sent home.

Early on, Denise Huxtable (Liz) starts the labeling process in a loose way, pointing out how Rhianna's photos all look the same:

"Rhianna at her photo shoots is not really changing it up.  She's just bringing the same look every time. -- Denise Huxtable (Liz)

Later, during the photo shoot, Mr. J repeats this sentiment saying:

"The real hurdle with Rhianna's photo shoot is she had a period feel to her photo.  But, as we're moving forward week to week, it was the same expression.  Not good."   -- Mr. J.

Later yet, we hear this "one note/same face" label repeated by Mop Top (Kayla) during one of her confessionals:

"Rhianna is, like, in one category.  You gotta be a chameleon.  You gotta be able to act." -- Mop Top (Kayla)

And then, sadly, during judging panel, we find that our dear Tumbleweed (Rhianna) finds herself in the bottom two against the constant complainer Denise Huxtable (Liz).  Tyra makes it clear that Tumbleweed (Rhianna) is in the bottom because she is "not versatile enough" and keeps bringing the same face.  She tells her she needs to "be more of a chameleon."  And with that, she is sent home.

The take-away: Once you are labeled in a negative way, fight against that label and adjust based on feedback -- immediately.