The eighteenth cycle of America's Next Top Model (subtitled as America's Next Top Model: British Invasion) premiered on February 29, 2012, and was the twelfth season to air on The CW. It occupied the time slot of the final two scheduled episodes of Remodeled. This was the first American edition of Top Model to be filmed and broadcast in high definition (HD). The cycle featured fourteen contestants, placing seven British contestants who had competed in previous cycles of Britain & Ireland's Next Top Model alongside seven all-new American contestants.
Fashion industry public relations maven Kelly Cutrone replaced Vogue editor André Leon Talley as a judge for the series. The rest of the judging panel remained the same.
The international destinations for this cycle were Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the special administrative regions of Macau and Hong Kong in China. This marked the second time the series filmed in China.
The prizes for this cycle included a modeling contract with LA Models & NY Model Management, a guest correspondent placement with Extra, a fashion spread in Vogue Italia, and both the cover and a spread in Beauty in Vogue, becoming the face of America's Next Top Model fragrance "Dream Come True", production of a record single released by CBS Records, and a 100,000 contract with CoverGirl cosmetics.
The winner of the competition was 21-year-old British contestant Sophie Sumner from Oxford, England. American contestant Laura LaFrate placed as the runner up. This is also the first cycle in the history of America's Next Top Model in which none of the top three contestants ever landed in the bottom two during judging.
It was also the second cycle that the last contestant to be eliminated has no first call-out.
Casting
The cycle featured seven contestants from previous cycles of Britain's Next Top Model for a second chance to win the title. Cycles 1 and 7 were both unrepresented, cycles 2, 3, 4 and 6 were each represented by one contestant, and cycle 5 was represented by three contestants. Amelia Thomas from cycle 6 was supposed to also compete this season, but dropped out during casting.
Cast Contestants
(Ages stated are at start of contest)
Country Contestant Age Height Hometown Original Cycle Original Placement Finish Place UK Jasmia Robinson 24 London, England BNTM 2 3 Episode 1 14 USA Mariah Watchman 20 Pendleton, Oregon Episode 2 13 UK Louise Watts 25 Essex, England BNTM 3 2 Episode 3 12 (quit) USA Candace Smith 22 Bedford-Stuyvesant, New York Episode 4 11 UK Ashley Brown 22 Armadale, Scotland BNTM 5 4 Episode 5 10 USAAshley Marie 'AzMarie' Livingston 24 Episode 6 9 USA Ashley 'Kyle' Gober 20 Magnolia, Texas Episode 7 8 USA 19 Augusta, Georgia Episode 8 7 UK Catherine Thomas 21 Folkestone, England BNTM 4 2 Episode 9 6 USA Eboni Davis 18 Seattle, Washington Episode 10 5 UK Alisha White 20 South London, England BNTM 6 2 4 (quit) UK Annaliese Dayes 24 London, England BNTM 5 7 3 USA Laura LaFrate 20 Scotia, New York 2 UK Sophie Sumner 21 Oxford, England BNTM 5 2 1
Judges Tyra Banks Nigel Barker Kelly Cutrone
Episodes No episode aired on April 4, 2012 due to the CW's broadcast of One Tree Hill series finale.
Summaries Call-out order OrderEpisodes1234567891011131SeymoneLauraAzMarieAzMarieEboniAlishaSophieAlishaLauraLauraSophieSophie2KyleAshleySophieLauraAzMarieSophieSeymoneSophieAnnalieseSophieLauraLaura3SophieEboniLauraKyleSophieCatherineEboniCatherineSophieAnnalieseAnnaliese4LauraCatherineKyleCatherineSeymoneAnnalieseAnnalieseLauraEboniAlisha5CatherineCandaceCatherineAnnalieseLauraSeymoneLauraAnnalieseAlishaEboni6CandaceKyleSeymoneEboniKyleLauraCatherineEboniCatherine7MariahSophieAnnalieseAlishaAlishaEboniAlishaSeymone8AzMarieAnnalieseLouiseAshleyAnnalieseKyleKyle9EboniLouiseAlishaAshleyCandaceEboniSophieCatherine AzMarie10LouiseAlishaSeymone Ashley11AlishaAzMarieCandace12AnnalieseSeymone13Ashley Mariah14 Jasmia
The contestant was eliminated The contestant quit the competition The contestant was part of a non-elimination bottom four The contestant won the competition
Bottom two EpisodeContestantsEliminated1Ashley & JasmiaJasmia2Mariah & SeymoneMariah3Alisha, Ashley, Candace & EboniNone4Candace & SeymoneCandace5Ashley & CatherineAshley6AzMarie & KyleAzMarie7Alisha & KyleKyle8Eboni & SeymoneSeymone9Alisha & CatherineCatherine10 Alisha & EboniEboni11Annaliese & LauraAnnaliese13Laura & SophieLaura The contestant was eliminated after their first time in the bottom two The contestant was eliminated after their second time in the bottom two The contestant was eliminated after their third time in the bottom two The contestant quit the competition The contestant was eliminated in the final judging and placed as the runner-up
Average call-out order Casting call-out order and final two are not included.
PlaceModelEpisodesTotal# ofCall-OutAverageRank byAverage12345678910111🇬🇧3729321232135113.182nd2🇺🇸41325654112343.091st3🇬🇧12875844523615.557th4🇬🇧1110977171562106.209th5🇺🇸939617364535.305th6🇬🇧545493634595.003rd7🇺🇸1126104524785.888th8🇺🇸2643683775.294th9🇺🇸8111123265.336th10🇬🇧132984258.4011th11🇺🇸6593147.7510th12🇬🇧1092739.0012th13🇺🇸720210.0013th14🇬🇧14114.0014th
Photo shoots
Episode 1 photo shoot: American vs. British public figures Episode 2 photo shoot: Toddlers of Kris Jenner Episode 3 photo shoot: Very.com trends campaign Episode 4 photo shoot: Posing with British hats and American cars Episode 5 photo shoot: Covered in maple leaves and syrup Episode 6 music video: Booty Tooch group video Episode 7 photo shoot: Art installments at a dinner party hosted by Estelle Episode 8 photo shoot: Hello Kitty couture Episode 9 photo shoot: Wearing silk dresses with silkworms Episode 10 photo shoot: Harnessed on the Macau Tower Episode 11 photo shoot: Dream Come True perfume in a life-sized bottle Episode 13 photo shoot & commercial: Beauty in Vogue spread; CoverGirl Blast Flipstick commercial and print ad
Makeovers
Mariah – Dark brown ombre with bangs Louise – Cut short with brown highlights Candace – Long straight light brown weave Ashley – Trimmed and dyed copper AzMarie – Shaved design Kyle – Dyed strawberry blonde with bangs Seymone – Long wavy milk chocolate brown weave Catherine – Dyed magenta pink Eboni – Long straight brown ombre weave with bangs Alisha – Shoulder length black weave with one side shaved Annaliese – Mel B inspired curly black weave, later; weave removed Laura – Dyed platinum blonde with blue & red clip-in extensions Sophie – Dyed cotton candy pink with bleached eyebrows
Criticism During filming, an argument took place between judge Kelly Cutrone and contestant Louise Watts, resulting in Watts voluntarily leaving the show. Following transmission of the episode, Cutrone posted mocking videos to Watts online, and came under fire from fans of the show who accused her of cyberbullying.
Trivia
In a 2018 Instagram post, Annaliese Dayes revealed that during the photoshoot in episode 10, where the girls were photographed on top of Macau Tower, the girls experienced "hail stones and gale force winds at 388 metres above the ground". She also revealed that the weather was so bad, that the tower was closed "to the public due to the treacherous weather". Dayes revealed on Instagram that the episode 2 photoshoot that with Kris Jenner was filmed on her 25th birthday, describing the day as "one of my best and most memorable birthdays ever!". It was revealed that Amelia Thomas from Britain's Next Top Model (cycle 6) was supposed to take part as a contestant on America's Next Top Model as the eighth former BNTM Contestant. However, due to stress and other factors, Amelia withdrew before the competition aired.
Notes
America's Next Top Model can be viewed on Hulu.
References