And finally, Natalie is gone. Natalie is one of those girls that manages to stick around the competition despite never doing particularly well (but also never managing to suck completely). I personally have never understood her appeal, even though the judges - and several of my friends - have repeatedly referred to her as having "natural model looks." I don't see it. When I look at Natalie, the following words pop into my head: lumpy, potato, dull, Jersey. She definitely has a great body, but she always looks like she's smelling something unpleasant. Maybe she was getting a whiff of her stank attitude.
So our "natural model" was the first one eliminated in our oversees destination, Sao Paolo, Brazil. I was excited to see the return of the Top Model Jet (I miss the way they used to bob up and down in the windows, though), but most of the rest of the episode featured goofy tasks that were as stereotypically Brazil as possible. The girls first had to participate in a race to track down the Girl from Ipanema, as well as her favorite flowers (what, exactly, does any of this have to do with modeling?). Then they had to learn about the martial arts/tumbling sport capoiera, and incorporate it into a photo challenge. And then for the actual photo shoot they had to do a modern spin on Carmen Miranda, fruit hat and everything, while posing in the Brazilian slums.
The results were largely underwhelming. Teyona did well - I don't like her, but I give her props for taking generally excellent photos - despite having half of her frames stolen by Fo, who was the challenge winner. Allison changed up her look just enough to thrill the judges (I have always liked her pictures, so she could do her standard pout and I'd be fine; her eyes looked amazing in last night's shot). Celia looked like an actual mannequin with her gleaming white skin and general stiffness. It should be noted that she got more comments about how old she looks, so she's pretty much screwed at this point. Fo went totally over the top and did a straight-up Miranda rip-off, totally forgetting about the modeling part. And Natalie and Aminat were generally awful.
When the two of them ended up in the Bottom 2, I was sure Aminat was getting the cut. This is her second consecutive Bottom 2 appearance, and it's tough to escape the Death Star tractor beam when you're that close to oblivion. But Natalie committed a "Top Model" elimination hat trick: she rested on pretty, she was boring, AND she tried to blame her crappy showing on Mr. Jay's direction. I wouldn't be totally surprised if Jay DID tell her to only do two seated poses for her entire 50-frame shoot. But you don't SAY that to Tyra. Jay is part of her clique! Who do you think she's going to believe in that situation? Stupid, stupid girl.
With Natalie gone that leaves us with a Final 5 made up of Teyona, Aminat, Celia, Allison, and Fo. Really, not bad. Probably the five best girls in the competition as a whole. Next week is swimsuits, which should naturally favor Aminat (gorgeous body) and Fo (natural sex appeal), and probably Teyona, since she won't have to smile. Celia and Allison are in trouble, I think, but Aminat's also living on borrowed time. At this point I would love a Celia/Allison/Fo Final 3, but I suspect Teyona's not going anywhere until she inevitably bombs her Cover Girl commercial. We'll see.