America

America’s Next Top Model 2007 and Tyra Banks at the Beach

Get out your scorecards because in two days, America’s Next Top Model Cycle 8 is on! The international destination this season is Australia, which is fitting since Australia’s Next Top Model premieres on VH1 next week. Looks like there’s only one token edgy girl (Jael, back row far left) and as always, a couple of Tyra lookalikes. You may remember Jaslene (immediate right of Tyra), the perky Puerto Rican whose explanation for everything was that she was “latina”, who was nixed at the last minute for Cycle 7. Kathleen (back row second from the right) is a hairstylist from Brooklyn who seems pretty cool, but it’s way too early to tell. There’s some flack about the Russian-born Natasha (kneeling blonde on the right), who is a teensy bit arrogant. Rumor has it, she’s not the only catty one. Sarah (pixie-cut blonde in the front row) who kinda looks like last season’s Sara, has a chip on her bony shoulder.

This is the first season where two plus-size girls (Diana from New Jersey, back row far right, and Floridian Whitney, back row second from left) will battle the skinny and skinnier. Maybe this is because of all the bad publicity Tyra received for that horrendous (but you gotta admit, funny as hell) tabloid swimsuit photo of her that looks more like an inflated, photoshopped beached whale. (Although it looks really fake, it’s just a little too close to the 350-pound fat suit she donned for three undercover blind dates she endured for her talk show). I’ll leave you with that beach photo below. Just more of her to love, that’s all.