Ever since it was announced that “America’s Next Top Model” was ending in 2015, my heart has had a empty hole in it that could only be filled with smizing and booty tooching. Luckily, however, soon after announcing that ANTM would no longer be airing on The CW, VH1 stepped in and revived the show on their network. This news brought me so much happiness and joy until I learned that our fierce queen of the runway, Tyra Banks would not be returning as host. Although heartbroken, once again, I decided to give the VH1 reboot a chance. On Monday December 12th, cycle one (or 23 if you keep counting from where Tyra left off) of the new ANTM premiered on VH1 and truthfully, I didn’t hate it.
Rita Ora is a fine replacement for Tyra. Although she lacks the same kind of zany wordplay and antics of Tyra, you can tell that she is truly excited to be a part of this show. She is enjoying herself, and that makes us enjoy watching her. The same can be said about the judges, particularly Ashley Graham who lights up the screen not just with her beauty but also with her contagious charisma. The other two judges, Drew Elliot and Law Roach, were fine as well. I’m sure once the season picks up the latter of the judges will settle into their roles and be less forgettable.
As for the structure of the show, I was pleased that nothing was drastically changed and so far it appears they did away with the ridiculous “social media points” that the OG ANTM did in the last few seasons. This was back to basics and it was exactly what the series reboot needed. It reminds us why we love the show and why we still watch old reruns on Oxygen and Lifetime even though we know who won the season.
As the season started, we met a few of the girls including Giah, Charisma, Kyle, and Starr. Yes, she does in fact spell her name with two “R”s. The interesting thing about these contestants was they wasted no time with staring drama. People’s eyebrows were called into question, twins wanted to compete together, as well as a “relationship” that started to blossom. Besides, all of the craziness, a few people actually made an impression on me such as Marissa and Binta.
Overall, I was so excited to see one of my favorite reality competition shows return to the screen. Even though the theme song and Tyra are gone (although she did make a cameo appearance and I lost my damn mind), this season feels fresh and current, something that was missing from the later seasons of the original series. I’m excited to watch the rest of the new ANTM this season and to see who will be on top!