You may have heard that question more than once… if you are a fan of the “Top Model” franchise. If you are, then you must know that there are many variations of “Top Model.” The most famous is America’s Next Top Model, created by former Victoria’s Secret Model, Tyra Banks. Amongst the many countries that have a variation of top model, my favorite, and I think best franchise, comes from Australia.
They do things different in the land down under. The contestants can be as young as sixteen to be eligible for the competition. The majority of the girls dress better than their American counterparts. Let’s face it, often times we’ve scrutinized some of the outfits the American contestants wear. Another, and probably the biggest difference is during the final show of the series (they call them series instead of cycles). Their finale is live, and the public gets to vote on who they want to win the competition. The public’s vote is combined with the judge’s individual votes to crown the winner.
Australia’s fifth series of Top Model ended recently with Tahnee Atkinson taking the Top Model crown. At the age of seventeen, she appears to be poised to achieve great things, but I’m not quite sure she’s cut out for it. In all honesty, I believe she won the competition because of her personality. Her final two opponent, Cassi Van Den Dungen, who is seventeen as well, often came off as a brat throughout the entire series, many times threatening to quit. But what's important are the photoshoots, right?
Clare Venema, who I thought had the most international potential and can easily cross over from high fashion to commercial modeling
Tahnee emerged victorious thanks to the Australian public. This series of AuNTM was not as entertaining as previous ones. Demelza Reveley, the winner of series four captured my attention from the very first episode and won the competition. I even named my phone after her! But without a question, series three winner, Alice Burdeu has been the most successful model to come out of any of the top model franchises. She is definitely a girl BARE would like to feature in the near future.
As the winner Tahnee will be represented by Priscilla’s Model Management for twelve months, Maybelline New York will send her on a $25,000 trip for two to New York and will be featured as the face of Maybelline New York’s new color collection, she will have an eight page spread in Harper’s Bazaar Australia, and pocket $25,000. Not bad, but sometimes being runner-up is a blessing in disguise. Cassi was offered a contract by Elite Model Management in New York City and could very well appear on the catwalk come this September for Fashion Week!
You can browse through the model's portfolios at the AuNTM official website.
Jonathan Deniol Rodriguez
Managing Editor
