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The Pop Culture Audit: Cycle 3, Episode 3: ANTM - "The Girl Who Collapsed"
56 Plays1 year ago
Jasmine & Brynne fly without Keilah for one last episode - and we manage to FILL THE TIME.
The more Tyra Mail we open, the worse it gets. With challenges, branded content, girl against girl competition, blatant racism and rampant fatfobia....this episode has us wondering "What are the statutes of limitations in California exactly?????"
Because people should be in JAIL for this.
Don't miss it!
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Transcript
Introduction to Pop Culture Audit
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to the Pop Culture Audit, where we review reality TV and talk about all things pop culture through a contemporary and critical lens. So what exactly is the Pop Culture Audit? Easy. We take a deep dive into pop culture source material.
Meet the Hosts: Jasmine and Brin
00:00:16
Speaker
In this case, it's America's Next Top Model, cycle four, episode three. We'll comb through it and highlight some cringing and historic moments in pop culture discourse.
00:00:27
Speaker
If you're into that, you found the right place. If you're not, you're still in the right place. My name is Jasmine.
First Impressions of ANTM Cycle 4, Episode 3
00:00:34
Speaker
Hi, it's Brin. And we miss Kela. Still missing Kela, still missing Kela. Still galloping through the streets of Europe. So yeah, we miss Kela.
00:00:46
Speaker
But we are here and the two of us, I think we're ready to get into this. Jess? Yeah, I'm ready to get into it. When I got your text, I was just about to start watching and yeah, it was a lot.
00:01:01
Speaker
Yeah, I texted Jasmine after I watched this episode last night, and I said, oh my gosh, I'm blown, basically. And she is just starting to watch. And it was like almost 10. So I'm like, your blood pressure is going to be so. I was like, bro, why do you mean like, hold on, what?
Episode Themes and Title Discussion
00:01:19
Speaker
I did. This is the first episode. I took full pauses and then went backwards to be like, sorry. Sorry. Yes, yes. It was a lot. It was a lot.
00:01:30
Speaker
Okay, so I'm going to recap us. And as always with this show, I hope the listeners will forgive me and blame them because the recap is chaotic. As much as I tried to like, make sense of it, it just it I feel like every time I'm going through one of these, I feel like a little bit crazed by the end. So yeah, we are always all over the place. Over the place.
00:01:56
Speaker
America's Next Hat Model, Psycho 4, Episode 3. And now we're seeing the theme of these titles. They all start with the girl who. So I didn't realize that. That's like the cute little game. The first one was the girl who was a cat. The second one was the girl who didn't like her makeover. This one is the girl who suddenly collapsed. Oh my gosh. Very straightforward. Oh gosh. So that's what we're starting with.
00:02:23
Speaker
All right, so I the girl who suddenly collapse and I start with Wow, can't wait to hear how we physically disable someone this episode based on the title. Oh, yay. It does deliver. Don't
Absurd Challenges and Harsh Feedback
00:02:37
Speaker
worry. We wake up in this weird loft to Tyramale. And the Tyramale says, today you'll battle to the death in the Coliseum. See you at 10am. So starting off strong.
00:02:50
Speaker
The girls start talking about house dynamics and they're trying to showcase some underlying tension like the producers are clearly trying to like build this underlying tension between the girls but it's not really coming through super coherently so it kind of feels like a failed effort. Cut to they're all at a stadium and cheerleaders appear and then Miss J comes out with them. Which none of this has anything to do with the Coliseum.
00:03:15
Speaker
No, I mean, I think the Coliseum was supposed to be a nod to the football stadium. Yes. Yeah. I wrote this. I'm telling you the show has produced like a three year old train of thought. It's absolutely. So corny. So chaotic. Like we're here, we're here, we're here. Now they're here. Now they're like, it's ridiculous.
00:03:37
Speaker
Okay, what we gather from this is they're doing a challenge or some activity with Miss
Chaos in the Stadium Challenge
00:03:41
Speaker
J. They all have a pair of clogs, and Miss J explains that it's difficult to get girls to walk on grass and feel comfortable. I'll say this, I'm not gonna say this the way that it sounds on the show. There's several lines from this episode that are just things that they say that are some of the most absurd sentences I've ever heard. This is one of them. As Miss J says, it's really hard to get girls to walk on grass and feel comfortable. I'm like...
00:04:06
Speaker
What? We've been walking on grass for a long time. I will say this is the first episode that I laughed a lot. Yes. It was absurd. And I think they were trying to make it dramatic, and that made it more absurd. So they're walking like the football, the lines on the football field, they're walking those lines with clogs on while Miss J yells at them through a microphone. So let's explore some of the feedback they got. Michelle, you walk like you have spina bifida on the right side of your body.
00:04:35
Speaker
You look like a melted candle. You're leading with your chin. Take longer steps. You're heavy footed like a horse. So that's some of the constructive feedback they got as they were walking. It's actually the nicest feedback that has been ever given on a show so far. But the specificity of you have spina bifida on the right side of your body. Ma'am? Yeah. Ma'am? Yeah.
00:04:59
Speaker
Okay, now Miss J tells them somewhere in the stadium, and this is a whole ass stadium, is a pair of high heels for each and every one of you. I need you to have those shoes in your hands and then on your feet. So the girls go scrambling all over this enormous stadium for high heels. They finally find all of them lined up. I thought they were going to be scattered around. They're all lined up at the top of one random staircase. So now Miss J is going to give them each an accessory.
00:05:25
Speaker
So, they need to hold a big accessory. So, not like a necklace or something. They have a prop. That's what they should have called that, props. They have to go down the steps in heels with these props. So, they take turns. They're like walking down with hockey sticks, bike helmets, baseball bats. I am super unclear what this lesson is, but it seems to make sense to all of them. They're all like, this is good and this is what I signed up for. So, okay.
00:05:52
Speaker
Now we're back at the house. We're going to do a lot of this. We're cutting here. We're cutting here. We're over here. We're back at the house or the open space or whatever it is where they're sleeping and they are practicing their walks with each other. Kenya is helping Sarah with her walk and I'm just going to say Kenya has like really lovely instincts about teaching. Like she's a very good teacher. Yeah. Like another girl comes up and tries to give all this feedback and Kenya's like, nope, she can only hold one note at a time. You can't lay her in all this feedback.
00:06:19
Speaker
She actually looked like she improved when they were walking side by side. I was like, oh, look at her. Her walk does look better. Exactly. I thought the Kenya was doing a great job. This is Sarah, who we'll talk about a lot. So Sarah then, in a cutaway, says, oh, it's crazy how nice we are to each other. This is not America's next best friend. This is America's next top model, which I will have comments on later.
Kmart Runway Challenge and Criticism
00:06:43
Speaker
Tyra Mail is here and it says, which aisle will have today's special? Be ready at 6am. So that's their hint. They get up bright and early and they go to Kmart. There's so many things that happen in this episode.
00:06:58
Speaker
Yeah. Also corny. Everything about this was corny. I literally wrote Kmart dot, dot, dot corny. Yep. They get to Kmart. Miss J is there again on the PA system and calls for a runway challenge in aisle one and two. This is a challenge. It's a duel on the runway. So they're each going to go head to head on their runway walks.
00:07:20
Speaker
They really breeze through the rules so like what ends up happening i think is they get that they have to dress themselves with kmart things and grab a prop this is what we were practicing for me do not have a coherent through line here but.
00:07:33
Speaker
They're all putting on Kmart clothes and then they're walking down the runway. Jay is on the loudspeaker, eliminating them each in real time. These clothes are horrible. I said this episode is the reason Kmart is now out of business because this is not good for them. It was bad. It was so bad. It's not just like bad because it's early odds bad. It's like so bad.
00:07:56
Speaker
Extra bad. Oh, my God. Bad. Yep. So ugly. The winner of the challenge is Rebecca. Okay. Congrats to Rebecca.
Rebecca's Racially Charged Challenge Win
00:08:05
Speaker
Okay. Jazz, I'm going to pause for a second. Okay. Here we go. No, I'm pausing in this. I'm not like pausing in the podcast, but Jazz was like, uh-oh, technical. I was like, what's going on? No, this is my- I have a couple moments in this where I'm like, okay, recenter, reset. All right. Deep breath because shit is about to get real wild. Yes. For her prize, Rebecca is going to meet a famous shoe designer and I'm like, I can't wait to see who this shoe designer is. And then she gets to choose five of the other girls to go with. That's fun.
00:08:35
Speaker
So Rebecca picks Kaylin, Sarah, Noelle, Yuvi, and Naima. She does not choose a single black girl. No, no, this is that too. Okay. So my eyes are, you know that little OMG emoji that looks like the eyes are popping like off into the back? This is me as I'm watching this. Like, wait, no, this isn't. Okay. Whoo. This is tense from, this is tense, but don't worry.
00:08:59
Speaker
Miss J says, for the girls who aren't in this winner's circle, all the black girls, you girls get to service these girls. Yeah. So they had a side coach this whole time, this black woman, and she says immediately, sorry, service? That's an interesting word. Yeah. And then what are they going to do? Well, we find out, but it was just unnecessary. Service these girls.
00:09:23
Speaker
Nobody said, well, time out. Okay. This is what we're doing. This is what we're saying. This is how the chips are falling with this 22 year old white girl was like, I want you and you and you and you and you're on my squad and the rest. It's like,
00:09:38
Speaker
It's like watching Get It On happened in real life, right? Or Bring It On. That's what it is. Cheerleaders. Get It On. Yeah. It was hard to watch to see that. And I wrote in my notes, they keep baking in these unnecessary moments of tension. You know what I mean? But then to not. It was already enough she was a winner. Yeah. And then to not. Why would you racialize it? I just don't like, holy shit.
00:10:08
Speaker
It's fine if you want to produce cat fights or whatever, but it's so bad. Okay, so they leave Kmart and they go to Stuart Weitzman, which is, I'm like, okay, fine. That's an actual person I've heard of. Mr. Weitzman
Stuart Weitzman Visit and Racial Tensions
00:10:21
Speaker
is there and he informs Rebecca and her light-skinned friends that they all get to pick out a beautiful pair of shoes while the rest of these ladies get to serve them and treat them like the queens they will be when they wear these shoes. Also, these shoes are ugly as fuck, by the way.
00:10:34
Speaker
Yeah, I was looking, I mean, the aesthetic of that time is ugly. It is, but they look like so DSW. You know what I mean? This is not a product store. Definitely didn't feel like high end shoes.
00:10:50
Speaker
I pause at this point. So I pause the video because the white girls are like doing their little squeal and gasp. And I'm telling you that the absolute rage in the black girls faces is indescribable.
00:11:06
Speaker
And I'm like, this is the most humiliating thing I'm watching and I'm watching them deal with it gracefully in real time, but their eyes are so full of emotion. Like you want to talk about fierce. They had taken photos of them right now like pissed. Holy shit. It is so humiliating. Yeah. Brittany, a white girl.
00:11:26
Speaker
is on the loser team and she thinks that this isn't fair that she's not getting shoes. The loser team has to go in the stock room to learn how to like pull the shoes. I, side note, my first job, I worked in the shoe department. Me too. I really brought back so many memories. I worked at, um, rack room shoes was my very first job at 15. And when they were back there, you know, rolling out the shoes, I was like, Oh, that's,
00:11:50
Speaker
It just brings like so many millions of money back there. I loved it so much because all my other friends worked in like the clothes and they had to fold clothes and stuff. And I'm like, nope, just boxes. She was so easy. So easy. And we got commission at my place. Oh, I didn't get commission. Girl, racism. Exactly.
00:12:11
Speaker
Alright, so we they're back in the soccer and we cut back to the shoe floor where the winter girls are dancing around. They're celebrating how successful they but also like fuck y'all only this girl won. You're all her like friends that she just picked. They didn't even pick like the top. Like they should have said they said that in there. Some of the girls were like the other girls didn't they weren't even doing well. Yeah, they didn't even like make the first round. So that's so annoying. Yeah.
00:12:38
Speaker
And so one of the girls says, this is another line, I'm like, what? One of the girls is like, we definitely have shoes in Oklahoma, but not shoes like this. I know, I thought that was funny. Absolutely not true. Yeah, I was like, what? OK. We definitely have shoes in Oklahoma. I promise you, you have shoes like that in Oklahoma. Uh-huh. Thank you for this information. What am I watching? OK, they're tearing up. They're literally tearing up with joy. This is a Cinderella story.
00:13:06
Speaker
Back in the stock room, Michelle, I remember Michelle, she's got a man neck or man hair, I don't know, they make fun of Michelle, white girl. She's so big, like she looks like she's in drag. Yeah, this is how they treated Michelle so far. She's having like a full on panic attack. Because she's scared of the shoe. So the shoe shelves are these ones that you crank and they like kind of like, I don't know, you crank them and then they move around. So yeah, so there's like a space saver thing happening.
00:13:36
Speaker
She's like scared. She has like this fear of getting caught in between them. And one of the girls like reached for the handle as a bit like as a joke and she is having an existential fucking meltdown. Oh my goodness. I feel bad for her. Like it's it's a huge reaction. I know. Don't do that. Okay, like just it's just please don't do that. I was like, Oh,
00:14:01
Speaker
Yeah, she is. There is something going on here. But I think as we get in, and I can't wait for Kiela to come back for this conversation. I think all of these girls are on a razor's edge of mental and physical health. Oh yeah, for sure. They're starving, they're tired, they're stressed. Speaking of tired, they started that day at 6am and
00:14:22
Speaker
I want to say it was dark outside when they were going home. Yeah. So what time do you think they woke up? These babies take ease earlier to get ready to be on TV? Oh, probably. Yeah. Because they had to leave at 6.30. I just remember hearing a girl say, well, I guess I'll be up at 5. Yeah. I mean, that feels like sleeping in to me for this. Because this is the era of you're curling your hair one curl at a time. Oh, yeah. It takes a long time. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:14:51
Speaker
Whoo. Anyway, so Michelle is coming unglued on Kenya for pretending she's going to move. It's not going well. Like it is very awkward to watch. Um, now we're all, now they're all bringing the shoes out to the winners. And the main one, the actual winner, Rebecca is being an absolute bitch. Like she's being so demanding and shitty. Uh, and she's like, well, I earned this one and I'm going to enjoy every single minute of this. And again, like, you know, the producers are like,
00:15:18
Speaker
egging this on to like loving it seat of tension but the fact that Rebecca is like I'm your girl I'm gonna be this white bitch like it felt forced to me
00:15:30
Speaker
Brandi says, okay, I'm trying to work on my attitude, but this is not too much. I'm so mad right now. And I'm like, yeah, girl, you like, they are being tested. Like, this is a test and they don't like, spoiler alert, they don't get a prize at the end because they all pass it. Like they all choke on their anger and it makes me so mad. Whoo. Okay. So Rebecca's like, I'm sure they're all jealous. There's nothing I can do about it. I can't choose every girl.
00:15:57
Speaker
Finally, they all have their shoes. Stewart hugs all the winners and they leave in separate bands. When I felt really creepy, it was... Yeah, Stewart was not a vibe. Everyone gave me a hug. I was like, ew. No, I'm not. And just side note, Kim Kardashian is now one of their brand girlies for Stewart Weizmann. Really? Yeah. I always thought Stewart Weizmann was a little bit pedestrian, not high fashion.
00:16:23
Speaker
Well, I know that like his name comes up with like Tom Ford's and like all the American designers, but I don't know. There's like Louboutins or something like. Not like that, but maybe like a Michael Kors or something like that. Exactly. But that's that's like Nordstrom's anyway.
00:16:40
Speaker
They get back, there's another Tyramale and it says, can you work with 10 other bitches? Be ready at 7.15. Jesus Christ. I decided like that. Why is that? What are we like, what? I just picture this producing room being full of these like horny mid twenties men who are like, yeah, let's get them to fight. Maybe they'll kiss each other. Yeah.
00:17:02
Speaker
So gross. Um, they're kind of talking shit about Michelle, how she's a loner in the house. She had this meltdown. Tiffany and Brandy are eavesdropping on her, which is not really eavesdropping because remember, this is one big room that they all live in. Yeah, exactly. Trying to figure out what secrets she's keeping. So Michelle is in her bedroom crying, not a bedroom.
Michelle's Bisexuality Revelation
00:17:26
Speaker
She's on her bed crying, telling another girl, I think Noel,
00:17:30
Speaker
that she's worried, I'm worried about what the girls will think of me and how they'll react. And Noelle is like, I promise they won't think about you different just because you're bi. Total record scratch. Like mic drop. Tiffany, who's eavesdropping, is like, whoa. She's like, I heard her say, she says, I heard her say, I'm gay, which is not what she said. No, she said. So Tiffany and Brandi run away laughing.
00:17:57
Speaker
They are trying to paint these girls as being like so rude. And yes, I have all of that here. Leading up to it's like Tiffany and Brandi are eavesdropping and then they run away laughing and Tiffany marches into the room. And she's like, No, no, no, no, no, you're gay. And then she says there's nothing wrong with that. So like they built it up like she was gonna confront her about being ready for like the homophobia. Oh,
00:18:22
Speaker
Go down, but that never came. It's so rude how they said that up. No, Brandi and Tiffany are like, girl, this is awesome. Brandi says, I'm going to need you to know that I've had some fantasies. Brandi and Tiffany are being lovely. Michelle starts opening up about her journey. She's loosening up. And they all think her freakout makes a lot more sense now. They have a lot of compassion for her. Of course, you had a meltdown. You've been hiding this part of yourself.
00:18:50
Speaker
Brandi says, the best thing for you to do is tell it. I'm telling you, this woman has wisdom and kindness in her core, right? Yeah, I thought that was sweet. It was so sweet. And all the funny because it reminded me of what my aunt said. Just tell it. Just tell it. Just tell it. But how affirming, how lovely, how warm were the rest of these bitches? And how it's like just these two who, by the way, Michelle have freaked out on earlier in the day, but they're the first two there, right? Yeah.
00:19:18
Speaker
It's the next morning and they are off to work with all the bitches. Mr. J meets them to set up the shoot, which is for 1-800-FLOWERS-LOL.
Photo Shoot Drama and Racist Comments
00:19:28
Speaker
I'll get into the branded content of it all later.
00:19:34
Speaker
They go into hair and makeup. Tyra arrives with a little dog. Surprise, y'all. The bitches are dogs. We were just using that language to be shocking and provocative. They're gonna pose walking dogs holding flowers with a gorgeous male model in the background. 1800flowers.com.
00:19:53
Speaker
Um, up first is Tiffany and she looks fucking amazing. Even with the shitty weave they have her on. Yeah. And, uh, don't worry. Mr. J tells her do it like that, but without the ghetto face, we have to fucking ruin everything. We can't have anything nice for one second. What is a ghetto face? A black face.
00:20:16
Speaker
I guess like, well, now we're going to learn about what porn porno is. Oh my God. Oh, I can't wait. Go on. Brittany is up. So Brittany's up. We go through a couple girls. They're fine. Brittany comes up and she's too porno. And again, no one can define. I think it's because she has pouty lips. Like she's a free spirited girl, but
00:20:38
Speaker
I mean, the way that they're painting her into a corner with this overly sexual. We'll talk about it. You think like the way they talk about how her look is so porno, you'd think she's out there like with her legs up behind her head. No, right. Or in the most provocative.
00:20:54
Speaker
No, she just has big lips. I keep coming back to that of you are thinking of her in a pornographic way. Yeah, it's on them. It's on them. Also, you gave her this haircut, this little schoolgirl haircut.
00:21:11
Speaker
She is a free spirit with a beautiful body and pally lips. She's not doing anything. No, nothing. You're too sexy. The amount of shame they're heaping on this woman.
00:21:29
Speaker
She's just taking it. She's just taking it. Um, yeah, Brandy comes out. Brandy looks amazing. And at least they don't say anything like extra racist to her that we see. Until later, they do say something. Michelle is now more confident because she's spoken her truth and she looks great. Rebecca, the fucking bitch nails it. Um, the shoot is over.
00:21:53
Speaker
Okay, great. Back at the loft, another Tyramale. It tells us what we already know, which is one of them is going to be eliminated. Time passes. They practice their walks and their poses. So now we're in the judging room, recapping what we already know. I'm going to tell you that I'm like, oh, we're at the judging. Good. So we're like, we're getting, we're getting there. We're not, we're not, we're not.
00:22:15
Speaker
Um, I forgot that they have another little mini competition and this is not my notes, but they are currently like, we do not need all these competitions. Like no, this is like the fifth one now. Cause they did the football field. They did the stairs. They did the came out. They like, this is too much unnecessary. Just, it really feels like people were making the things on the fly on the spot. Um, so they are each given a literal potato sack, a burlap bag.
00:22:42
Speaker
They're asked to walk in it to make it look fierce. I'm like, this is so embarrassing. I am so embarrassed. I guess. Corny. Oh, there's the judges. And this is like now. This is the other thing about the show that's messy. They got more people. They have these coaches and these judges and then they have a guest judge and then they have a guest coach. And you're like, this is too many people to keep track of. Yeah, I think that's why it's so hard to like narrow down the notes. Yeah, because it's all over the place. Yeah.
00:23:07
Speaker
edit this idea, y'all. Um, they're so fucking rude. These judges, they're laughing out loud at them, making faces like Tara's like shaking her head. No, as they're walking towards them. I'm like, you guys are such turn around. All right. Ass hats. Yeah. This is where all of not all of it, but the majority of all of the microaggressions and all of the foolishness ensues in that judging room.
00:23:36
Speaker
Oh my God, it's so hard to watch. Very. Now the girls come up one by one to get feedback on their potato sack walk and their photo from the 1800flowers.com photo shoot. We start with Rebecca, the rude winner of the shoes. Her walk was okay. They like her photo. Jana says she looks a little slutty in a good way, but overall good. They start to say more.
00:24:03
Speaker
Um, and I gotta tell you at this point, jazz, that I had forgotten the title of this episode. By this point, I wasn't thinking about the title anymore. Um, Oh, you completely forgot. I completely forgot. So I was not prepared for this. Yes. So they start to give her more feedback and all of a sudden her eyes roll up in her head and she straight up falls over backwards, like a loud crash.
Rebecca's Collapse and Contestant Stress
00:24:28
Speaker
And, um,
00:24:30
Speaker
She has passed out cold. I went back and watched it a couple of times. Like, what just, the way my body is on the floor. She's gonna die.
00:24:43
Speaker
I'm like, it's the creepiest thing. So she's completely splayed out. Sometimes I think when you see people pass out, especially in movies or something, they sort of crumple. When I tell you that this woman fell cold, her whole body hit the floor. The girl starts screaming. Someone says, call the paramedics. And stupid fucking Nolay says, call the police. And we go to a commercial break.
00:25:13
Speaker
holy shit. So like, we come back, they play it all again, the whole fucking scene again, dramatic as fuck. And now I'm noticing that like, the way every single person in that room, from the other contestants to the judges, they all take a step back when she falls, like they all recoil and jump back from her. It's
00:25:36
Speaker
wild. Like they're all assholes and they're like, Oh, she's gonna get on my shoes. No one walks over to her. No one. Yeah. Call the police. Why would you call the police? Do you think she's on drugs? Like do you think she? What are you afraid of?
00:25:56
Speaker
Okay, so then her eyes are open. They show her body on the floor. Her eyes are open and staring at nothing. It is a fucking nightmare. It is so horrifying. Now we find out that apparently the other girls have known the whole time that she has a condition where she just collapses and she has been six or so years since her last collapse.
00:26:17
Speaker
They take her away on a stretcher. She's conscious at this point. So we're like, OK, she's not dead. And you know what? Until I read this, I hadn't connected that I was just kind of like lost in this moment. But this is Rebecca, the winner of the last challenge. Yes. So now I'm sort of like, well. Oh, now you're on her side. No, no, no, no, I'm not. Now I'm like, sorry, baby. Yeah, it goes around and around boobs. I don't know what to tell you. Collapsing disease.
00:26:44
Speaker
That was a hard collapse. I mean, she's a tall girl. That's a hard fall. Well, she's like, it's not life or death. I'm like, baby, your skull can crack. Like, what are you talking about? That is terrifying. Seems very life or death. Okay, so they have a moment. They take a beat. Tyra goes into her serious, warm, fuzzy, and then they're right back into the judging.
00:27:06
Speaker
So we have some feedback for the rest of the girls from their potato sack race and their photos.
Judges' Insensitive Feedback
00:27:10
Speaker
I'll share some of the best feedback. It looks like you need a cane or a walker. You're a little Cherokee Indian, a little black girl, a little Chinese girl. I'm loving it. That's from Janice. You walk like a funky chicken. Your body isn't strong. You have a sexy chihuahua walk. You have an antelope eye. Your face is boring.
00:27:33
Speaker
You walk like a horse, you're porn all, but like high-class porn, like expensive porn. Like $35.99. $35. Yeah. $34.99. Your energy is boring. They make fun of Kenya's outfit that she's like wearing in to the judging. They're like, what are you wearing? Why are you wearing those jeans? That girl should be on a pirate flag. Her face is small and crunchy. She has crazy eyes.
00:28:01
Speaker
So as they're going through the photos, we cut to Rebecca who was leaving the hospital. Um, she's leaving the hospital and she's still wearing her hospital gown over her extra dramatic effects. Um, she explains that she's always had this condition and like the connections in her brains go haywire. It isn't life or death. Disagree. Um, she meets one on one with Tyra who was suddenly
00:28:25
Speaker
the most concerned and kind person you've ever met. And she just really wants these girls to take care of themselves and just sit down and really listen to your bodies, even though that goes against everything I've said to you this entire show. I just commended a girl who was shaking with pain because she wasn't listening to her body. So Rebecca's back in the group for the elimination. There's 13 girls, there's 12 photos. We all know the drill, right?
00:28:54
Speaker
We get down to the final two. It's Sarah, who we've made fun of for having a terrible walk this whole time, and Brittany, who looks like a porn star. Here's the feedback. Brittany, your sexuality is way too strong.
00:29:10
Speaker
What am I supposed to do about that? How you sexualize me is not my problem. Exactly. What do you mean when you say that? What are you talking about? Your sexuality is way too strong. Not just Victoria's Secret strong. It's giving a little triple X for high fashion. That is a year of therapy right there, you fucking asshole.
00:29:35
Speaker
Sarah, we feel you melting. We wonder if you can see your loveliness, if you believe in it. I forgot this about, cause I know that this is a recurring theme in this show where they question if you don't believe in yourself, how can we? And like the gaslighting and like the way you're like mentally getting in these girls' heads of like, this is your fault.
00:29:55
Speaker
All right, Brittany the porn star gets the photo after being incredibly shamed and humiliated, and Sarah is going home. As Sarah is getting her stuff, she's like a very sore loser and talks a bunch of shit about the other girls while crying. She kind of sucks. No, I was like, what is this? Yeah, you don't have to be a dick. Like this whole, I preferred what's her name's reaction. It's like, this sucks. I'm mad. Yeah, I wasted my time. Yeah. So we go back to the group photo and Sarah
00:30:24
Speaker
fades away from the photo and we are finally at the end of whatever this was.
00:30:35
Speaker
You know, this show is making me wonder if I even really like competition shows. Like I was like, do I even like this or am I just sensitive now? Am I different? How was I watching this weekly without any moment of pause? You know, what was I watching? You know, maybe I'll feel like that about the Housewives in a few years. But
00:31:03
Speaker
It was a lot. It was a lot. Where do we start? Well, what you said right there too, I just say that's my first audit point. So I think we can go into it. Like the America's next best friend of it all. Like this is a theme in the time and place of like the early 2000s of I didn't come here to make friends attitude, right? Like such a cultural moment when American Oh, yeah. Like every competition show was like,
00:31:29
Speaker
American individualism. I'm here for myself. I'm not here to make friends. And like these competition dog eat dog reality shows were like perpetuating across all of these, right? Like, yeah, even with making the band when on MTV with P Diddy and how he was unnecessarily having them walk to Brooklyn and just, you know, all of these things. And I
00:31:56
Speaker
I just started thinking through all of those competition shows and how unnecessarily corny they were and how the one line that stood out was, I'm not here for friends. I'm not here for friends. I'm not here to make friends. I didn't come here to make friends. But now it's so interesting to what you're saying. And again, we are in this lovely generation that continues to evolve that the cultural discourse has shifted and this younger culture
00:32:21
Speaker
Um, they're much more interested in community and how can we help each other? And like, even in reality TV, which still has like cat fights and drama and those things, but they, now it's groups, right? Now it's factions. And you see these casts like on Netflix that are like truly bonded to one another, maybe trauma bonded. We don't know. But like these love, love is blind girlies and like these other casts that are like about each other, their besties. And I
00:32:47
Speaker
I think even the wannabe influencers realize that they do better with one another than by like eliminating one another.
Shift to Community-Focused Reality Shows
00:32:56
Speaker
Yes. So they like, not all of them, but they do. There's more capital now in showing groups and in showing like
00:33:07
Speaker
even if it's fake now, right? Even if it's fake. So like, on the housewives, it's like we're a group of friends. No one knows each other. No one knows each other. Yeah. We're friends. Why would you say that? You're my friends. That's what sells. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. It's the exact opposite now. It's so weird. Yeah. But I like you. I remember like I didn't blink because this was the like, it's either me or you, you know, like that was the
00:33:36
Speaker
the tone of all of this stuff. I'm not here to be nice. Anyway, that was my first thing of like, wow, we really did that. We did that hard. Yeah, we did. I'm so happy that we've moved away from that. It feels so much better to be
00:33:51
Speaker
part, you know, part of the community and try to help each other. And even if it's performative for some people, at least we still spread a message via like media, at least it's this one. God, before we hop into the audit point, I have to, this isn't an audit point for me, but we have to talk about the sponsors.
Critique of Brand Placement
00:34:15
Speaker
Oh, that is a good point for me.
00:34:16
Speaker
Okay, let's get right into it. It's close up to the brand placement era. Yes, yes. Also, they were scraping I put here for for sponsors 1-800-Flowers. That's right. That's right. Oh my goodness. And the photo shoot was so unnecessary. The guy in the background, the dog, the flag, it was just so
00:34:45
Speaker
It wasn't creative to me at all. Again, I keep using the word corny. I'm like, who came up with all of this? But yeah, the brand placements were on the rise for sure. And they were Kmart. They cleared up Kmart for the day. How do you be like, you are not high fashion, you're porn. But we are at Kmart. Yes, yes, we're at Kmart. And the girls were even like, okay, we're going to Kmart. And one of the girls said,
00:35:15
Speaker
I mean, it's not like I haven't been here before. So yeah, like, yeah, this is not a disk camera or the people that go there. But y'all act like you are, you know, walking Fashion Week in Paris, and yet you're Stuart Weitzman and Kmart. So maybe
00:35:29
Speaker
maybe settle down a little bit. You can tell that the budget wasn't very high. And you know this from being in PR too. Like this era, right when brands first discovered like we can do more than just have commercials, we can do branded content.
00:35:48
Speaker
It's not a commercial, it's content and it's integrated. And like I used to watch The Apprentice around the same time and they did the same thing. Like all of a sudden they had these challenges and they just started hard plugging brands. They're like, you're going to make sandwiches at Subway.
00:36:04
Speaker
and like yeah it's so corny but there is also a part of it to me that's like sort of charming to see now because now it's all gotten so integrated and you have to say hashtag ad on instagram because it was just getting out of control because it's like everything you see in any picture is branded content now and at least in this it's like here is the brand this is the brand and it was interesting too because
00:36:28
Speaker
you're right, like, this was right around with the New York Housewives were premiering during this time. And they were called out for being like
00:36:40
Speaker
top of like out of all of the housewives that were invented at that time, they were the ones pushing brands more than anybody. It was everywhere. This is when Bethany started Skinny Girl, Cocktails. I mean, it was everywhere. So you're right, like this was definitely the beginning of all the brands like that. It was such an era, such an era. Yeah, for sure. I love it so much. Anyway, yes, okay, real audit points. You go.
Racial Microaggressions against Black Contestants
00:37:08
Speaker
My first audit point is black women. Just black women. Let's talk through what... Jasmine, I swear to God, we're in the same document. My next audit point is black women, everyone. Black women. That's a black women exclamation point. That's a black women, everyone. Oh my goodness. I am so disappointed in Tyra. I am disappointed in her. Again, this was of the times. I'm disappointed in myself.
00:37:38
Speaker
for watching this and not batting an eye during this time. The time was just, it wasn't that long ago that this was acceptable behavior and conversation and remarks.
00:37:54
Speaker
on black women, telling Tiffany to pose without a ghetto face. I paused it instantly and I thought to myself, this show's gonna be kind of hard for me. And I think I said that on the last episode that this is gonna be hard for me because it's just so incredibly insulting.
00:38:12
Speaker
um a ghetto faces a black face you haven't said that to not one other woman it's only the black girls that keep getting these ghetto references and it doesn't help that you know Tiffany's story is that she actually lives in the ghetto and then it's just like you're pushing this further stereotypical narrative on her look um in addition to that and um
00:38:40
Speaker
Yeah, it's just about race constantly. Well, because think about the inverse too, like why were none of the black girls told they were porn? They have big, you know what I mean? Because you don't fantasize about them. No, you're absolutely right. And then it's always about race, even when they're, quote unquote, complimenting them. And they're telling Tiffany like, oh, you know, you look, you know, a little Chinese or whatever they said, like whatever, Cherokee, that's what it was.
00:39:07
Speaker
Yeah, you can't just be a black girl. You have to be all of those things to be exotic. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Yeah. They're obsessed. They're obsessed with race. Anytime a black girl walks in the room and and then tires.
00:39:25
Speaker
She like kicks it up into like this. She's black so she can't have a black scent, I suppose, but she completely code switches when they walk in the room. You know what I mean? The way she speaks to them and then, what's his name? Nolay? He has a full-on black scent.
00:39:45
Speaker
And I will find that this episode, Ms. Jay didn't, I mean, I thought he was hilarious this episode, but that was like just a slight bit of lightheartedness of it all. But everyone else referring to the black women were just absolutely awful. But I am at that black guest judge was the only person who was like, wait, what? Or not the judge, the coach. The coach, yeah. Like all these black folks.
00:40:14
Speaker
Miss J, any of them not.
00:40:17
Speaker
blinking at this arm that they're perpetuating on these black children, their children, teenagers. We were all just so used to being spoken about and to in that way during that time. And so it wasn't something that we would necessarily flag because this is just what we were around. Like this is how people were allowed to speak to us. And I just wish I could retroactively cancel so many people on this show.
00:40:46
Speaker
I mean, we have to start a campaign. We have to go back. We have to go back. There has to be accountability. Sorry, Mariah. No more justice for Mariah. Well, it is justice for Mariah. It's justice for every black girl. Yeah. Every black girl. Yeah, for sure. It's been really hard to watch him. It's going to get worse. Don't say that. No. I think, I don't remember this verbatim. It can't get better. It's not going to get better.
00:41:12
Speaker
Yeah, I thought that was just the treatment of the black girls there, you know, and as you said, pointing out before, like, you know, gearing up for what they thought was gonna, we thought the audience was going to be this homophobic reveal. And they're just supportive and sweet and understanding. And it's just very clear that they Oh, oh, and then that's another thing that I said, they told
00:41:38
Speaker
Brandy, you look very angry in this photo. Oh, I'm just so angry. And I'm like, oh, that's her narrative.
00:41:46
Speaker
Yup, yup, you know what? She is angry. Y'all are on something. Like, what? I had a little bit, my takeaway from beside, I mean, everything you say plus a hundred. And then my point about black women, everyone is I say this with the absolute sincerity and all of my soul and being, people should be so lucky to be friends with black women.
00:42:13
Speaker
Like, did you all see like
00:42:17
Speaker
hear them, see them, two of these women who have been treated like shit this whole time and just got done pretending to be house slaves to an asshole white woman. These two black women turn around and gas this other woman up. They affirm her identity, they comfort her, they joke around, they lifted this entire house, right? Like- And then the other ones in the other room. And then the other ones in the other room. That's right. The other ones over there are like, let me help you out.
00:42:46
Speaker
Yeah, the house doesn't deserve them. This country doesn't deserve them. Like to watch that journey of like I can't like it just I'm baffled. And again, like it is a gift to the world. And if there's anything that people can take away of like, man, to what they deserve is to be burnt to the ground. And then what they get is compassion and kindness and like
00:43:16
Speaker
this ability to take their own trauma and like put it aside. I just, it blows me. And this is what I mean, that's certainly true then. And it's much more on the face of things, but it's true now. And I see it all the time in regular life and in, you know, media life and all of those things.
00:43:33
Speaker
the injustice that there's still this poor narrative around black women when the actual opposite is the truth. Like, not just not negative, but like the flowers that should be given all those things. It just is like the biggest injustice of our time. So
00:43:49
Speaker
Well, thank you for saying that. I mean, well, not you. I'm a black woman, everyone. She's just talking to me this whole night. She's talking to me? This is about Jasmine. Jasmine's the only black woman I know, by the way. Yes. Yes, yes, yes, of course. I mean, you may as well start over here, honey, and work your way around. For everyone except for Tyra Banks.
00:44:10
Speaker
Oh my goodness. I wonder if she looks back at this and has remorse. I hope so. And as a white woman, it's not my plate. She's on whatever journey, but I do hope she has been secretly funneling money to black girl organizations or something. I don't know. Yeah, I'm sure she. I mean, she has her own one.
00:44:40
Speaker
Oh, yeah. All right. Next point. Next one, the fate. I just called you Keila. Jasmine, my next point is what happened to Rebecca? We're in sync today. We are on the same page. Yeah, we are. There you go. Go. So I think we said it a little bit before. No one rushed to help her. It was just a bunch of screaming. Oh my god.
00:45:08
Speaker
That girl, I put, what if she needed CPR and no one acted fast enough? What if she was dead? Yeah. Yeah. Like going to die. Why isn't your natural inclination, why isn't it to run over and immediately jump out of your seat and help someone? Like I just thought it was strange that even the girls didn't move. And I was like, well, maybe everyone was in shock, but once you start screaming, oh my God, a few times you start moving. Call the police.
00:45:34
Speaker
Call the police. And then when she comes back, Tyra's like, you scared us. She's like, oh my god, sorry. What? She said she apologized. She apologized for something. No, no, no, honey. I'm happy you're okay. Nope.
00:45:54
Speaker
none of that. Nope. She shamed her again. You need to listen to your body. Yes. It's on you. It's on you again. Um, so yeah, it was just the, the main was just really scary and
00:46:09
Speaker
it would just further cement it. They don't care about y'all. You better take care of yourself for real, because look at her. She almost died on national TV. Absolutely. This was my note on it, was we know from our scholar, Keila, that these judging segments are marathon filming. Keila told us that they're 10-hour shoots
00:46:31
Speaker
Or at least right. So I find it very says that Rebecca who hasn't collapsed in six years is now collapsing. Yes, you're right. This is stress exhaustion, lack of food, whatever. So Tyra doing her like on camera listen to your body is such a like
00:46:50
Speaker
risk and liability thing. Like, yeah, I'm honestly like, has the statute of limitations run out on this? Because if I was Rebecca, I would be like, actually, actually, like, this is absolutely her episode is induced by the show for sure. Yeah, yes, for sure. Michelle's panic attack, like all this stuff we're watching in real time. Yeah, you're right on their bodies. And you're like, this is abusive. Totally. Pretending like it just came out of nowhere is so disingenuous.
00:47:20
Speaker
I mean, what was she going to say? You guys are stressing me to the core. You know what I mean? Like, they didn't feel empowered to speak up like that. Like, I mean, people in reality TV are just getting to the place where they feel comfortable to speak about their experiences. So yes, also back all props to Bethany Frankl. Yeah, I mean, we could do a whole show on her.
00:47:45
Speaker
But yeah, those were my points. Those were all my same points. Yeah. Don't look at us and stuff. I mean, obviously just another honorable mention. I really hate the low-key slut shaming they're doing for Brittany. That's really hard to watch, calling someone triple XX when they're in jeans and a t-shirt and just being themselves. It's easy to be
00:48:11
Speaker
sexualized when you're a beautiful girl and you may have big lips or you're a little busty or whatever. And it just, it was just... It's so gross. I know. I can't wait to look at, cause Kela sent us all a where are they now that Jasmine and I are not looking at. We're refusing to look at. Refusing. She's beating us with it, but I can't wait to see. I'm like so hopeful that they're all thriving and wonderful. And I can't wait to try and be their friends. I know.
00:48:37
Speaker
I had a few random notes that don't fit into a point, but everyone does say accessory and it's, it killed me. Like, accessory instead of accessory, like it has two C's in it, but then like Ms. J starts and then everybody's saying, I want an accessory.
00:48:54
Speaker
And it just was driving me nuts. They truly all have tongue rings. I can't get over it every time they talk. Oh, the tongue rings are just so gross. And I didn't even notice that at first until you mentioned it. Now I can't unsee it at all. I can't unsee it. I really was like, oh, what time do we record this tomorrow morning? Because if we had had time, I was going to call a piercing place. I want to ask them how many tongue rings they do in a week. Gross. I don't think people are doing it anymore. No, no, no. That's not. Thank goodness that truth is over. What an unnatural place to do. Yeah.
00:49:23
Speaker
My other note is that the one episode goes over five days. They filmed this over five days. Scraping for content. They shoot whole seasons of shows in five days now. Why are you putting so much? You just build on the moments you have. It's so hectic. It's so hectic. Because it was overproduced and so they had to come up with all of these
00:49:48
Speaker
And they have to get all these brands in that they made promises. Exactly. You're going to get 15 minutes. Okay. Also another pronunciation thing. Are they saying Givenchy? Wait, do they say Givenchy? Well, they're talking about Givenchy, but they say Givenchy.
00:50:09
Speaker
Givenchy. And I'm like, sorry. Givenchy. Givenchy. I was like, what? Because now the only way I know to pronounce it is how Beyonce pronounces it. What does she how does she do it? Well, she is in formation, right? She says she rocks her Givenchy dress. I'm like, okay, check.
00:50:28
Speaker
But they're saying like, they say Givenchy and like rap music. And then every time I hear fashion people talk about it, it's Givenchy. All right, we're gonna have to have a whole episode where we all practice saying high fashion brands. Because
00:50:46
Speaker
I'm not, it's not for me. I would hope that Tyra and her crew is, you know, they aren't saying it wrong. That would be really embarrassing. Oh, too bad if Tyra and her crew go to embarrassed national television. Right. Oh my goodness. We did it, everybody. We did it. We did it. Yeah, we're getting through it. We're getting through it. So if you like what you heard, listen to us next week when we get into, I don't even watch
00:51:16
Speaker
what's coming next, like those next week. Nope, nope. I'm always surprised. And then I feel like I've been through enough. So yeah, exactly. I'm like, I can't be stressed about what's coming. Yeah, no, no, no, we'll just deal with it when I get there. That's right. But anyways, thanks for tuning in, everybody. Listen to us next week when we hop into episode four, and follow us on Instagram at the pop culture audit and wait and review if anybody listened to
00:51:44
Speaker
Talk to you next week. Okay, bye. We have Kayla back next week, everybody. You've been waiting for it. Bye, everybody. Bye.