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The Pop Culture Audit: Cycle 3, Episode 1 - ANTM, Reow.
48 Plays1 year ago
It's us! Hi! We're the problem, it's us!
And we. are. back to torment you with more pop culture material from the vault!!! This season the Audit Girls are tackling a particularly chaotic moment in history - "America's Next Top Model", Cycle (not season) 4. Ya'll. We couldn't even find this on streaming platforms. We had to buy it in SD from Amazon. That's how hard they want to erase it!
As well they should.
Join us on this absolute meltdown of human history!
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Transcript
Introduction to Pop Culture Audit Podcast
00:00:12
Speaker
Hi, y'all. Welcome to the Pop Culture Audit, where we review reality TV and talk about all things pop culture through a contemporary and critical lens.
Concept of Examining Reality TV
00:00:20
Speaker
So what exactly is a pop culture audit? Easy. We take a deep dive of pop culture source material, in this case, America's Next Top Model, cycle four, and comb through it, highlighting some cringy and historic moments in pop culture discourse. If you're into that, you're in the right place. And if you're not, you're still here, but you're going to learn something.
Meet the Hosts
00:00:40
Speaker
My name is Keela.
00:00:42
Speaker
I'm Jasmine. Hi, it's Brynn. First, I love the song. The new choice is, I think, very fitting. I think so too. It's perfect. I really looked for something that was giving like 2000s, early 2000s. Yeah, that was perfect. Okay, great. Thank you guys. It's really affirming.
Impact and Issues in ANTM Cycle 4
00:01:03
Speaker
Friends, readers, countrymen, I am so excited to announce that we are doing America's Next Top Model cycle four, not season cycle. And I would love to give our readers some context, if that's okay with you all, about the cultural and historical impact of this show.
00:01:23
Speaker
Please, please do. OK, friends, I'm shaking with excitement. OK, so America's Next Top Model started in 2003 and had 24 seasons and was produced and hosted by Tyra Banks, who was known pretty much just for her modeling career at the time and is co-produced by Ken Mock and Kenya Barris of Blackish fame. We'll come back to that.
00:01:44
Speaker
It takes regular unscouted women and turns them into models. Specifically this season, cycle four, they will be winning a Wilhelmina models modeling contract, which was like the height of a modeling agency at the time.
00:01:57
Speaker
an L magazine cover, and a 100K contract with CoverGirl Cosmetics at the end. And throughout the show, they're joined by professionals from the world of fashion and modeling who are guest stars, photographers, or judges.
Cultural Relevance of ANTM and Tyra Banks
00:02:10
Speaker
Their weekly challenge is something impromptu. And then there's a photo shoot at the end, which will determine their status in the show.
00:02:16
Speaker
America's Next Top Model is known for modeling, but also racism, bullying, fatphobia, homophobia, colorism. And Cycle 4 is so peak, all of these chaotic things, that it's actually really difficult to find. So for readers following at home, Cycle 4 and 5 are actually the two seasons that you'll need to go to Amazon to purchase in order to watch.
00:02:41
Speaker
They're not on Hulu. They're not anywhere else. The other streaming platforms actually couldn't get the rights for them. So it's very elusive. And I want to talk about the context of this show is that at the time it was the thing. But then coming back and hearing what the models have said about their experience, and this is super high level. I won't have any spoilers.
00:03:01
Speaker
have pretty negative and mixed reviews about their experience. It took about eight or nine hours to film eliminations. They said that Tyro was kind of cold or distant offside of the camera. That was very much produced for TV. And then it gave them some weird body issues and strange edits. Some of the models who are pretty pro their experience on the show talk about how it was a product of the time. And the product of the time was really capitalizing on the body obsessed era that we were in. This was definitely peak mean girl culture.
00:03:31
Speaker
And it also catapulted Tyra's career, which is kind of ironic. And she ended up getting a TV show, like a talk show afterwards, and really propelled herself beyond being just
First Episode Chaos and Production Style
00:03:41
Speaker
a model. And it really is reality TV that pushes the boundaries of common sense and just human decency. And we're so excited to talk about this with you. I just learned so much. I love that breakdown. I've been chuckling on mute this whole time.
00:03:59
Speaker
I'm so excited. Everyone is free here. Everyone is free. It's a part of the time. Okay. Free Jasmine. Okay. Should we get into this? Yeah. I'm just, I'm really like, yes. I am like processing what you just shared because it is so putting it in that context. I don't know.
00:04:27
Speaker
It's all resonating for me. It is wild and like thinking about Tyra and I just want like being a young person sort of during this era because what year was this cycle filmed specifically?
Personal Anecdotes on ANTM's Influence
00:04:39
Speaker
Does anybody know? That's what I forgot to Google and I was thinking that when I was watching it. It's either 2005 or 6. Okay.
00:04:48
Speaker
So like I was a, yeah, this was the kind of show that I did not watch regularly, but I would, when I was like home at my mom's house for the summer from college, I would like catch an episode or two, but it's sending me because
00:05:01
Speaker
this period in the 90s, and I'm just seeing covers of like 17 and Elle magazine and all this stuff. Like we were so obsessed with Victoria's Secret models, like as personalities, like Heidi Klum, Naomi Campbell, like who's the one whose sister died from TSS? Oh my God. Who? Yeah, I don't know who that is. You do. You do know.
00:05:26
Speaker
Not Brinkley. It wasn't Chrissy Brinkley. No. I'm going to come back to whatever. No, no. I'm going to think of this. It also confuses me that high fashion girls also modeled Victoria's Secret. There wasn't this commercial versus fashion divine. There was no line. Why do you think there should have been a line?
00:05:46
Speaker
There is now. Yeah, there is very much now like your commercial or not. But back then, it's just like these were the models like we had supermodels and they did everything.
Critique of Early Reality TV Standards
00:05:56
Speaker
And they were angels and they were also on the cover of like pedestrian magazines. And like in gay fashion. Yeah. Yeah. So why there was no.
00:06:05
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. So I'm in a very specific place in time and I'm ready to recap this episode. So that's important to know that while I can't say I've never seen America's Next Top Model, I have never watched a season of it or certainly paid anything more than passing attention to it.
00:06:25
Speaker
And I'm going to say that this show so far in this first episode is, um, is maybe one of the most problematic things. Oh my goodness. It was so problematic. I, the notes are all over the place. I will say a little background. I watched every, like every episode of like the first like six or seven seasons when they were out and
00:06:50
Speaker
CoverGirl had this campaign that they had in like 17 magazine where they were looking for like, not top models, but just like for the average girl who wanted to do like print, like beauty shots and stuff like that. And I remember me and my best friend like applying for it, sending it in the mail, getting like little photo shoots and stuff. So this was very much my world.
00:07:15
Speaker
back in the day. We all thought we could be models. I know, that's so crazy. I couldn't be less interested now. Same. But very sweet. I remember watching this after school with my sister. We would sit down and we would watch this and then we'd go do our homework or whatever. Such a joy. Keala, you actually could be a model though. I was looking at all of the girls and the looks. I was like, oh yeah, Keala could do that.
00:07:43
Speaker
That is so kind of you. I have like a side story that I will not tell on this podcast. Sorry, love you all, but we're not doing that. Oh, no. We'll talk more about this. But the weights of the women. Oh, no. Wait, no, no, no. I have its own note. We have to read into it. Yeah. OK. Yeah. Don't we have to recap? We've got to recap. Stop it. OK. Sorry, readers. All of you. We haven't done this in a while and you're getting chaotic here. Please stop.
00:08:15
Speaker
All right, y'all, America's Next Top Model cycle for episode one, the lady who is a boy, the girl who is a lady cat rare. And I just wrote what not the sound. I was so embarrassed. What is this title? The girl who is a lady cat rare.
00:08:36
Speaker
That's what we're starting. My notes are all over the place. So are mine. When I was thinking of a song, I was trying to find a song before we started recording. And I'm like, I need a song that is just fucking chaos. That's what I feel like. And then I reigned it in. But OK, recap. Here we go. OK, first off, oh my god, the intro. They say, are top models born or made? You have to work for it.
00:09:02
Speaker
Um, and so already it's like, what, what? Okay. So we're meeting the contestants. That's how we start this. This was also something to get my head wrapped around is like the, at this time, these like contestant
ANTM's Influence on Beauty Perceptions
00:09:13
Speaker
shows is like American idol. We start with a hundred people and their auditions and then we narrow it down and narrow it down. So these first episodes are all very much like this
00:09:23
Speaker
huge group that is going to get whittled down to the actual group. So that was a lot to get my head wrapped around. So we're at the airports with all of these contestants. We meet the first few very tall, very slender women. And then we meet Tiffany. And then Tiffany says she's here for a second chance. And from what I gather, it sounds like she was on cycle three, or almost on cycle three, and she got in a fight and someone poured a beer on her weave.
00:09:50
Speaker
Okay. And this is when I say, okay, wait, so there's a million possible contestants. This isn't the final group. So I'm catching on that we're starting with a bigger group that took me a minute because I was trying to track everyone. I'm like, this is too many people.
00:10:02
Speaker
Um, they're in a weird like house that I think is actually a hotel conference room and two random people are getting them psyched up to earn a spot in this house. And then Tyra appears behind this full group of, I think it's 30 women. Tyra appears behind the group. Everyone screams.
00:10:22
Speaker
Oh my God, I forgot this part. Tyra calls them girls the whole time and that's going to be so annoying. I have one girl here and I had completely blocked that out and it grates on my nerves. And some of them are, like some of these people are young, but they're still young women.
00:10:43
Speaker
Okay, Tyra gives them a pep talk and she snaps her fingers a lot because that's like Tyra's vibe. Okay, the other adults are Mr. J. He is the creative director of all the photo shoots and Miss J who is the runway coach. So I'm going to refer to them as the J's as we go through when they are to be lumped together. Reasonable.
00:11:02
Speaker
I'm not going to introduce any of the contestants unless relevant because I have no idea who will still be here and it's too many. It's too much to track. Yeah, too many. We're watching the contestants meet Tyra and the J's like at this panel table. It's a lot. Okay. Then we cut to a pool party with all the girls. I'm telling you the editing of this and like the setup is just chaos. We're in this conference room. We're at a pool party.
00:11:24
Speaker
like everything is is all over the place. Clearly, like some of this is like, we could talk about this more after but there's this moment where I realized like how far reality TV production has come. Because it's not just like the the girls and the setup that all feels like dated and like weird.
00:11:43
Speaker
It's the producing. Some of these girls are going topless and you can tell that some of these producers are like, get crazy and this is the best they can do. And you're like, my God, these bachelorettes would eat you alive.
00:11:58
Speaker
I don't have an audit point about this. Oh my God. So it's all very awkward. It's kind of naive and sweet in some ways that like this was the best we could do. Anyway, so they had the pool party. It's really awkward and forced. And now the group is going to be in two different groups. The 21 and up girls are going to a club. The 21 under girls are going to a surprise outing.
00:12:22
Speaker
And then we find out, LOL, they have to go bowling while everyone is at the club. But the joke's on them because they love bowling. It's super fun.
00:12:31
Speaker
Okay, that was it. That was the cutaway. There was nothing else. Now we're back in the weird meet and greet with Tyra and the J's. And we're meeting the person who is called Lady Cat, which is where this title came from because she had long nails, I guess, and she's pretty weird. These auditions are also weird. That's just what I wrote. Those nails were not long. Cardi B? Yeah.
00:12:52
Speaker
Yeah, I know. These girls are getting this one minute of fame. It's just like American Idol auditions where you're like, oh my God, you're just coming here with the most to squeeze the most out of this five minutes. And it's so secondhand embarrassment. It's giving 90s YouTube.
00:13:12
Speaker
Yeah, there's no curation to like what it means to be an influencer or to be on a reality show. So they're just like flailing and it's so awkward. It's so embarrassing. A whole section that just says cringy in my notes.
00:13:28
Speaker
That's it. That should be the title of this. One of these girls is fully from Indiana, but is pretending to have a Southern accent. It's really sent me. That was weird. My other observation is everyone has tongue rings, like literally everyone has a tongue ring. This was one of my notes. Yes. Oh, God. Tongue rings are so strange. And you have like a little bit of a lisp with the tongue ring. So unsanitary too. Gross. Yes.
00:13:57
Speaker
And then there's a person named Brandy that I did ride for where she says, you need a shirt. You should have brought your own. So I did write that down. Yep. Okay. We're still meeting people. Like we're like 20 minutes into this. We're still meeting people. Now it's a group. They're all together in one of these green rooms at this hotel. And they're arguing because there's 30 people in a room.
00:14:18
Speaker
who are all like intense and probably hungry. And so they're, of course, going to argue Lady Cat is mad and they're snapping at each other. It's really hard to follow what is happening. And then I wrote, when does this show start? Like, what am I watching? Because now they're all at a park practicing cartwheels and there's bees everywhere. That's the next scene. So we're yelling in this conference room and now we're at a park doing cartwheels and there's bees chaos.
00:14:46
Speaker
Oh, no. Oh, no. Can you hear me? Oh, message. Start from the bees. The bees. We're talking about the bees. Yeah, sorry, everybody. We had to pause the recording because we had a technical issue. But we're back. So anyway, I'm saying that in the show, they were in this conference room arguing. And then the next scene, they're doing cartwheels in a park and there's bees everywhere. And that's a
Problematic Aspects of ANTM
00:15:13
Speaker
normal. Duality. It's duality.
00:15:15
Speaker
My brain hurts. I'm telling you watching this. I'm like, what am I watching? What is the point of anything? Now we're back to the random meet and greets. Okay, you guys. I'm gonna take a breath here. Oh my fucking God, you guys. You guys. You guys. I don't think either of you know this. This white girl, Rachel. Rachel, the white girl who was the second plus size person. Yes.
00:15:45
Speaker
She's a chef on below deck. Don't do this to me. Don't do this to me. Don't do this to me. Chef on below deck. Oh my gosh. She is the best cook. Her food is the best. She is the best. She is so funny and charismatic.
00:16:09
Speaker
and causes drama but then stays out of it. She's the fucking fan favorite best hands-down chef on Below. She's been on like five seasons. She's been on like a one-time chef. Listen to me. I swear. Oh, I bet that just sent you over the edge. Please. If my mom comes down here, make her watch it. I almost didn't recover in time for this podcast.
00:16:36
Speaker
This is an incredible reveal. I'm telling you that my mom just texted me because she can hear me and she just wrote the very best. Wow. Talk about changing it around.
00:16:48
Speaker
I love that girl. So, yeah, that made this all worth it. And then also I wrote, also she's plus size. Oh, please, when we get there, there's a whole section in my notes about body size. Oh my God. Yeah. Anyway, Rachel is the best. It was a wild experience to see her there. Okay. And we'll get into all of this. I'm just going to state the facts right now and we can unpack it later.
00:17:15
Speaker
They are talking about speech impediments, and they keep referencing the short bus. And as soon as we move on from the short bus, and this is talking with Tyra and the J's and the contestants, they move on from the short bus. But now they're talking to someone from Florida, and Tyra asks if she tans. And she says, can I say this, you guys? Can I read you? Say it's a verbatim quote, yeah. Yeah. This is a verbatim quote.
00:17:43
Speaker
And Tyra says, you look like my cousin looking a little Negro over there. And I said, how are we going to do this? Okay. I just have an emoji like in the place of girl. What? Jesus. The next girl next girl Tyra is making fun of her accent. That's cool.
00:18:05
Speaker
Um, next observation, a lot of these women have teenage babies, which I just find interesting was an epidemic. Sorry, Jay. Yeah, it was, it was during this time. Yeah. Mom, teen pregnancy, everything. I did love teen pregnancy. It's an epidemic mom, teen mom, shout out to the mothers.
00:18:28
Speaker
Oh, okay. Fine. All right. Got. We finally met all of these girls and I'm going to keep calling them girls because she does not because I condone it. Uh, we've met all the girls individually. So naturally it is time for a lingerie walk off and see how they serve. Duh. So in groups of five, they all walk in underwear towards Tyra and the J's and they try to look fierce. And so we watch that happen.
00:18:51
Speaker
Now they're just hanging out in the green room. And Mr. J comes in to tell them that they are having a big elimination in the morning. Cool. Some of them are already crying. Some of them are praying. Some of them are crying and praying at the same time. No one is not doing one of those things. It's the next day. They're in the hallway of this hotel.
00:19:13
Speaker
This is cycle four and this they couldn't get it together. Like we're filming this in the hallway. They're going to go from 35 to 20 girls. Um, and in the room behind them of the shitty hotel, there's a conference table, like just a regular ass conference table with 20 portfolios on the table. Each portfolio has a photograph of one girl. And this, I do remember and really love how fucking dramatic we make this every moment of like in my hands, I have one photo.
00:19:43
Speaker
So this table has 20 portfolios and each portfolio has a photograph of one girl and that represents the 20 women who will be moving forward. Like we got it. So then they just run through the hallway into the conference room and start opening portfolios. Obviously you see yourself, people get excited, they jump up and down.
00:20:03
Speaker
I wasn't crying when I saw my book, but I cried when I saw them not having a book was my favorite quote. Yeah, I thought that was sweet. And these girls are wrecked. They are destroyed by not having a portfolio.
00:20:24
Speaker
Oh, panicked prover. Oh, Lady Cat says, stop crying. Crying is for losers. I literally wrote that down. And she has a book. You have a book, girl. Well, that's why she can say it. Guys, I don't think Chef Rachel made it. That's the name of this episode. Stop crying. Crying is for losers. Chef Rachel doesn't make it, but that's good. And I'm so glad to know where she is now because she's living her best life.
00:20:53
Speaker
Okay, now we're moving into the final 14. They go into the room with the photo booth. They have to get in the photo booth and take pics. They all do photo booth pics. Tyra and the J's are looking at those photo booth pics to narrow it down to those. So the folks who get through this next elimination, the top 14 are going to move into the house. Jay calls someone a no neck monster. I just want to note that.
00:21:19
Speaker
Oh my God. And then I say, oh my God, Jay only has horrible things to say, but I guess that's the whole point of the show.
00:21:26
Speaker
Just you wait, Bren. Oh, they don't think it's fair to have one plus size girl who is not the same size. And I got to tell, I want the readers to know that this one girl that they're talking about, this woman they're talking about, is maybe like 125 pounds. She just has big boobs, like normal size. That's literally it. That's literally it. And then I look at Tyra. Tyra has enormous boobs. Tyra weighs more than this plus size girl, no doubt. 100%.
00:21:55
Speaker
period, but she's not a model, so they can talk about model's bodies in this third party way. It's horrible. My brain is like starting again. Okay. Here's the 14 finalist readers. It's Rebecca. It's Christina. I'm going to pronounce
Finalists Selection and Body Image Debate
00:22:10
Speaker
some of these names wrong. I tried to write them phonetically. It's Kaniya.
00:22:14
Speaker
Kakenia, thank you. We got you. What is Britta? Britta, okay. Naima, who's my favorite? Yes. Noel. Michelle, the no neck monster. Sarah. What? That's what Jay said. You didn't have to. I had to. I have to start assigning things to these people. I can never, this is how I felt when we started watching Summerhouse. I'm like, how will I ever remember? And then you do. Oh, this is going to be hard for you then.
00:22:40
Speaker
Well, they get eliminated each week. Uh, Brandy with the so in Brittany, Brittany, it's something else. You don't say it, Brittany, but it's, I spelled it wrong. God bless you for even trying. Cause I have no names. No, Kaylin. There's three names left. She has three names left. The next name she's going to call Tatiana UV. Seven beautiful girls are standing before her, but she only has one name left. The last name will complete the group of finalists.
00:23:09
Speaker
Tiffany oh my god, not cat or the plus size girl. I died it died. Oh My god, they all look so malnourished except for the one girl who is not fat The losers are so sad and crying
00:23:23
Speaker
And I'm like, this 90s tough love is so toxic. Like the way that they comfort them. Like someone is going to say yes to you, but it is not us. We do not like you. I wanted to punch. That made me scream. I was like, girl, come back to your trailer.
00:23:39
Speaker
Yeah, you will get a yes. It's just not, definitely not from us, but somebody poor or stupid or ugly will say yes to you. And that was such a 90s, like an early aughts mentality. It was like the business and like the life coaching was you got to take your nose where people just tell you you're a piece of shit. And one day someone will tell you you're not that big of a piece of shit. It makes you stronger. Yeah, all the time.
00:24:10
Speaker
That is not strength. What these people are describing to you is fucking trauma. Um, and that's it. That's it. It's over. Good. That's it. That was the episode. I was wondering how you were going to pull that off. Good job, Brian. Cause I liked it. I didn't know how you're going to be able to do it.
00:24:28
Speaker
Yeah. And you use the Tyra language. Seven girls are in front of me. There is no other way to really express what we saw. There was cartwheels. There was crying. There were a lot of. There were conference rooms. It was just it was all over the place. They were like kind of Hyatt. They weren't like it was so funny. So the average person on Instagram could cut and splice better than the editors did back then. Oh, well, now.
00:24:58
Speaker
Yeah. You know, I care about production. I had so many notes last season for summer house. Um, I don't have any specific audit points because I felt chaotic watching it. And so my notes are that way, but Kela or Brandon, you guys have audit points. I'm happy to add.
00:25:19
Speaker
in all of my random thoughts. I have three audit points. Let's hit it then. Okay. I'm not going to talk about fat phobia this week, but I want the readers to know that it is on the forefront for me. It's just so chaotic. Do you want to have a fat phobia interlude at this moment? No, I do want to talk about
00:25:41
Speaker
bodies and it's just like an aside. I was just happy to see regular bodies that weren't altered by plastic surgery. That made me excited. Yeah, real stomachs.
00:25:54
Speaker
I don't know how to say regular. I mean, regular, maybe. They're skinny. Skinny body. They're emaciated, y'all. Emaciated. Well, not all of them, but I will say that I, like some girl, like I didn't see anyone with like perfect abs and huge asses and extra long nails. And even the girls that were weave, it wasn't 35 inches and
00:26:19
Speaker
It just felt refreshing. We weren't doing that then. To be fair, I love it. Right. So I'm saying that it's great to see something different and what felt normal to me. Yeah. I can second that. It's definitely a different body. There was a different body that was in at that point in time. It was all about... We've talked about this in other episodes of Skinny. Early 2000s was about being skinny.
00:26:43
Speaker
Right. And now it is wild to see that that type of body and anyone can be a model these days, maybe not high fashion, but anyone can. I don't want to say that a lot more people can make a living off of visual aesthetic based on the way we utilize social media today. Hundred percent. And that's like in a nonsex worker and a sex worker way. Mm hmm.
00:27:10
Speaker
And then one last note about the body is just that the plus size girls were like the size sevens, eight tops. Not even. Maybe a 12. I don't think so. I don't think so. I don't think no one was a 12. I don't think they were a 12 either. No, no one was a 12 because you gotta think about the camera adding weight. They were double zeros, y'all. Those were double zeros. You think? Yes. When we were in this era,
00:27:39
Speaker
or the plus though the plus sizes were four, six. I think the average was a zero, double zero. Agree. I would say the average was zero too. You got to look at the thighs. They don't even, they're there. There were no thighs, no inches apart from each other. Absolutely right. Okay. Carry on Kela. Okay. First point is.
00:28:06
Speaker
I need you readers to buckle up for the amount of truly chaotic quotes that are going to come from this show.
Fashion Trends of the Early 2000s in ANTM
00:28:13
Speaker
For example, my sister with the big forehead, your face looks kind of cat like. My fellow redhead sister looking a little Negro over there. She's pear shaped. She's a model from here down and Donnie Marie Osman from here from us.
00:28:30
Speaker
She's a model from here down and Marie Osman from here up. Jay and the Miss Jay, I was in this place so many times. Just absolute chaos and the way they talk about people's bodies as like an objective. In a future episode, I would love to talk about like how or what or like what it would mean to dismantle the fashion industry. But it just feels so. It's like scientists like zoologists talking about animals in a zoo.
00:29:00
Speaker
Like the tiger's paw is so big. Her forehead is big. It was so weird because we don't talk about, like people are still mean. Don't get me wrong. We're in a mean era, but mean in a different way. Like it just was very strange to me. So buckle up readers and Bren, I need you to know that it's about to truly be weird. And this is the tip of the iceberg.
00:29:24
Speaker
My second point, I guess it's really two and one is about production. Nothing sent me to the moon more than the girls doing the walk off and the audio picking up the clop, clop, clop of the heels. It felt like horses on a stampede. And it wasn't even like everyone was wearing a big heel. There were a lot of kitten heels because that was in at the time. And the way it was like,
00:29:50
Speaker
It was so damn loud. I was like, this is, I don't even know what to say about this. And then my last note, okay readers, I worked in fraternity and sorority life for years. And during that time I managed a lot of large events for primarily women's organizations.
00:30:08
Speaker
And something I would never do is that in a case where the event has an emotional component, you want as much structure as possible so that participants don't get overwhelmed and it goes to absolute chaos.
00:30:24
Speaker
This is cycle four. When they told them they had binders, binders full of women, 20 binders in a conference room table and have at it, I literally wrote in my notes, girl, what the hell? That is the least common sense event planning tactic I've ever seen. The girls run in, they're picking up binders. If it's not their face, they're throwing it back down, which also made me scream because I'm like, this process should not take this long.
00:30:54
Speaker
And you could have gotten 20 minutes out of that. 20 minutes out of that. And instead you had to put in filler B content because you set this up so poorly. It was so, I, and I'm like, you can't get good footage out of that. There's can't be footage because it's all happening so quickly. I just, I would never from an event. Like Christmas morning. Never. No. Never. And then you can tell, I know like now we're in a phase where people who are on reality TV shows are talking about how shitty their experience is.
00:31:24
Speaker
I know these girls are going through some kind of psychological warfare, because why are you crying so hard? They're so sad. They're so hungry and sad. Distraught. Distraught. You would think we were sending them to the guillotine after the model elimination. Like these girls praying. Yeah. Oh, the prayers, the prayer. And the prayer circle. Oh my God. Yes. Sobbing.
00:31:48
Speaker
Girl, you're just going back. We invite you into our careers, Jesus. That's what they said. We invite you into our careers. It was so extra. So extra. So much. Which makes me think, right, there is some production. But also, y'all are whatever you are doing to them, it's working because you are making them mentally and emotionally harmed. Like, yours should not be this much upset.
00:32:13
Speaker
so early on. I was just going to say, but see, it was when they were in the park and they were going bowling and all of these things, I was thinking to myself, how long were they just together before the action started? Were they there for a few days? Were they there for a week? How long was there room for just straight up interaction that had nothing to do with modeling? I bet none. These things are on a shoestring budget at this point.
00:32:43
Speaker
I bet they got there and they went straight to this hotel. It was long and short. Like based on my research, it was long and short. Like maybe it was, that could be a stretch, three months from start to finish, but they were together that whole, so like straight from the airport to the hotel. And then some of the interviews were like, we weren't allowed to talk during different pieces unless the camera was there. So they were probably just sitting
00:33:08
Speaker
in silence with each other and then adding to the agitation and then adding to the hours of cutting and footage because for elimination to take eight hours, babes. No. No. No. No. Absolutely never. There's no reason. And then my last note is just about the fashion. What? What a time. My favorites being the holler back. Oh, my God. Why did I say it like that? Like a
00:33:33
Speaker
like a Hollywood girl shirt, me so corny shirt, glitter eyeshadow, tongue rings. I just, what a time. What a time. It was definitely fashion for skinny.
00:33:46
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. There was not a single, no, there was not one outfit where there was not a belly button revealed. And there was not one gene that went over a hip bone. Like they always did right on the hip bones. Right on. They were lower pelvic, lower pelvic. It was, it was a time, um, a kitten heel and exposed belly button and a tongue ring. Wow.
00:34:13
Speaker
Wow. Yeah, I think the fashion is hard to look at because I also if you said 2005 and I not like it feels distinctly different to me than like 90s fashion and I've been like, oh, it was pretty normal. And you're like, it was not actually was not these pun shirts. Do you remember the pun shirts were just so out of pocket like me so corny and like the apricot like I think that's like
00:34:40
Speaker
racist thing to say, right? That's like insinuating some sort of, I don't know. They sold them at Hot Topic, they sold them at Munsters, they sold them at Delia's. This is where we're getting them. Do you remember that rabbit that had a sarcastic sense of humor or whatever?
00:34:57
Speaker
You know what I'm talking about? It's not the playbook money. It's this white rabbit. It's a cartoon. No ma'am. I do not know about this hilarious rabbit thing. I'm going to look it up readers. But the humor of this time was very dry. It wasn't like truly funny. It was like sarcastic and dry and it was all over the place. And so the fashion just really sent me and all the tongue rings. And I was surprised that like the judges never commented on the tongue rings.
00:35:24
Speaker
What a brutal piercing to have. I never got one. I never even wanted one because they're brutal. Like the healing. Yeah. That is such a same as a belly button ring. We are like, it is a big old chunk that you are. Huge. Huge. Of like a body part that is not conducive. It's like not. Ah.
00:35:43
Speaker
Yeah. I would rather have a belly button ring than a tongue ring. We all knew the one person who got a weird tongue ring that was either crooked or infected. Yes. Yes. It's huge and scary. I hate it so much. Okay. Okay.
00:36:00
Speaker
Okay, I have a couple that I want to talk about. We did lose Jasmine, everyone. She wants us to keep going. She wants this for us, so we're going to keep doing it, but we're not ignoring her. We do miss her. We do, and we think she's great. We do. A couple things, and most of them are just throwaways. Back to Jasmine's point about, oh, it's so nice to not see fake people. It is wild to see so many real teeth in a show like this.
00:36:26
Speaker
Wow, oh my God, I'm so glad you brought this up. Say more. Like, dull, normal looking teeth, right? Yeah. Not this like, paper white, perfect. Like, these are like, potential models and their teeth are just, and I say this, they are very normal, but when you're used to seeing people on TV with only like, bleached and veneer teeth, you're like, damn, your teeth are yellow. Like, they look like mine, you know what I mean? Like, they're just normal teeth, but it looks wild, like,
00:36:56
Speaker
Oh my God. You came on TV with those teeth. Like, wow. Well, just makes you look at the teeth as we go forward. Cause it really stood out to me. I will. I will.
00:37:07
Speaker
Tyra is giving me, and this is probably out of my lane here. Let's play it out. I'm going to put it out there and I will jump ship if I need to. She's giving me successful black girl at the office who is hell bent on torturing every other black girl.
00:37:30
Speaker
for not pulling yourself up by her bootstraps, like the one who's denying anybody else's experience of it being hard because it was hard for her and look where she is now. And you know what I mean? You got me. I'm at a plot. I'm going to have to gather myself and a future week and comment on this. I got to see it play out, but it's so hostile and aggressive, like,
00:37:57
Speaker
It's so the comments, the pressure. This is not an audit for this week, but in a future week, I want to talk about are they preparing to be models or are they going to war?
00:38:08
Speaker
because some of the challenges make absolutely no sense. I mean, it's just, yeah, she's the kind of, there's a very specific kind of any person, whether it's a woman named a marginalized identity who says, I had to do it, so you should too, right? And they're not interested in actually like subverting the system or saying like, that wasn't right, but like, I went through this and so you should go through it harder. And it's like- And I'm doing you a favor. Same. Yeah. Same.
00:38:37
Speaker
So that's that. Here's my biggest auditable moment. I want to talk to you about the things that were said about different girls. So I'm just going to do a run through of some of the notes I captured. These are the first impressions of the black women. The first black woman that we see says she's never been on a plane before. The second black woman that we see got in a fight and mentioned her weave.
00:39:02
Speaker
The third black woman got rejected last cycle and says she's a plus size person. The fourth black woman is from Compton. The sixth black woman is Tiffany. So we watched her fail and then she went to anger management and now she's crying because she sleeps at home with her baby in a twin size bed. Also she's poor and the lights got turned off so she can buy bathing suits. The eighth black woman we see has bed bugs and no milk for her baby. That's the roundup of most of the black women. The Mexican woman used to be in a gang.
00:39:34
Speaker
white girl has an all-American California look that they're not sure they can do much with. Yep. That was how this was presented to me. It's... I cannot wait for you to go through this journey. Just the way I felt this a little bit.
00:39:53
Speaker
I had an inkling of this when I was younger watching it, but seeing it back now, there's just clearly an extra burden that particularly black women and I would say other dark skin women carried on this show of expectation, of their emphasizing their struggle plot, the struggle by sizing them from the rest of the group. Yeah. But I was like, this is really interesting that
00:40:21
Speaker
the darkest skinned women on this show are working to escape poverty. And that's a higher stakes. Like I would sob too, if this was my way out and I'm fighting a bunch of girls at a table for my mind. You're so hungry. You're so hungry. You're so hungry. You don't really know who's watching your kid. Yeah. That's high stakes compared to somebody that feels insane. Yeah. It's just not.
00:40:48
Speaker
I just can't wait for you to see this play out. It's not good. I felt really bad after all this. And then I did have a moment. This was going to be my umbrella point was, for better or worse, and however it looks, we have come a long way culturally because this is fucking nuts. And not for nothing, at least the things that
00:41:16
Speaker
young people, us, whoever are watching, are not reinforcing these wild stereotypes about people. Because I think of how many people are socialized by this and the fact that we have been able to change and grow. And I think there's a lot of generations of human people
00:41:36
Speaker
who have not built that capacity, they would go back and watch something from their youth and be like, that's pretty good still. And at least we've entered an era of like critical thought where we look back and go, oh no, we should not have thought this was okay. I'm very deeply sorry. And we must repair this damage because it is harmful. Like every narrative that comes out of this show is
00:42:00
Speaker
really damaging and dangerous. Yeah. Yeah. So the enemy is still the same, right? Colorism, racism, that phobia, homophobia. But she out there, the battle is, is different. Um, the battle is, it has changed form because we were just doing the work for those things. We were doing that work for them. We were like, let us help you. And now we're like, Hey, this isn't cool. Yeah. I don't really like this, but thinking about even when
00:42:28
Speaker
Black Lives Matter and some of the offshoot conversations, models started talking about never having someone on set or on, what are they called, behind the scenes of a fashion show who could do their hair. The issue is going, the beast has changed.
00:42:47
Speaker
Oh, and how this is really wacky that they were allowed to do this on TV and it went for 20 plus seasons. Oh, my cycles. Right. Thank you. I'm sorry. I'm going to correct you every time because and that's accountability. And that's allyship. That's anyway. OK, so here I'm going to ask. OK, I think every episode we should do our faves.
00:43:12
Speaker
Our fave girl? Yeah, you can have multiple faves. I have four faves this time. Oh, my four faves? I do, I do. Okay, go tell me. Okay, my faves y'all are Naima, Kenya, Yuvi, and Noelle. Okay, see, I don't know anyone who you just said except for Naima.
00:43:36
Speaker
And that's okay. And that's okay. You can give us a favorite thing from the show, the episode if you have a favorite. Naima was my favorite because she's just like a real person. She's something different. Yeah. I can't imagine she's going to do well. Michelle was the no-neck monster. My other favorite was
00:43:56
Speaker
Um, Rachel, the chef who didn't make it. Yes. That was a thrilling detail. Um, yeah, I think that's my favorite. That's my favorite from this for sure. Was that Rachel, the chef was on her. I did just ask Jasmine in the chat. She can't hear us or talk, but she can chat. And she said Naima is her favorite contestant. So we have a fan favorite y'all going through. So we can go find her and get her on this.
00:44:19
Speaker
podcast immediately. I saw a tic-tac of her the other week, so she's still here. And Estella, her other favorite is Estella who went home. Jasmine's other favorite is Estella. See, I don't know who these people are. I like that spelling of Estella. Yeah, I have to get to know them a little more. I don't like any of it at this moment.
00:44:43
Speaker
You'll build some faves. You'll build some faves. I'm so excited readers. I cannot wait for you to join us on this. And next week is the canon event, the makeover episode. Brent, I'm so excited for you. And for readers, I just, I cannot keep this joy to my heart. Every season, each
00:45:01
Speaker
girl goes through a makeover in which they change their appearance, some pretty drastically. And I just can't wait for you all to see this. Oh my God. I can't either. I mean, see, this is the, this is how I know I grew up during this era, because when you tell me we're doing a makeover, I'm like, I got to see this. Whether it's a home makeover, whether it's an Oprah makeover, like, what is that movie? She's all that. We love the makeover. Take those glasses off, you ugly bitch.
00:45:30
Speaker
a new woman, a new woman with a stigmatism. That's in my DNA. I cannot, I cannot overcome the makeover obsession. I can't before and after I can't resist. Princess Diaries. I agree. I agree. Biggest loser. Drop those pants. I can't. Wow. Wow.
00:45:45
Speaker
Whoo. All right. Well, I mean, we're in it now, babies. So let's let these people out of it. And we'll see you next episode, cycle four, episode two. What would Jasmine normally say here? You can follow us on Instagram at the pop culture audit. Listen to us wherever you listen to your podcasts. And come back again because we just got started. Can't wait. Bye, readers. Bye.