MMAS: Up In The Air

In episode two of Make Me A Supermodel, Dominic Prietto survived the first viewer elimination. The announcement of the results took place at the beginning of the show and it's apparent that this ceremony each episode is going to be filled with excruciatingly boring and manufactured drama. The judges talk in slow motion with long pauses in between statements. This is the kind of thing that Tivo is made for. You need to just fast forward and see which model walks off. Besides, that gets you to the unclothed scenes of the models sooner.

Most of the female models were noticeably unhappy about Dominic staying and Casey Skinner actually called him a bitch. Whatever they are talking about, it must be off camera before now because I haven't seen Dominic do anything that would deserve such criticism. However, I believe the combination of his inexperience and the effect of these negative remarks on the viewers are not going to allow him to get much farther in the competition.

After the elimination ceremony, the show takes us to Cutler Salon, where the models get their hair updated. Owner Rodney Cutler, wanting to make Holly's hair unique, asked her, "Do you want to follow fashion or do you want to develop fashion? You don't want to be current. You want to be ahead of the curve." Cory Bautista of New York Model Management, who was standing there listening, had previously complained about Holly's hair not fitting the New York standard. Hopefully, Cory will learn a thing or two from the experts this season and stop trying to fit his models into narrow molds. He shouldn't be trying to copy the current look, he should be creating a new one.

Next the models get their bodies waxed. Wasn't Ronnie Kroell told the previous week that body hair was "in" when it was noticed that he had shaved his chest? Very confusing.

For the photo shoot this week, the models get into an aerial harness. Ronnie was first and during his session it became clear to me how all-important the models' physical facial features are. Skill and attitude are so less significant when it comes to being able to do a good photo. As an example, Ronnie's face is very expressive even when he is in relaxed, casual conversation. His brows, eye folds, the spacing between the eyes, and the mouth lines allow him to make all kinds of expressions with hardly any effort. This gives him a huge advantage over a lot of the other models regardless of any of their intensity or drive to succeed.

Ben DiChiara was next and the photographer sounded so dumb barking commands at him. It showed the human tendency just to shout louder when you realize that you are not being understood. Ben is not experienced so she might have just as well have been screaming in ancient Hebrew at him. She should have just talked to him and explained more clearly for what she was looking.

Perry Ullmann managed to keep his junk from being injured by the wires and produced his usual smoldering, sexy shots, as did Dominic.

Later at dinner the models answer pointed questions that were intended to generate controversy. Ronnie gave a bitchy response that Dominic was the weakest model. That shows you can be a high-class model with a low-class personality. Ronnie also absurdly tried to flatter Ben by saying that Ben was his biggest competition. It was clearly more of a statement reflecting Ronnie's crush on Ben and not one indicating an accurate assessment of the contest. Ronnie should keep in mind that Ben is married and off-limits and so he should keep his public comments cooled down.

Ben said that he thought that compliments from a gay guy were worthwhile. This is of course very valid. Whereas straight women may tell a straight man that he is attractive because they admire his personality, his career, his bank account, or his car, a gay man is judging solely on the exterior view. It is a detailed scoring system that deducts major points for even the slightest defects, so when you get a high grade from a gay man it is high praise indeed.

The runway component for this episode featured costume designs from Heatherette. Frankly, I would rather see drag costumes by Chris from Project Runway. The judges decided that Dominic and Ben (along with Katy) would be in the bottom three subjected to the viewers' votes. I would like to keep both my guys, but it will probably be Dominic discarded next week.