"America's Next Top Model" 2008 Reaches Its Halfway Point

The CW's continuing juggernaut, "America's Next Top Model," is half way through cycle ten with underway with only seven the show's original 14 models still in place. This year's crop is standard with a few troublemakers, a couple of eccentrics, and lots all-American beauties.

What is new this year, however, is that finally a plus-sized model continues to blow the judges away. At the moment it remains anyone's guess concerning who might take home this year's prize.

Atalya, an 18-year-old student from Brooklyn, New York was thefirst to go. She was followed by Allison who didn't "rock" her new makeover.

In week four, Amis, who had been in the bottom two more than once, finally met her match in the form of raw meat. The girls were asked to model wearing meat in the New York meat-packing district. And oddly enough the girl from Oklahoma couldn't relate to the beef.

During week five, one of the girls I originally thought might be a front runner in the contest, Marvita, lost her edge. She lost her edge and her passion, which unfortunately came through in her photos. She was ultimately eliminated.

Last week the girls took lessons from the master herself when Tyra Banks taught them how to be "fierce." Unfortunately, sweet little Aimee, a hostess from Washington, couldn't quite pull off that emotion and was sent packing.

Tonight (April 2), at the show's half way point, the judges still had no strong front runners to draw upon. Katarzyna received another makeover in hopes of helping her to shed her total "good girl" image and give her more of an edge.

The models were asked to model laying face down in a water pool of clear mylar. Claire continued to struggle with her one-note posing that landed her in the bottom two the week before. She landed there yet again when her pictures were lifeless and her performance at go sees was less than stellar.

Joining her in the bottom two was Lauren. Although Lauren has taken amazing pictures week after week, her performance in this challenge was lackluster. Couple that with her dead personality in person and her weak go see evaluations, it seemed that she was a shoo in to be sent home.

However, in a surprise turn of events, the judges opted to send Claire home instead. It seems that Lauren's fantastic pictures weighed more than Claire's sparkling personality and "can do" attitude.

That leaves seven girls still in the running to be "America's Next Top Model." They include:

Anya, a 19-year-old retail clerk from Honolulu, Hawaii;
Dominique, a 23-year-old receptionist from Columbus, Ohio;
Fatima, a 22-year-old student from Boston, Massachusetts;
Katarzyna, a 22-year-old finance coordinator from Roslyn, New York;
Lauren, a 22-year-old artist from Brooklyn, New York;
Stacy Ann, a 22-year-old student from Miami, Florida; and
Whitney, a 23-year-old student from Atlantic Beach, Florida.

An early favorite of mine, Fatima, seems to be fading in personality and talent as the weeks progress. Dominique, this year's house witch, continues to grate on the nerves of both the contestants and the audience. Quiet girls Anya and Stacy Ann keep flying under the radar while strengthening their skills and absorbing everything they can.

Bubbly Whitney might just be the first plus-sized model for this show; that is, of course, if the judges are willing to continue to judge her fairly in that mode. But the wild card here is Katarzyna. If she keeps steadily improving as she has thusfar, she just might fool everyone and run away with the ultimate prize.

I don't see Lauren making it past next week unless she makes some drastic changes and gains a personality. Right now she is dead in person and often looks sloppy and comes across a bit brainless; not the stuff top models have to be made up.

I guess we will have to wait and see. As avid viewers of this show know, things change drastically from week to week and there is still plenty of time for the models to stake their claim.