Mixed Messages from America's Next Top Model

As I was sitting down for my weekly dose of guilty pleasure also known as America's Next Top Model last night, I got to thinking. In between each segment of the show was commercial after commercial for beauty products, diet foods and other advertising that's supposed to speak to the show's target audience. Does it speak to us? You bet it does. But what does it say to us? We're too fat, our lashes aren't long or full enough, and we should vote for Hillary Clinton - ok, maybe the last one is just because of the time of year. But still! What is going on, Tyra?! And this is what made me think back to a few weeks ago.

This season, I was delighted to see Sarah, not only because she's from Massachusetts, but because she was the first girl to walk in who was right in the middle.  Not super skinny, not plus size. Don't get me wrong! Models of all shapes and sizes can be gorgeous, but I was just intrigued that she didn't fit the traditional mold of any previous contestant on the show. Instead of categorizing herself, Sarah walked in, told the judges to take her as she was, and they did. I remember Jay Manuel saying something like, "well she's not skinny and she's not plus size,....what is she?" and Tyra replied, "she's real size!"

They were all excited and were going to have this whole new category of model for Sarah, representing all of the ladies out there who really are just kind of in the middle. But THEN! As the weeks went on, she started losing weight. She insisted that she wasn't doing it on purpose, but the judges started complaining that she wasn't big enough or small enough, and thus, she was eliminated. And this is when I said, "What is going on, Tyra?!"

I remember sitting there with my mouth hanging open, listening to Tyra's reasons for eliminating Sarah, and I couldn't help but wonder what Tyra really thinks. The woman leaving this girl sobbing, packing her bags to go home with probably a worse self image than she's ever had, is the same woman proudly declaring her weight on her chest on a red bathing suit and encouraging the rest of her studio audience to do the same. Granted, they're not all contestants on America's Next Top Model, but there was certainly more to Sarah's beauty than her weight. The brief glimpses we got of her on the show revealed a bubbly person with a fantastic sense of humor, a beautiful face and body and the education and poise that I think anyone would agree shows the true spirit of a Cover Girl, and in terms of our topics at True Jeans, of true beauty.

Regardless of the reasons that she was eliminated, I grew to really like her by the end. Granted, that could just be what the editors wanted us all to think. What do you think? Did you think it was a fair elimination? Who was or is your favorite Top Model Contestant?

(the photo in this entry was taken from the CW website)