9th - Cycle 18 (2012)
This cycle was dubbed the US vs UK cycle where they brought back 7 girls from Britains Next Top Model to compete against 7 new girls from the US.
Lets be honest, the UK girls really made this cycle amazing, the US girls were messy. Seymone introduced herself as a military brat and it showed.. she was gobby and sulked for pretty much the entire time she was there. Laura was just very strange and often outwardly sexual, especially with a teddy bear she had. The UK girls decided to steal it and chuck it in the pool and Laura went crazy, stomping around screaming and crying
One of the funniest moments was when the girls had to do an eating challenge (for literally no reason) and Seymone demolished a whole haggis, which led Candace to do impressions of her later that evening, "she didnt wanna share that haggis!" this led to a huge fight
and then this from Ashley....
This was also the cycle that introduced Kelly Cutrone as a judge and she wasted no time causing drama. When she told Louise to stop running on set, Louise was having none of it. Later on at panel, Kelly confronted Louise and called her rude to which Louise snapped back "nonono you were rude to me...", this then led to one of the most dramatic exits from the show when Louise stormed out and was filmed in the car park outside shouting at Ken Mok saying "IF I EVER SEE THAT KELLY CUTRONE AGAIN ILL KNOCK HER OUT"
iconic!
We also had Scottish Ashley who pretty much struggled from the start but somehow managed to make it to week 5 before they'd finally had enough of her.
AzMarie had been a clear front runner from the start, winning challenges and getting first call outs, however she shot herself in the foot when she refused to wear a fake bum pad in a dance teach with Tyra.. she got sent home the same episode
That being said, the UK girls song 'We'll Mash You Up' was imo the best song to come out of ANTM. I still die at "couture strutter, like no other, sincerely a stunner, Alisha!"
The girls went to Macau and Hong Kong during the top 6, and you just know its gonna be good when they go to Asia
After doing a photoshoot with silkworms, they had to pose on a ledge on top of a huge skyscraper type building, Sophie and Alisha broke down in tears but still managed to do the shoot. At panel that week it came down to Alisha and Ebonee in the bottom 2 and when Tyra revealed Alisha was safe, she broke down crying and said she'd rather give up her place for Ebonee to stay. Tyra was having none of it and sent Ebonee home along with Alisha.
In the end the final 2 came down to Sophie and Laura. It was kind of obvious they were gonna give Sophie the win, otherwise what would've been the point in a US vs UK series just for a US girl to win. Imo this was deserved anyway, Laura took some amazing photos but she wasn't personable at all.
Cycle ranking: 8/10
