Ignore Troy with regards to Cycle 7. That season is amazing, one of my all time favourites
ANTM doesn't really get "bad" until Cycle 15... like, there are a few cycles prior to that which aren't ~amazing~ but they're nit really terrible either, just the worst of a good bunch. It starts to get "bad" from 15 onwards, but even then the cycles aren't really awful until like Cycle 19, since there's individual characters who make it worthwhile. 16, and 18 are exceptions to the post-15 rule though, and 19 would've been good had it not been for the social media shizz