NZNTM 1.01 “Swimsuit” Recap

The first cycle ever of New Zealand’s Next Top Model premiered on Friday, March 13th. It looks like a really promising show, with faith to the original NTM format, some very modelesque girls and drama to spare. I can’t live blog it, because I live in Canada, but since I’m watching it, I thought recapping the show would be quite fun!

Full recap is below the jump!

If you’re like me and can’t watch the show, it’s available on Youtube.

Original Air Date: March 13, 2009

NZNTM cuts to the chase fairly quickly and the opening montage features host Sara Tetro calling the 33 semi-finalists and telling them to pack their bags for Queenstown. Immediately, they meet dude, who introduces them to Angela Dunn, New Zealand’s first supermodel. I’d never heard of her before, but her pictures from the montage are pretty fierce. Some walks are good and some are terrible. We quickly cut to the girls meeting Sara, who tells them the hard work starts now.

We meet all the semi-finalists, and I must say there are some very modelesque girls in the bunch! NZNTM stays very true to the ANTM model, with the judges getting the girls to do kooky things like eat a chili pepper and dance. They also ask girls about their sob stories, including leaving their kids at home and their past drug addictions. Angela Dunn has certainly watched her fair share of ANTM, because she often pulls a Tyra and gets involved in the girls’ auditions.

We meet a few stand-outs including the hyper-competitive Hosanna, who won’t stop practicing; Rebecca Rose who is stunning and devious; Frankie, who has a blonde ‘fro and a killer runway walk; Teryl-Leigh, who left two kids at home to try out; Sarah, who left her daughter at home, has epilepsy and recently overcame a morphine addiction; Olivia and Lucy, two sisters who are competing for the top prize against each other; and Rhiannion, who at 16 already looks like a supermodel.

Sara, Colin and Chris all seem very supportive, constantly highlighting the girls’ positive attributes and offering them compliments.

After this, the girls then go enjoy a dinner together. But it’s not all fun and games. Sara shows up and demands they all tell her one last reason why they should be New Zealand’s next top model.

The next day, all 33 girls head to the lake for a photo shoot in the bikinis they brought. This is just to see who can take a pretty picture and who can’t. We run through this pretty quickly, with the only drama being Sarah getting sick, arriving late and still rocking her shoot.

After this, the 33 are imemdiately cut to 20. It’s pretty clear the 20 were selected before this photo shoot, so it seems a bit mean they’d put the girls not making it through. The top 20 take off in a boat, stranding the rejects on the beach, freezing in the near-winter weather!

Sara, Colin and Chris then deliberate. They need to turn the top 20 into the final 13, who get to go to Auckland and live in the house together. They do the final call-out Tyra-style and it’s clear Sara has been studying hard.

In the end, the lucky finalists are:

Ajoh, a 22-year-old from Auckland, who is originally from Sudan.

Christobelle, the 16-year-old pixie from Auckland.

Hosanna, the 19-year-old whose so competitive she looks desperate from Gisborne.

Laura, an easy-going 20-year-old from Wellington.

Lucy, a 22-year-old from Dunedin.

Olivia, a 19-year-old from Dunedin, and Lucy’s younger sister.

Rebecca Rose, a 19-year-old from Auckland who has more modeling experience
than she’s letting on.

Rhiannon, a 16-year-old exploding with raw talent from Blenheim.

Ruby, a 17-year-old from Hastings, whose interesting face could work against her.

Sarah, a 19-year-old from Christchurch, who has a child, epilepsy and is overcoming a drug addiction.

Teryl-Leigh, a 23-year-old from Auckland who is having a hard time leaving her kids behind.

Tiffany, a 17-year-old from Rotorua who we know nothing about.

Victoria, a 21-year-old from Blenheim, who we also know little about.

Meet the models for yourself here!