No - although it sounds bad - you're not the only one who thinks that. It's such a shame that many African Americans have been portrayed themselves negatively (read: b*tchy/superior) on the show (Ebony, Robin, Camille, Yaya, Brandy, Tiffany, and obviously Keenyah) but seem to stick around anyway. I wish ANTM had more positive Black contestants, like Mercedes, Toccara, and Naima.

Note: yes, there are b*tchy/superior white, hispanic, asian, etc. girls featured on the show too...but they seem to get cut a lot sooner

I have to disagree with the whole "Keenyah's only there still because she's black" theory. This Affirmative Action idea is just plain BS, I'm sorry. I think she's shown more progress and consistency than both Kahlen and Naima. Should she win, I think she may even show more promise than last year's winner, Eva.

I'd be happy if either Keenyah or Kahlen won. Naima's just plain boring and too painful to look at.

OTW, I think everyone sees the contestants differently. Can you explain how you think Keenyah has progressed over the course of the show? I guess I just don't see it.

To me, Naima is consistent. She takes strong pictures every week and she knows how to pose her body.

I also think Kahlen has progressed the most. She is a chameleon, able to evoke exactly the right emotion for each of the recent photo shoots.

From my perspective, I don't see Keenyah improving at all. Yes, there's the weight thing, but that's not her only weakness. She doesn't know how to pose her body...one example: the animal challenge, she and Michelle where the only two who didn't "embody" their animal but rather just posed like it was any other shoot. Also there's her look; the judges say she has a "pretty face," but there's no emotion, no fire in her photos. And she's not very professional...examples: pushing girls out of the way at go-sees, flirting with male model then saying he's being inappropriate, staring Brittany down all night at an industry party because she's "hogging" the spotlight. When I add all these things up, I can't believe she wasn't eliminated weeks ago.

I can correlate the last season with these final 3. For example... I think Amanda and Naima are so much alike. They take gorgeous pictures, but in person, they are lacking something. I like Naima, but I do feel she is bland.

Keenyah and Yaya are alike also. They have that arrogance about them. Yaya had that whole "afrocentric" idea, and Keenyah feels that she deserves everything because she's "black." She refuses to even recognize that Naima is black also. She said it in the show, she said she can't think that Naima is black because she doesn't look it.

Kahlen is the harder one to place. She is like Amanda because when she's up in panel, she does have a blandness to her, but Kahlen is improving.

I honestly hope Kahlen wins, she is more like me, real quirky and such.

I don't think that Keenyah is there because she is black, because like I said, so is Naima. I don't know how Robin was "negative." Wasn't she the one that refused to take off her clothes in a shoot because she wasn't comfortable with it? She was the real religious one also, that would say "Oooh Jesus, Jesus" when they put the snake on her right? How is that negative? Maybe because I dont remember it all, but I thought she showed will-power and showed that she can still hold firm ot what she believed.

Also, EVERYONE'S photos get airbrushed....Tyra said it. When she told Keenyah that they really had to airbrush that animal photo, she said something to the effect of "We had to airbrush it so much more than all the other girls" or something like that. So Keenyah's pictures aren't the only ones getting airbrushed. Airbrushing is a reality of the business...everyone gets airbrushed.

I also don't think Keenyah was really "flirting" with the guy. She was talking to the guy, trying to be nice...but the guy was really the one trying to flirt with her, by asking for her number and such.

Is it me or has this season been really lacking? Last season I loved Amanda. Maybe it was because she is going blind or maybe it is because she took gorgeous photos I'm not sure.

I bought season 1 and OMG I loved Adrienne from the beginning (even though I knew she was the winner).

I can honestly say that with season 1, even if I hadn't known that Adrienne was the winner I would have been rooting for her because her photos were amazing.

It seems to me that no one really stands out this season as in past seasons.

Although out of all of them I hope Kahlen wins but she really needs to get a backbone. She needs to get her self-confidence, realize that she is beautiful and stand up for herself.

Keenyah just needs to go away.

As for airbrushing, why the heck are they doing it? Isn't it supposed to be a competition? Why are they airbrushing Keenyah's mistake? (i.e. not watching her weight). Maybe it's just me but since it is a competition it seems like they should't be doing the airbrushing. IMPO.

I don't think Kahlen is like Amanda. I think she is more like Shannon from Season 1...the "innocent small town" girl.

Exactly! I don't know why they are airbrushing the pictures, they should let the girls know exactly what their photo looked like, but I guess they think they gotta make it look professional. And professional=airbrushed. Who knows, that whole idea that Keenyah's pictures were airbrushed just kinda blew my mind. I mean I knew they were touching up the airbrushing...but they should have just left the stomach like it was, so that Keenyah could see how she really looked. To me, she didn't look like she had gained weight...it didn't look bad to me, and that leaves a false impression to her. But yeah.

I really liked season 2. I had been rooting for Mercedes the whole way and was really dissapointed that Yoana got it...even though I see Mercedes on several commercials now.

I think they airbrush the photos so the girls can have them for their portfolios.
I do think that during judging, they should show the original untouched version.

I was sad that my girl Brittany got the boot--she did have a lot of personality, but I thought she had some of the best photos--as does Kahlen--at least I still have one favorite to root for!

Yay! :D

I think they just made the absolute WORST choice!!!! Let's pick the person who sucked with her photos but managed to pull it out during the runway over the person whose photos were amazing but who "didn't command the runway". WTF!!!!!! These women will probably spend more time doing shoots than runway they should have chosen the person who gives goregeous pictures.

I think they just made the worst decision.

I have never been a Niama fan (um yeah the Mohawk is so 80's).

I am throughly disappointed in the judges right now. I think they just made the worst decision.

I hope that Kahlen manages to get a contract with some other agency who realizes what a beautiful person she is and what beautiful pictures she takes.

I really thought they'd pick Kahlen. Her photos were SO much better, and it's not like she did poorly on the catwalk.

Keenyah's photos were HIDEOUS when they were going through them, but I LOVED her Cover Girl shot and her in the commercial. I thought she looked SO much better than she had before. She really looks pretty.

Namia or however you spell it... she creeps me out. I thought she was too much at the show. The show's about the clothes, not about the models. Also scares me in her pics

I guess I'm the only one who's happy about the choice. Until last night's episode, I did think Kahlen would win. She takes beautiful photos...but in the competitions where she had to work with male models or talk, she wasn't so great. Naima had half great pictures and half okay pictures, but she really stole the show last night. She's more confident and well spoken in person and her CoverGirl shot and runway were wonderful!

***

It really just depends on what they're "groomed" to do. For example, Season 1 and 2 winners Adrienne and Yohanna seem to do mostly runway work; I've never seen them in any print work. Eva, Season 3's winner, is sponsored by CoverGirl, so she does a lot of TV spots (like the "my life as a CoverGirl") and guest appearances. Naima, as Season 4's winner, will probably be a more of a spokesmodel like Eva.

I am SO not happy about this decision. :mad: I'm also wondering how far ahead of time this is filmed and if it's all over by the time people are voting for the "cover girl of the week."

They should change the name of this show to "Cover Girl's Next Spokesmodel, sponsored and controlled by Cover Girl" and be done with it.

Kahlen will be in print mags for years - Naima will be a flash in the pan.