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Top Model 4 Sneak Peek
by Daniel R. Coleridge
The fourth season of America's Next Top Model begins March 2 on UPN, but we've got nagging questions that won't wait till then. So here, TV Guide Online hooks up with host Tyra Banks and her fellow executive producer Ken Mok for a sassy stroll down the catwalk into Model's past and future.
Change of Venue
This time around, ANTM is set in sunny L.A. "Our show needs to be on the pulse of fashion," Banks says. "Los Angeles is now a major fashion port in the industry. They're going into their third season of having a true Fashion Week like New York, Milan, Tokyo and London." The girls are housed in a snazzy apartment, right above a fashion design company, in an "iffy" part of downtown. "We show them a different view of L.A. than palm trees, beaches and Beverly Hills," Mok says. "It's a more gritty side."
Deliver Us From Eva
Will the third season's victor, Eva Pigford, make a cameo appearance as past winners have? "I don't think you should make that assumption," Mok responds curtly. Hmm...
Janice the Menace
Last year, ANTM judge Janice Dickinson publicly complained that Eva won instead of Amanda Swafford. Will they be putting a muzzle on her this time? "Janice is Janice," Banks chuckles. Adds Mok: "We love Janice. Janice will speak her mind no matter what — she doesn't mince words or say politically correct things. She's entitled to her opinion. That's what makes the show interesting." Now that sounds pretty PC to us.
Size Matters
Don't look for a zaftig beauty like Toccara Jones in this year's bunch, which includes no plus-size wannabe models. Mok's explanation? "We wanted to have two because we didn't want [someone] to feel like the token plus-size model, so we invited more [plus-size women] out for the initial casting. However, the way it turned out, none of the plus-size contestants were very strong. We could've ended up with one plus-size girl, but we thought it was going to be unfair again." Adds Banks: "I think that's important for that girl to feel some healthy competition, as opposed to measuring herself up against girls that she'd never be up against for a job in the real world of modeling." Again, hmm...
Rainbow Connection
There are no ladies of Asian descent competing, either. "We have white, African-American [and] Latino, but we do not have Asian in this cast, although we looked very hard to get some Asian candidates," says Mok, who's careful to point out that he himself is Asian-American. "We'll do our best to get [Asian candidates] in the next cycle. We like to make sure our cast has a healthy and honest reflection of what the U.S. populace is."
Surreal Deal
Tyra can't be too pleased about the first Top Model, Adrienne Curry, dating Christopher Knight (the artist formerly known as Peter Brady) on VH1's has-been sideshow, The Surreal Life. "Honestly, I was not very happy that she was going to be on that show," Banks admits. "But when I saw the company she had on the show, like Marcus Schenkenberg — who is still a supermodel — and the cast this year, I don't feel like it was so has-been-y as it has been in the past. On Surreal Life, they're not saying she's a has-been, they're saying she's a working model, which is very nice. It made me feel a lot more relaxed."
Sorry, SI
What did Banks think of NBC's Wednesday-night reality rip-off, Sports Illustrated: Swimsuit Model Search? "I haven't seen it," she responds. "I don't know, but it's flattering that they would do something like that. I haven't checked it out." Ouch! Miss Tyra just burned a Peacock's tail feather.
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