User:ArkansasTraveler/ANTM reorganization project/3

This page is workspace devoted to the reorganization of the article on America's Next Top Model, and a split of its various cycles into separate related articles. Please submit comments and suggestions on the discussion page for this secondary user page.

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America's Next Top Model episodes (Cycle 3)

This article contains episode summaries from Cycle 3 of the American competitive reality television series America's Next Top Model. The third cycle aired in the fall of 2004.

ANTM Cycle 2	America's Next Top Model	ANTM Cycle 4
ANTM Cycle 2	List of Cycle 3 Contestants	ANTM Cycle 4
Cycles: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7
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Cycle 3 promotional cast photo
Competition location: New York
Finale location: Tokyo
Winner: Eva Pigford
Original Airdate: September 22 - December 15, 2004
Episodes: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13

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The third cycle of America's Next Top Model aired in the fall of 2004, and was the first to air during the fall. It featured fourteen young women aspiring to be this season's America's Next Top Model, though in the end, Eva Pigford would be this cycle's winner. Notably, she is the first African-American winner of the show as well as the youngest winner at 19 years of age during the show's production.

The season began with the fourteen models being jetted to Jamaica for a swimsuit shoot. Magdalena Rivas was eliminated in Jamaica the day after the shoot, and in the same episode. Leah Darrow was cut during the first session of judging. The second episode of the season was the infamous makeover show, in which each model was given a new look. Some makeovers were drastic - 22-year-old Jennipher Frost was told that her waist-length hair would be cut and donated to Locks of Love, and 25-year-old Amanda Swafford was transformed from a brunette to an ice blonde. For that week's shoot, each contestant was challenged to take a beauty shot without any make-up. That week, Julie Titus, a young woman of Indian descent, was eliminated. In addition to a weak photo, she had revealed during judging that her motive for being on the show was not to launch a modeling career but rather to gain an edge in fashion manufacturing, which was her true passion.

In the next episode, the remaining contestants were fitted with hair extensions and shot an advertisement for Lee (Jeans) wearing nothing but the product. Kristi Grommet was cut due to her lack of confidence. For the next shoot, each contestant posed on roller skates to advertise Dooney and Bourke accessories. Jennipher Frost was eliminated as the judges felt she was not delivering strong enough photographs. Kelle Jacob was the next contestant to be ousted after a high-octane shoot jumping on a trampoline next to a cargo plane for an energy drink.

The seventh episode of the season was Cassie Grisham's final appearance. Earlier in the show, she had revealed to Amanda that she suffered from bulimia, and her secret had subsequently spread to all of the contestants as well as to Tyra Banks. Tyra offered counseling to Cassie, but this 19-year-old student from Oklahoma refused help and chose to continue living with bulimia. Cassie was cut after her lackluster performance in a photo shoot for Ford Mustang automobiles, in which each model posed twice to represent dual identities in their respective characters. In the next shoot, the models learned that they would be posing for beauty shots advertising diamonds, but, much to the horror of many contestants, notably Eva Pigford, they would be posing with a tarantula. In the end, it was plus-sized model Toccara Jones who was ousted in this episode. Though she had entered the competition with a good deal of enthusiasm and confidence in her body, the judges felt that she no longer had the "plus-sized personality" to potentially break barriers in the modeling industry.

The final six contestants - Yaya, Nicole, Norelle, Ann, Eva, and Amanda - were then told that they would be traveling to fashion hot-spot Tokyo for the remainder of the competition. For their first challenge, they were assigned to shoot a commercial for Campbell's Soup - in Japanese. Though each contestant struggled with this challenge, redhead Nicole Borud was this episode's eliminated contestant for not being sufficiently noticeable. The next contestant to be sent home was Norelle Van Herk, a 19-year-old sales associate from California who had compiled an impressive portfolio. However, she had struggled in Japan and was eliminated after a photo shoot for T-Mobile, in which each contestant posed in a traditional kimono with a cellular phone. The eleventh episode of the season featured an anime-themed shoot to reflect a part of Japan's modern culture. Ann Markley was cut at panel because, though the judges felt she was a natural beauty, they noted that she had often struggled to translate her looks into a strong photograph.

In the finale of Cycle 3, Amanda Swafford, who was legally blind due to the degenerative eye condition retinitis pigmentosa, Yaya Da Costa Johnson, who had graduated from Brown University, an Ivy League university, and had enjoyed many consecutive challenge wins, and Eva Pigford, who had a strong portfolio and whose plucky personality had earned her the nickname of "Eva the Diva," went head-on in the Covergirl photo shoot. Amanda was eliminated first, though all three contestants had performed very well in the shoot. This set into motion the first time in Top Model in which two African-American females were the remaining two contestants. Though Yaya's final runway performance and consistently strong portfolio impressed the judges, her less-than-humble attitude on several occasions did not. Instead, Eva Pigford, who had entered the competition with the handicap of being the shortest contestant and who had overcome her lack of height, had a stunning portfolio, and stood out with her personality, was declared the third winner of America's Next Top Model.