Asia's Next Top Model Cycle 3 ~ First Impression

Asia's Next Top Model Cycle 3 had its Global premiere last Wednesday (25th March 2015) with a fresh batch of contestants and a stunning new host. So how was the first episode of the season?

As per usual for the first episode of the reality show, the new season showed the new contestants arrived for the competition, this time once again held in Singapore. I was hoping it would be held someplace else, since the show had already made Singapore its home in the first cycle. The Philippines or Hong Kong sound like a good place for a new cycle, but I guess maybe to hold it in Singapore is more convenient for the producer of the show.

The very first challenge for this cycle that the contestants had to face was a catwalk challenge with a turntable at the end of the runway for them to pose. Under the eyes of the new host and head judge, Georgina Wilson; model mentor, Joey Mead King; and Marina Fairfax from Storm Model Management, the challenge was quite nerve-wrecking to some contestants who struggled on the spinning platform. After some feedback from the judges, the first challenge winner was announced as Barbara from Japan.

For their first photoshoot, the girls had to shoot in swimwear. While the photoshoot was a breeze for some, others struggled to give their best shot, and from what I noticed it's because they were a bit too self-conscious of their bodies. It's understandable since some of these girls don't usually wear revealing clothes and with a conservative family background. But I can see that all the girls did their best that they can and hope for the best as you never know how your photos will turn out until you met with the judges.

Talking about judges, at the judging panel, the girls met the judges that will determine their fate for the first time. Heading the judging panel is, or course, Georgina Wilson, with Joey Mead King and creative director, Alex Perry as the main judges. The other two judges who joined them were Kenneth Goh and their photographer for the swimwear photoshoot, Mike Rosenthal. After some deliberation, Celine and Shareeta ended up as the bottom two, and in the end Shareeta, a contestant from Malaysia, was announced as the first contestant eliminated from the show. She's a beautiful girl but sadly her lack of confidence had caused her to perform poorly at the challenge and photoshoot. Hopefully she can gain more confidence and realize that she is beautiful and more capable than she gives herself credit for. All the best for her in the future.

There are three contestants that caught my attention in this first episode. The first one is Barbara from Japan. She looks so beautiful and radiant, and pretty much like a working model (I'm not sure if she had model before though since some contestants did have some modelling experience). Second is Melissa from Malaysia. She had received some poor feedback from the judges during the challenge and for her photo, but I love her face and her pose in the swimwear photo, which to me was slightly different than the other girls. Hopefully she will improve in the upcoming episodes. The last contestant that caught my eyes is Amanda Chan from the Philippines. She has that cute face but her photo looks fierce and amazing. She's the youngest contestant in this cycle and with determination I think she has potential to go far in this competition. Apart from these three girls, I noticed one more contestant who look pretty amazing in photo with her striking feature. She may not be one of the standout for me in the first episode, but her photo in the main website made me noticed her, and the girl is Tahlia from Indonesia. But of course, this is only the first episode, so anything could happen. To be honest, a lot of the girls look amazing in their first photoshoot, so I'm pretty sure it's going to be a tough competition for this cycle.

As for the judging panel, I'm glad Joey Mead King returned to the show. She's such a good mentor in the past cycles and I'm pretty sure she will be great in this cycle too. Plus, she's quite funny. While I missed Nadya Hutagalung as the host, I'm quite okay with Georgina Wilson taking her place in this cycle. She was a bit formal though, maybe she will loosened it up a bit in the upcoming episodes. As for Alex Perry, I don't quite know what to think yet, so let's just wait and see.

You can catch Cycle 3 of Asia's Next Top Model every Wednesday at 8.45 pm on StarWorld.

All the best to all the contestants!


Images from AsNTM Cycle 3 official website.