America's Next Top Model Cycle 20- A Rant and Week Before the End Prediction

This is the worst cycle in the history of ANTM.

There. I said it... and I bet most would agree with me.

It's not because guys were included, though that doesn't make a lot of sense considering how different male and female modeling are. The combination of incredibly unlikeable judges, the same stupid rating system used in cycle 19, and the gimmicky photo shoots that didn't even pretend to be about fashion all contributed to just how bad this cycle is.

The "living photo" aspect of the pictures made each shot, even ones that otherwise looked like they might have been in a magazine, look tacky and cheap. The photo shoots themselves were not even attempting to be high fashion- something that ANTM always seemed to try for before.

The judges are the worst. They traded likeable, relatively fair people like the Jays and Nigel for the awful Kelly Cutrone and Rob Evans. And with the judging system as it is now, it allowed Kelly and Rob to be completely biased with their scores. Kelly, at least once, gave a low score just because the girl talked back to her and completely disregarded the photo. Rob had a hate on for Cory the whole season for no reason I could see aside from the fact that he's androgynous and gave his scores that reflected that. The social media voting is stupid. I'd much rather the fan participation be limited to the finale like Australia's Next Top Model (a much better show, BTW) does.

Another thing I noticed in this cycle was more time devoted to the drama in the house. While it has always been there, at least half of each episode had nothing to do with modeling. There was much less focus on catwalk and go-sees.

Anyway... on to the final 3.

In this episode, part 1 of the finale, we have Jourdan, Marvin, and Cory competing for the ANTM crown. From the beginning, I've thought that it just had to be a guy that won solely because of their inclusion in the show. That's looking like a real possibility right now.

The three contestants did a photo shoot for guess, a photo shoot for Nylon, and a video shoot for something. All through it, they are supported by teams made up of past contestants. It was really kind of shitty to watch as each former contestant picked their team and poor Jourdan only had Chris pick her. It was obviously not based on who would potentially win, but who they liked more. I actually am surprised that ANTM set up that situation because, while I wouldn't call it bullying, I thought it led to excluding someone. While Jourdan compared it to picking people for a game at school, I'd say it was more like when you no longer have to give Valentines to everyone in the class.

The show ended on a cliffhanger... one of the final three will be eliminated right before the final runway. The judging is based on the Guess picture and it has the same stupid "living photo" thing going on. I can't imagine that Guess will actually use them in an ad. We don't get to see the Nylon picture or the video.

I'd like for Cory to win. I thought he had some good photos that didn't get any recognition because of Rob. Jourdan also had some good photos and she did get best photo several times. I don't think I'd have a problem if Jourdan won, either. The one that I think doesn't deserve to win or even be in the final is Marvin.

I've got a big problem with Marvin... aside from the fact that his photos were mediocre at best. While the other two were talking about how they deserved to win because they were the best, Marvin talked about how much he didn't like Jourdan and thought she was terrible. I just can't see how anyone thought he was a nice guy. And I always hate when people think that they deserve something just because they were poor or otherwise disadvantaged at some point in their lives. You deserve it if you work the hardest and are the best... it's that simple.

Now... my predictions.

• The contestant that will be eliminated before the runway show will be Cory. He's managed to make it past Rob's hate for him thus far, but I don't think he can avoid it this time.
• I think Jourdan will have the best photo and runway walk of the three.
• Despite that, Marvin will win the show... which I think is completely undeserved. I've disliked Marvin from the beginning and thought, just based on photos, he should have gone home long ago.

Regardless of how this turns out, I think this will be my last cycle of America's Next Top Model. This cycle has been a chore to watch and, unless they change the format back, I can only see it getting worse in the future.