G-Magazine Now

What Are Our Favorite "Top Model" Contestants Doing Today?

With thirteen seasons of the hit reality-TV series "America's Next Top Model" aired, there is no escaping of the cat-fighting drama around the catwalk for the legions of aspiring contestants we have grown to love since 2003.  After its first-run airing on the CW network, the Tyra Banks-helmed show has re-runs on cable networks Oxygen, Lfietime, VH-1 and MTV.

So what have our favorite runway divas been up to?  Check out these contestants' updates.

 

Jade Cole, Season 6: Remembered as one the uh, abrasive personalities on "ANTM," Jade Cole has since gone the way of the video vixen, appearing in segments for Jamie Foxx, Ne-Yo and, aptly, in Jay-Z's "Change Clothes." When the biracial beauty isn't busy working the runway in Hong Kong or South Africa, she's scribbling her autobiography and going on film auditions. As for "Top Model," Cole has said, "I feel like they only focused on my negative attributes." Uh huh.

 

Fo Porter, Season 12: One of the more memorable faces of that season, freckled Fo Porter made it a priority to get her GED after getting dismissed from the show last April. In six short months, she's scored gigs for Target, Nike and for Abercrombie & Fitch, shooting with Bruce Weber.

 

Fatima Siad, Season 10: Somalian and Ethopian stunner Fatima Siad, who found herself as the face of genital mutilation causes on season 10, may not have taken the title, but she definitely won big. Since wrapping "Top Model," the NYU-grad has posed pretty for Elle, Ebony, WWD, and walked the runway forBetsey Johnson and Louis Vuitton, amongst others. Still, Siad called her season of "Top Model" a joke, noting that the fact that a reportedly plus-sized model -- whose biggest gig since has been JCPenneycatalog work -- won "might be about politics."

 

Toccara Jones, Season 3: She came in seventh on the third season of "ANTM," but that didn't stop Toccara Jones from making a name for herself. Signing as a plus-sized model with Wilhelmina Models, Jones has worked for Ashley Stewart, Avon, Torrid, Rocawear, New York & Co. and other major brands. Most recently, she scored a major coup with a 14-page spread, shot by Steven Meisel, for the all-black issue of Italian Vogue. Still, the sometime BET-host's stellar portfolio is marred by a 2008stint on the VH-1 reality hit "Celebrity Fit Club," where the proud Jones dropped some 32 pounds.

G-RANKED: America's Next Top Model's Most Competitive Seasons

"America's Next Top Model" gained an immediate cult-following in the reality-TV world since its 2003 inception when supermodel Tyra Banks brought her notable friends in the industry to make dreams come true for hundreds of aspiring models.  Viewers tuned into the show on Wednesday nights to see the fiercest catwalks, edgiest fashions and modelesque poses as well as bitchiest catfights and the tears of insecurity.

As the weeks of each season progressed, the competitions grew tougher with Covergirl commercial challenges, go-sees and the final runway showdown.  Twelve winners in ANTM's twelve seasons have been crowned, which made some cheer and some cry foul.  Now, G-Magazine takes a look at the previous twelve seasons to see which season had the toughest competition in looks, pictures, runway walks and personality.

#12 - Season 4

How do you follow up an entertaining season three with very competitive girls, top-notch photos and memorable catfights?  Tyra Banks, J. Manuel and J. Alexander chose a crop of homely, safe-looking boring young women who had the personality of a wall (Naima and Kahlen Rondot) or acted like a drunken porn star (Brittany Brower).  There was no clear front-runner at the beginning of the season though winner Naima Mora won the hearts of veiwers by winning the CoverGirl of the Week honor throughout the entire season.  Even, pretty Black contestant Keenyah Hill's stomach ballooned without taking heed to the judges' warning about how her eating habits could cost her the prize.  The only highlight happened when Tyra yelled at the top of her lungs at Tiffany Richardson for having a defeatist attitude in the competition.

#11 - Season 12

Season 12 began a second successive pointless season with a crop of worthless girls who were more into catfighting like Sandra Nyanchoka and Aminat Ayinde and sob about criticisms and flaws like Tahlia Brookins.  While those ladies lasted enough episodes to create good TV, they cheapened the competition with their ugly photos.  Too bad that fashion-forward Celia Ammerman was constantly reminded that she look older because she rocked her photos and in-person presence.  Other than that, the entire season belonged to Teyona Anderson who only taken one bad photo and remained in the top two of the weekly call-outs.

#10 - Season 1

With most reality competitions' first seasons, they can become the standard classic where no other season can compare such as "The Apprentice" or "Survivor."  In "America's Next Top Model." the first season seamed like the experiment of what the show can do and withdraw in future seasons.   Even the young women in competition seemed more like pretty catalog and video models rather than high-fashion ones.  Though people may remember the slurring winner Adrienne Curry, Ebone Haith the lesbian with complexion issues and the Bible-toting hypocrite Robyn Manning among others, the challenges outside of the nude one were not memorable at all.  Season one appeared to be a test season overall.

#9 - Season 11

Most viewers complained that this season was the most forgettable.  Besides shaking up the competition by employing transgendered contestant Isis King, the remainder of the season made people scratching their hands about whether the show would be able to last and find a formidable group of girls worth competing on ANTM.  Even Isis could not muster enough femininity and self-assuredness to rally gigantic support from fans.  Since her departure, viewers had to deal with the whines of Marjorie Conrad and Samantha Porter.  McKey Sullivan won, but Analeigh Tipton deserved the title.

#8 - Season 2

Though season two brought in a few young women who resemble top model potential such as Xiomara Frans and Shandi Sullivan, the show brought more male magazine model looking chicas with Camille McDonald and Sara Racey-Tribizi.  Though the show brought more justification through the challenges than the first season, each week made the judges' work easy to pick out with applicant would get axed.  Winner Yoanna House always gave great face in her photos, but her oddly shaped body always posed a problem unlike the commercial-looking, bubbly runner-up Mercedes Scelba-Shorte.  Does anyone remember that nauseating self-indulgent challenge that Tyra made the girls participate in her music video?  Thankfully, Tyra has not repeated that challenge since.