On Tuesday, 26 January 2010, the LGBT Society hosted Cycle 4 of Trinity’s Next Top Model. TNTM has headlined Rainbow Week, a campaign designed to raise awareness of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered community in Trinity, for four years running. Like the Tyra Banks-hosted TV show on which it is modelled (no pun intended), in past years TNTM has been a site for glamour and intrigue. Case in point: Cycle 2’s male winner (back when the show had energy enough to sustain both a male and female winner) was exposed as a non-student contestant.
But for better or for worse, this year’s TNTM appears to have been stripped of any such potential for scandal. Everything has been pared down: this year there was no raised runway, only one winner, and the host failed to show up. At times, TNTM Cycle 4 proved slightly underwhelming, whereas it should have striven towards the overwhelming and the OTT.
As published in the un-corrected event program, this year’s TNTM was originally scheduled to be hosted by Dublin drag queen and entertainer Miss Panti. At the beginning of the show, TNTM organizer Jason Keegan announced that Panti would not, in fact, be coming, and that taking her place would be fellow gender-bending entertainer Veda Beaux Reves (aka Enda McGrattan). Veda was herself slated to judge, but it fell to Trish Fallon, Director of 1st Option Models, and Noel Sutton, ‘Stylist to the Stars’, to make the final decision.
Keegan introduced all three before making a tribute to late Trinity student and friend of the LGBT, Eoin O’Domhnaill. Eoin, who sadly passed away last month, had been an active supporter of the Trinity LGBT Society and served as Students’ Union LGBT Rights Officer until earlier this year. His absence was felt on the night of the show.
Replacement host Veda did, however, prove to be an entertaining emcee, amusing the audience with her often caustic sense of humour, mostly at the expense of the models. Where the rest of the show never quite achieved the same high-camp quality that Tyra Banks’s ANTM has set as precedent, Veda embraced it with a sardonic glee. Apologizing for appearing onstage and visible to the audience before the show began (she was looking for a cigarette, though I think she used a different word) and thus destroying the necessary ‘illusion of glamour’, Veda clearly enjoyed deconstructing the show’s not-so-elaborate facade. She later took out a packet of bourbon creams to feed the ‘starving’ models, periodically offering them up to the contestants and audience. Veda was in on the joke, and delightfully so.
As for the models, this year’s contestants were (in order of walking): Katie Bebbington, Georgia O’Callaghan, James McCarville, Aisling Cronin, Sophie Sarratt, Sarah Rochford, Jenny Doyle, Joe Colgan, Naomi Coyle, Sara Benson, Claire Bermingham, Jane Cleary, James Gough, Diana Sandu, Adam Hurley, Ciaran Doyle, and Jill Woodnutt. They were coached on walking and posing by Sebastian Castrillion, who has worked with both Gisele Bundchen and Shakira and is opening a branch of Elite Models in Ireland next October. The models wore their own clothes and competed in three rounds: ‘Funky’, ‘Fancy Dress’, and ‘Formal’.
While some of the models appeared to be taking the competition very seriously, others were clearly in it for the craic. Ciaran Doyle was especially enjoyable to watch, wearing a sheer, puffy plaid blouse in the Funky Round, a bin bag during the fancy dress, and a handsome Victorian-esque suit for the Formal Round. Other standouts were Georgia O’Callaghan, who dared to bear a radiant smile throughout, and Claire Bermingham, who walked confidently without affectation, and whose outfits showed her off to best effect. James Gough strode purposefully with a masculine sway of the shoulders.
The five finalists were Naomi, Claire, James Gough, Jill, and James McCarville. After narrowing the list down to the two Jameses, the judges selected James McCarville as the winner of Trinity’s Next Top Model, Cycle 4. He will be signed to a one year contract with 1st Option Models.
The fashion worn by the models on the runway (or what could be seen of it: as the judges frequently commented, most of the models rushed through each round with barely a turn or glance up), was a mixed bag of styles. Indeed, the inclusion of the Funky and Fancy Dress Rounds in place of casual or daytime wear generally prevented the models from exercising much creativity in the way of current – read: actually wearable – trends and styles.
During the Funky Round, there were sequins, lame, and spandex to be found on the girls, and lots of hot pink and cobalt blue all around. James McCarville may have won the competition for himself based solely on his fancy dress costume: he was bang on trend in a fur gilet and tight black hot pants. Other costumes, such as Sophie’s French maid outfit and Diana and Jill’s angel costumes were too conventional to gain much notice. Sophie was, however, able to score high in her blue formal dress with some contrasting red lipstick. Claire’s silver column halter dress was an absolute knock-out.
While the models worked the runway, headshots taken by photographer Lucy Nuzum were projected onto a screen towards the back of the Dining Hall venue. Nuzum’s portraits succeeded in highlighting each model’s unique facial features and a hint of their personality, otherwise difficult to perceive from the short amount of time each model appeared onstage.
Before making their selection, the judges briefly questioned the five finalists, ostensibly to get a sense of each contestant’s personality. Judges Fallon and Sutton asked simple questions of the contestants , for example Naomi’s height
(just under six feet), James McCarville’s real hair colour (red), and generally how ‘adaptable’ each contestant thought s/he was. It is likely, however, that James McCarville was a front-runner from early on due to his height, lanky build, and sassy walk. He was visibly shocked and delighted upon being declared the winner.
Lasting barely an hour, and much of that waiting time, this year’s TNTM was a brief but enjoyable show, if a little lacking in the ‘wow’ factor. All proceeds in ticket sales and sponsorship went to the Open Heart House, which gives aid to patients living with HIV/AIDS. Jason Keegan reported about 2,000 euro raised – no small accomplishment for an otherwise relatively unassuming show.
