I love this cycle! This was the first ever cycle I ever watched, so this cycle is especially nostalgic to me. I remember the first ever episode I ever saw was the makeovers episode, where Shandi transforms into a blonde bombshell, and Catie cries every two seconds. In fact, the makeover episode of this cycle is named after the latter contestant. How fitting. The drama was pretty good too, some iconic fights, meltdowns, and moments came from this very cycle. The photoshoots were amazing too. Some of the best photoshoots, and best photos in the history of the show came from this. The styling, the make up, the backdrops, the photoshoot ideas were at their best, well at least for the earlier seasons. Very strong set of girls too, especially the final four. Though I will say the final four is not as strong as people make it out to be. Only two of those final four were excellent models, and the other two were just inconsistent. So I feel like the fandom overrates the final four a bit. The final runway of the cycle was pretty good. Not my favorite runway, but still a good one. Kind of basic like Cycle 1, but I really liked the D shaped runway the final two girls walked on. Very unique and different. The winner was an excellent choice and she had a phenomenal portfolio. I don’t care if she was older looking, she still slayed away in photos and had the whole package as a model. And that’s all that matters to me. With the exception of two eliminations and one girl lasting a little too long, the elimination order was spot on. Really says a lot about how strong this cycle was, doesn’t it? Overall, Cycle 2 was an amazing season and one of my favorites ever. It’s thanks to this cycle, it turned me into a fan of this show. It’s really one of the strongest, most iconic seasons ever.
Like the other seasons, I am going to rank the girls from highest to lowest call out average wise. The overseas group is ranked 1-5, the makeovers group from 6-10, and the rest at 11-12. Now onto the final rankings!
Overseas:
1. April (2.1) 1/2/2/4/1/1/1/3/4
April was completely robbed of being in the finale. She was an amazing model! She had one of the best portfolios in the history of the show, and with the exception of two weeks, she was never called any lower than top three. She even earned a whopping four first call outs from me, three of those four being consecutive. That’s amazing! She didn’t have a single picture that I hated. The only one I didn’t care about was her nude shot with Mercedes, and even that photo wasn’t even that bad. And it certainly didn’t warrant her elimination either. With an impressive 2.1 average, April ties with Khrystyana for highest average ever. Which really says a lot about her extraordinary modeling abilities. On top of her top notch modeling skills, she was very classy and professional. One of the classiest contestants I have ever seen on the show. I wish more contestants could be like her. I really do think April should’ve been in the finale. She’d be my runner up had the show gone my way.
2. Yoanna (2.2) 6/1/3/2/2/2/2/2/1/1
Like April, Yoanna was a phenomenal model. She was a much better model than I thought upon ranking her. With the exception of the first week, she was never called any lower than top three. She got five consecutive second call outs from me, and three first calls outs. Very impressive! Yoanna had an amazing portfolio, one of the strongest portfolios of a winner, and one of the strongest portfolios on the show. Her helmet photo is by far the best photo in the history of the show. People only call it overrated because they just want to hate what everyone else likes. Her photo is on the side of my site for a reason. Furthermore, she didn’t have a single picture of hers that I hated. The only photo I wasn’t a fan of was her Garden of Eden picture, and even that was a pretty strong picture as well. Very underrated in the fandom. She was a gorgeous girl too, one of the strongest faces I have ever seen on the show. Some might say she was too old looking, but who cares when you can turn it out in photos like she can? Yoanna’s win this cycle was a well deserved one, and I also would’ve picked her as my winner as well.
3. Mercedes (3.9) 2/7/6/1/6/3/5/4/3/2
This may be an unpopular opinion, but I personally find Mercedes overrated. I don’t relate to her bubbly personality, and I didn’t think she was as nice as she pretended to be. For someone so “sweet” and “kind,” she snarked just as much as the other girls, and she seemed like the type to pretend to like someone while being nice to their face. She was a pretty good model however, and she had some gems in her portfolio, her Billie Holiday photo being her best photo. The problem with Mercedes was her not only being too commercial, she was woefully inconsistent. That’s why I’m so confused why people say she was an amazing model and even deserved to win. Because a lot of her photos were way mediocre. I don’t think she should’ve been in the finale, she was too inconsistent to be the runner up of the cycle. She’d go out fourth place for me, black and white nude week.
4. Shandi (4.3) 4/6/1/7/7/5/7/1/2/3
Oh Shandi…. the first ever Cinderella story of the cycle. Nobody has had as much of a transformation as Shandi has. She was the prototype for the awkward girl. Plus nobody could forget her cheating on her boyfriend while in Milan. There’s no doubt in my mind that Shandi is one of the most memorable contestants in the shows history. And she was a pretty strong model too. She had some amazing gems in her portfolio, her Laundry picture is the thing of a masterpiece, and her Sunglasses photo is iconic. Her nude photo with Yoanna was a fantastic photo as well. But I can’t exactly say I loved her portfolio. Like Mercedes, she was also inconsistent and had some flops too, her Underwater Quench photo and bland Celebrity photo to name a few. I like Shandi and everything, and I appreciate her journey on the show, but I find her a tad overrated. I was fine with her getting cut at third place.
5. Sara (4.7) 7/5/5/5/3/4/4
Here we have our Persian beauty of the show. Nobody was as emotional as she was when she was eliminated. She even cried all her mascara off. Besides that, there’s not a whole lot of memorable about Sara. While I do find her underrated, I don’t recall her being shown very much. From what we saw of her, she seemed like a fun, goofy girl. I wish the show had shown more of her. As for her modeling abilities, she had a ton of potential, but she never had the best photo. She never had a photo that wow’d me. There was only one week she was called in the top three, her Underwater Quench photo, which was her best photo. Other than that, she was mostly called in the middle. Still, she was a gorgeous girl, and she oozed with potential, and I would’ve kept her around at least one more week. I’d take her overseas, and eliminate her Sunglasses week.
Makeovers:
6. Catie (5.1) 5/3/7/8/4/6/3
I hate Catie. I hate her so much. She is one of the bitchiest, whiniest, biggest crybabies I have ever seen on the show. I get she was young at the time, and reality TV can be stressful, but my god, when wasn’t this girl crying? She always contradicted herself too. She said she wouldn’t cry about her hair being cut off, yet won’t stop crying about her makeover. She say fear is a waste of time and emotion, yet is an emotional wreck at the Laundry photoshoot. And the way she tossed Xiomara under the bus at that same panel was just despicable. Xiomara coaches you through your fear of heights, when she almost gets cut from the show by taking a bad photo. And the way she is thanked for it is having it thrown back in her face and calling her a liar? Her portfolio wasn’t even that great either. She was only called as high as top three two times. Besides that, she was usually called towards the bottom. I liked some of her pictures, like her Underwater Quench and Shoes picture. But then she had a lot of crap pictures like her Celebrity picture and her Black and White picture. I was fine with her being eliminated when she was. She wasn’t that great of a model on top of being a crybaby.
7. Jenascia (5.5) 8/4/4/6
Another contestant I don’t understand the love for. Everybody thinks she’s sooo hilarious and the big funny girl of the cycle. I for one found her rude, snarky, condescending, and obnoxious. Normally I like a contestant that’s rough around the edges and snarky. But she was just so damn negative about everything. She seems like the kind of girl that would make fun of you and/or ignore if you weren’t in the “cool” crowd. I did feel sorry for her when the judges would constantly harp on her for being too short. Hello, it’s not her fault she’s short. She’s not just going to grow several inches overnight just to satisfy you. She was an alright model as far as her portfolio goes. She took some good pictures, but there were always other girls that did better than her. In other words, she simply got overshadowed by stronger girls. I was fine with her elimination, she’s not as great as the fandom makes her out to be, be it her portfolio or her personality.
8. Camille (6.6) 3/8/10/9/5/7/6/5
Hoo boy Camille…. the original ANTM Diva. The chick with the signature walk she was convinced was going to make her famous. One of the most iconic lines on the show. No wonder she appeared on All Stars many years later! That being said, I really don’t think she was a bad person at all. Standoffish yes, a know it all who thought she was an expert, yes. But I don’t think she was ever outwardly mean. Yoanna had a weird fixation with her, and always exaggerated how bad Camille was. Which one was the first to help Shandi when she fainted again? I think the girls were just jealous and threatened by her. While Camille was an iconic diva, her portfolio was super weak. I don’t even know how she made top five honestly. She only had one good photo, her Garden of Eden photo, the rest of her photos ranged from bland to awful. I gave her five bottom two appearances, and eliminated her a whopping four times. That’s pretty bad for a fifth place contestant. She definitely overstayed her welcome on the show. She goes out Black and White photo/Rollitos week for me.
9. Xiomara (7.8) 9/10/9/3/8
Don’t know if I’m alone on this, but I really liked Xiomara. She was very down to earth and kind, and I enjoyed watching her on the show. I really felt bad for her on the show too, from getting backstabbed by Catie at panel, to taking some absolutely terrible photos. Her portfolio was definitely not a strong one. Her only good photo was her Celebrity photo, that horrible blackface aside. And of course I don’t even need to explain her “I’m taking a huge dump” Underwater Quench picture, one of the worst photos in the shows history. She got three bottom twos from me, and one elimination. Modeling was definitely not for her. I wholeheartedly agreed with her elimination at eighth place.
10. Heather (9.7) 10/11/8
Allow me to introduce to you, the most forgettable contestant in the shows history. The only thing she’s memorable for is being so damn forgettable. And for looking like Amanda Bynes, being borderline plus sized, and having no potential to model. Like Xiomara, Heather also took an “I’m sitting on the toilet” shot that was her Shoes photo. That alone should have told you she had no business being on the show. And none of her other two pictures were good either. Her elimination week three was well deserved.
The Rest:
11. Bethany (10.0) 11/9
It will forever remain a mystery how this girl ever got cast to be on the show. This woman was a negative, rude, condescending bitch who complained about everything. Do we really have to hear for the 40th time that your boobs are too big? I hated this girl. She had no potential to model either. Her Garden of Eden photo is the thing of nightmares, and her Shoes photo was nothing special. I was so happy she when was eliminated as early when she was. Good riddance.
12. Anna (12.0) 12
And here we have, the girl with no portfolio. The only girl in the history of the show to have no portfolio whatsoever. Anna refused to participate in the nude photoshoot the first week, and thus, she was eliminated for it. Kind of shame, she had quite a bit of potential, despite looking like a soccer mom in person. And she was a pretty big success post show as well. You should see her post show pictures, they are stunning! Too bad she backed out of the photoshoot right at the first week. We’ll never know how she would’ve performed on the show with no portfolio to judge her on. Therefore, her elimination the first week was a deserved one.
My ANTM Rankings 