Episode Report Card Potes: B+ | 16 USERS: C YOU GRADE IT Bali Chooses Two
By Potes | Season 20 | Episode 11 | Aired on 10.18.2013
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.We begin the episode with Tyra paying a visit to the Bali model house so she can get the models to talk about their feeeeeeeelings. The first target is Marvin, who has sequestered himself outside and is crying about his close call at elimination. He manages to find solace in Tyra's ample bosom, and then she moves on to the rest of the house. Chris is one of the most dramatic, of course, and says that he's jealous of everybody else's friendships. Nina, who honestly maybe is a little slow, whispers that Chris is her guy, but she's not getting feelings back from him. And then he says she's being too motherly and not a friend and that upsets her even more. Everyone is SO sick of him, and Jourdan goes so far as to call him a horrible human being. Renee sits Nina down to tell her that Chris is not her friend, and it slowly begins to sink in. Throughout the episode, though, her enormous eyes are constantly rimming with tears that could water a rice field.
And speaking of rice fields, they provide the setting for the week's photo shoot. The models wear clothing by Indonesian designers Oka and Rafi, who is an 11-year-old deaf fashion prodigy. Marvin wants to do Rafi proud, and is in fact fantastic in his photo shoot. Renee struggles, Cory nails his shot, and Jourdan falls into rice field water that is full of cobra feces. That has to be karma for the phone incident, right? Chris is a real pain in the ass, and complains about everything from being restrained by his wardrobe to his oversized prop for the shot. Perhaps affected by Chris's bad mood, Nina also struggles and there is a disconnect between what's happening in her face and her body.
There is no challenge this week, meaning that the photos are the sole component in scoring. Perhaps to distract from this scary thought, Tyra sends the models to Ubad for a "Bali chooses you" experience. There is a shaman healer (whom culturally competent Chris calls "an anime character that does spells on people") and an elephant safari park. There is a four day old elephant on site, which is designed to melt the heart of even the most veteran Top Model cynics out there, myself included. Elephant rides also happen, and after some initial resistance Renee kisses Marvin on top of the elephant. It turns out that these two are kind of developing feelings for one another and even earn the celebrity couple name of "Marnee." In the Ubad villa there is only one bed, two pullout couches, and a very short sofa. Nobody wants to sleep with Chris, and he gets weird about it, surprise. Nina finally acknowledges Chris's bad attitude and even says that he should go. Progress!
News of a double elimination rocks the contestants (okay, just Nina) and while Jourdan, Marvin, Cory and Renee all skate through the week, Chris, Nina and Jeremy end up in the bottom three. Nina has the very lowest score of all and so is eliminated first. She cries and cries and cries with her big giant red eyes. And then despite everyone's wild hopes, Jeremy is also eliminated. Now Chris can be the target of even more resentment and dislike, hooray!
Want more? The full recap starts right below!We enter with the models post-elimination, heading back to their gorgeous villa, one room of which has been set up with pillows and candles on the floor. Is this going to be some sort of mating ritual featuring Marvin and Renee, the product of which is stolen by Tyra and raised to become the world's newest supermodel? If you see Tyra sporting a Beyoncé-style flattening bump in the next few months, be very suspicious. Chris sees this setup and thinks it's time to relax and just meditate. Well, technically it IS time to meditate on what a jerk he is, but we'll get to that in a moment.
Jeremy reminds us that Don and Marvin were in the bottom two, and poor beautiful Don was sent home. Don was generally liked in the house and it's a shame to lose him, but the real crime -- according to Jeremy -- is that Chris got to stay. Meanwhile, while everyone else congregates by the candles, Marvin is by himself outside being very sad. Nina, however, feels good about her status as two-time consecutive best photo winner, and is hearing voices telling her that she needs to be America's Next Top Model. Those voices likely belong to a producer, whispering to her to say that on camera. Chris tells us that he doesn't think Jeremy is a threat, given his very limited array of poses. Last week, apparently, his peers thought he looked like he was boning his leopard co-star. Is that necessarily a bad thing? Renee pipes in to say, "At least you're not a virgin in photos." Boom! Oh! And thought: maybe Tyra needs the blood of a virgin for her baby-stealing mating ritual? This whole season is finally starting to make sense.
And then Tyra enters in a flowy dress signifying that she's relaxed and of-the-earth now that she's back in Bali. The models quickly tell her that Marvin is upset and by himself on the lanai. Indeed, he is doubled over and crying. Tyra comes up behind him and puts her arms on his back, asking what's wrong. Marvin is so distraught that it takes him a minute to realize that he's being comforted by Miss Tyra Banks, and perhaps there's a chance that she'll hold him like a baby against her bosom. Renee doesn't know what to do in this moment, not because a supermodel is giving her man some soothing touches, but because seeing a man cry is very alien to her. Marvin is having a crisis about why he's there in the first place, as a janitor's son and how he's not proving his worth to the world by killing it in the competition. He's been in the bottom a bunch of times, and feels like he's squandering his chance. Tyra tells him that the judges obviously believe in him, and he can't keep having this defeatist attitude and "poor me I'm a janitor's son" narrative. She wants him to say, "I'm a frigging janitor's son and I'm going to rock this," which is quite a mantra indeed. Tyra reminds Marvin that he's special, and Marvin tells us that talking to Tyra about his feelings was like a dream. He goes inside with her and has a big wet spot on his shirt, which is either tears or jizz.