Episode Report Card Potes: B+ | 16 USERS: B YOU GRADE IT Bali Wanna Cracker?
By Potes | Season 20 | Episode 10 | Aired on 10.11.2013
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.The models packed their bags, y'all, and went to Bali! Having had last week's best photo, Nina gets to enjoy the Tyra Suite in their new amazing house. Pretty much everyone in the house seems to feel that Chris should have gone home last week, and was saved by Kelly Cutrone's inexplicable love and high scores.
The challenge for the week has the models sporting swimwear from the brand 69 Slam and walking on an underwater runway while wearing giant Seawalker helmets that make them look like the boy in the bubble but enable underwater breathing. We learn that Nina had part of her lung removed after inhaling an airborne fungus, and because her lung could actually implode underwater she is not able to fully do the challenge. She cries about this and is further upset that Chris abandons her in her moment of need. She does get to snorkel for the challenge, as does Don who bails on the underwater runway when he has a panic attack. The two of them along with Marvin get particularly low challenge scores, while Renee racks up another victory with her attitude-heavy under the sea walk. Speaking of Renee and Marvin, they're still cuddling and Marvin tells us that they provide "positive distractions" for each other. That sounds like…oral?
For this week's photo shoot, the models pose with one of a series of animals. Cory and Jourdan shoot with an orangutan, Nina and Don get a python, Renee and Jeremy have a baby leopard, and Chris and Marvin each get two macaws. While Nina is initially excited to have her Britney Spears python moment, when the thing starts slithering out of frame Johnny gets quite upset and says he doesn't think they got even one good photo. She cries and cries and Chris once again abandons her since he's sick of the tears. Despite the fact that Johnny told us that Nina's shoot was a disaster, she gets best photo for the second week in a row. The judges are overall quite mixed in their opinions this week, but Renee does fairly well as does Jeremy, despite Kelly's opinion that he looks like a Siegfried and Roy affiliate. Don and Marvin are not so lucky, and they land in the bottom two despite everyone's wishes that Chris will finally be eliminated. In the end, Marvin squeaks by to make out with Renee for another week and poor Don is sent home.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!We begin the episode with the furor of packing for Bali! We're down to the final eight, and while Marvin is psyched for a trip out of the country, Don tells us that the stress of the competition is taking a toll on him. We are reminded that he has post-traumatic stress disorder from being attacked, and is trying to kick his mind into the right gear. He looks REALLY exhausted. Still super hot, though.
Nina then talks about last week's weird panel, with Chris landing in the final two with Alexandra, who was ill and laying on a cot backstage. What's even weirder is Chris himself. Nina says that the two of them are still close, but apparently the efforts at maintaining that closeness are one-sided. Big freaking surprise, eh? There's negative energy between them, and Nina's not getting any love back. Still, she was happy to see Chris stay. I think. Chris, of course, is only concerned with himself and how nervous he was at being in the bottom two. He has nothing to go home to, since his mom sent him packing at the age of 18. I mean, I'm sure he has some untaken medication to return to, at the very least.
Anyway, boys versus girls! It's five guys and three girls left, and Jourdan is surprised that Renee is doing so well. She names Renee as her biggest threat since the judges see something special in her. Also, despite Jourdan's claims at having the best walk in the house, Renee can stomp it out better than the rest of them. Renee is acutely feeling the rivalry too, telling us that she's not going to let Jourdan beat her again. While Jourdan might have dominated the first half of the competition, Renee is about it to take it home. At least she has a home to return to, skulks Chris somewhere in his brain.
And then we're in Bali! It's gorgeous, there are elephants and ocean, and Renee skips out of the airport saying "We're in Bali, bitches!" Renee was born in Trinidad and calls herself an island girl. She feels at home in the tropical humidity, and says she's ready to bloom and crush the competition. The contestants ride on a bus from the airport and exclaim at the gorgeous scenery. Jourdan tells the others not to make fun of her for never having been out of the country, which they are right to do after she's like, "Oh my God, a chicken!!!!" Cory interviews that Jourdan is very sheltered and hasn't seen a lot. He does an impression of her in L.A. going, "Oh my God I've never seen a black person before! I thought they only existed on TV!" which obviously is hyperbole, and hopefully extreme hyperbole.