Melrose's Place

Fine.

So Caridee won in America's Next Top Model. But I'm glad that Melrose went as far as she did, and ended up as the first runner up in the competition. She did come a long, long way from her first episode performance where she was almost eliminated because of her "diva" ways and bad acting. I still remember when Christian's name was called, she was so relieved that she knelt down and cried. That showed how much she wanted to be in the competition.



Melrose was probably the dark horse in this cycle because of her age. She was the oldest and considered "over the hill" by most of the contestants and judges. (She's friggin' 23 for crying out loud! What kind of sick industry turns 23 year olds into wrinkly old hags? Modeling, that's what!) Thank goodness they changed her hair from brunette to blonde, that really made her look younger and fresher.

Strangely, a lot of people in the house didn't like Melrose and vilified her. For one, Monique hated her with a vengeance, which made me glad that the "psycho diva" was eliminated by episode 3. A lot of the girls find Melrose too domineering and trying too hard. Well, I might give the "trying too hard" part to them since she did have moments where I felt she was emulating Tyra too much that she was almost imitating her. But that just showed her passion and drive. And I admire passionate and driven people. I guess that's why I was rooting for Melrose since Episode 1.



Look at these photos! She's just gorgeous! I bet the reason they chose Caridee over her is age. The winner gets a cover and spread at Seventeen Magazine, and they must've thought that a 23-year old won't sell too many magazines and won't appeal too much to teens. Oh well, it's Atoosha Rubenstein's loss.



There have been cases when the first runner up becomes even more famous than the winner him or herself. There's American Idol 2 where Clay Aiken has been outselling Ruben Studdard since album 1. In Project Runway, Kara launched her collection much earlier than Jay. People are saying that Katharine McPhee will be a bigger hit compared to Taylor Hicks.

That's why I wouldn't be surprised that even if Caridee won, Melrose will be much, much, much bigger.