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It has been the most anticipated show to return to the Oxygen channel and Wednesday night was the night for many to watch the second season of the hit reality modeling competition, The Face. The show’s concept is the same, but this time around, the second season opened up with two new supermodel mentors: Anne “Anne V” Vyalitsyna and Lydia Hearst, who replaced first season mentors Coca Rocha and Karolina Kurkova. Will returning supermodel and executive producer, Naomi Campbell keep the competition at bay?
For those who have never seen The Face, should be aware of the concept of the competition. Just as last season, the three supermodel mentors select their aspiring models based on their first time individual competition. Based on the things they liked about that said model, the mentors will raise their binders in a bid for who is to be on their team. If all three vie for that girl, it is the girl’s decision on whose team they want to go on. The mentors continue the bid until each have four models on their team.
Each team will compete against one another in a group challenge that is given to them by either a client or a selected campaign. The mentors will then guide their models on what they need to do to bring out the best in their campaign and once the campaign has been completed, based on the client’s notes, a winner is selected. The winning team are immune from elimination but one model from each of the losing teams is picked for possible elimination. The winning mentor of her team decides, based off of their performance which model will be eliminated. This continues until the competition is down to two models. The model that wins the finale wins being the face of the selected brand (either make-up or beauty care product).
Okay, now for what was popping on last night’s second season premiere. The show kicked off with the supermodels opening up with a mini runway show in Bryant Park. It was a great way to show the twelve model hopefuls a taste of what it is like to do runway. The twelve women this time out would be competing to become the face of Fekkai hair-care, plus have a story of themselves in Elle magazine. Once Anne, Lydia and Naomi completed their impromptu runway walk, it was time for the girls to do theirs: in their underwear.
I love that Nigel Barker, who is the host of the show, is back for the second season. He just fits with the show. I call him the James Bond of fashion, because his voice alone just draws you in when it comes to introducing the new team challenges. Also, how lucky is he to be working along-side three of the hottest and current supermodels of this time?
THE FACE — Episode 201 — Pictured: The 12 modeltestants get ready to discover their upcoming challenge — (Photo by: Tim Brown/Oxygen)
I can say one thing: Naomi doesn’t play. She showed right off the bat that she wasn’t messing around and it was just the first show of the night. During the team selection, when Lydia, who was vying for Isabelle for her team, said she had the most editorial experience than most out there, Naomi was quick to challenge her. When fighting for model hopeful, Kira, Naomi quickly took Anne, who also wanted Kira to task when Anne pitched that she and Kira, both being from Russia, had similarities. I expect more drama from the two of them, because both women are very headstrong and have that desire to win.
The group competition, which was doing a live window display featuring the brand Juicy Couture, was good. The campaign was to feature a story of a “Girls Night Out”. Each window display was different and overall, I thought Anne’s window display was the best because of the colors of the clothing and their poses. I think the only thing that should have hurt them was Sharon’s out of character smile. Lydia’s team was too stiff and didn’t really showcase the ‘girls’ night out concept’. As for Naomi’s team, they got the concept down, but I’d be breaking my pose too if I had Naomi snapping what wasn’t right in the back of my head throughout that whole minute of having to hold the pose.
I was floored when after the team competition, Naomi, despite all flaws her campaign had, pulled it out for the win. If I was floored, then the expression on Naomi’s face after she was told she won, matched how I was feeling. Her win meant that a girl from either Anne’s or Lydia’s team would be saying good bye. I didn’t agree with Anne putting up her best model on the chopping block. It was a good attempt at strategy but it wasn’t wise to do so the first night of competition. It was a shame to see a strong contestant such as Isabelle to be eliminated the first night.
Okay, with the recap/review portion out there for you all to read, let’s post who’s on whose team:
THE FACE — Season: 2 — Pictured: Group — (Photo by:Tom Munro/Oxygen)
Team Anne V
- Isabelle (Eliminated)
- Sharon
- Tiana
- Kadisha
Team Lydia
- Ray
- Nakisha
- Amanda
- Allison
Team Naomi
- Felisa
- Alana
- Kira
- Afiya
Next week Wednesday looks to be another good night of competition and possible drama. Make sure to tune in or set your DVRs for next week’s episode of The Face
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