Australia's Next Top Model Cycle 5 - Week 2

Last week, I said that I had thought Leah should go. I'm sure her look is striking but to me, she just looks mannish and not in a good way either. To jump to the end of this week's show, Leah has been given the boot. Hurrah, I say.

Now that we've got that out of the way, onto he meatier parts of this week's episode. The girls are given a bit of a talk on nutrition and then sent off for a bit of a fitness test. Generally, very few girls seem in any way athletic so I wasn't exactly expecting something new this year. The girls were given a serious of exercises testing strength, flexibility, cardio, etc. to determine their fitness age. The girls range from ages 16 to 20, but the youngest fitness age was a disappointing 26, coming from 16 year old Tahnee. The oldest was 45 (shock and horror!).

Tensions build between Mikarla, who must think she's doing a lot better than she really is, to be telling Cassi to suck it up and not pull out of the challenge, when a pulled shoulder muscle gets in the way of the latter. To be fair to Mikarla, it does seem like Cassi has too many disclaimers when it comes to working out (she pleaded weak ankles and 1 wonky spinal disc during the fitness test). However, unlike Mikarla, Cassi does take breathtakingly beautiful photos and given that www.news.com.au has already announced that she walked during Rosemount Australian Fashion Week in a news article, we can rest easy in that she makes it at least to the top 3 (who are usually given the honour of walking during Fashion Week).

Franky still gets on my nerves and I'm not sure why. When I saw her audition I was absolutely blown away so maybe I'm just expecting more from her. Clare, I still absolutely love. She won this week's challenge and along with Tahnee, accompanied Sarah to the ballet. Back to the whole Mikarla vs Cassi thing; I can't help but have a soft spot for Cassi, even though I do agree that she is pretty much a bogan. Some of the other girls do tend to pick on her and though her infamous temper has yet to rear its ugly head, it can only be a matter of time (in fact, next week we finally get to see some of it).

This week's photoshoot was for client Cosmopolitan magazine (for the June edition) and required the girls to call upon the gymnastic skills learnt during the week. They were told that out of the 12 remaning girls, only 8 would get their photos in the spread (editor Bronwyn McCahon eventually put in 9 photos instead). Of the 9 photos, my favourites are Clare (of course), Cassi, Adele and Laura. Considering that Cassi probably sat out most of the gymnastics lesson, she absolutely nailed the shoot. I do think the way Tahnee has posed makes for a very interesting photo, but you can see in her face that that position was not the most comfortable. Still, it worked and made it into the spread. The girls who bombed were Eloise (a pretty but non-spectacular shot), Lola (nerve-wracked) and Leah who just kept on looking like a man.

During judging, Alex Perry brought up a very intersting point regarding Clare's look and how suited it was for this photo shoot, and how he was interested to see if she can do moody and dark. Now, I'm looking forward to an edgier and tougher shoot.

Already, I can't wait for my next AusNTM fix.