ANTM Cycle 7

Okay, I am 5'2" and my doctor freaked when I weighed 120!  He said I should at least be 130 due to my bone structure (and I am not big by any stretch of the imagination).  And he was right, you could see all my ribs and stuff, it was gross.  I didn't see the episode you are referring too, but, it doesn't surprise me!  Now, if I could get back down to my 130, I would be beyond thrilled! 

I believe I saw it on MTV when they were doing weekend marathons of the old cycles. I think it was the cycle when they stayed in the LA house that had the boutique themed rooms? I don't remember which one that was. By then I had already seen cycle 1,6, and 7. I don't get to watch a lot of TV so there are very few shows I can religiously watch (and no TiVo or DVDr )

I think I have seen most of them on those marathons!  I was sick for two weeks so I saw a lot recently at home during the day.  Most TV I have watched in years....

And the thing with the dress getting torn, if Caridee hadn't won, they would have been all over the girl for tripping and tearing a designer's dress, but instead they spun it so Melrose getting upset at the dress being torn was the problem. Anyone see the Janice Dickinson Modelling Agency episode where she jumped into a fountain in a one-of-a-kind designer dress on loan to her and the designers were furious with her? And that was Janice Dickinson! Yet Melrose is the bad guy for being upset at Caridee ripping the gown? I don't understand it - well, I do, it's cause Caridee won and the editing spun it like that but I don't understand why she won!

To be fair, it was an accident.... but Janis jumping into a fountain certainly is not an accident. I'm sure the designers were upset with Caridee for not being more careful. But accidents happen. Plus, Melrose getting so upset over it was a bit silly... if the designers are upset, they have a right to be... but it's not Melrose's to get upset over. Fair enough if she made a few comments about it but she was freaking out over it and obviously just trying to make Caridee look bad. Melrose wound up making more trouble by freaking out over it because they had to calm her down and convince her to just get on with the show. Caridee's mistake may have been unprofessional but so was Melrose's reaction. A professional would have just got on with the show and said what they had to say when it was over.

I think it was all down to editing, to be honest. They could have spun it the opposite way, making Melrose seem concerned and Caridee totally blowing it off, and emphasizing her carelessness and maybe even make it look like she did it on purpose to sabotage Melrose. It's all down to how they edit it and I do think the way we saw it was edited as such because Caridee won, and because they were emphasizing the theme of Melrose being the b*tch of the season. (They always have someone!)

I agree with Stella. Also, I'm sure they'd decided that Caridee was the winner before any of that happened, so the editing had to back-up their final decision.

All through the series, Melrose had been critiqued for looking too "old." She did look more mature than some of the others, so I think that's a fair assessment. But then what was their final photo shoot? A spread for Seventeen magazine. Kind of funny really, but obviously again designed to showcase Caridee who had already won as far as I'm concerned.

I thought Melrose had a sort of Madonnaish look to her features. And I think Jay summed it up when he said she was being punished for being exactly what they were looking for, someone intelligent, confident, able to take direction, with knowledge of fashion and the industry, etc. She ticked all the boxes and I think if it weren't a competition, that 'natural' thing they were talking about would have been able to surface better; she did take gorgeous photos.

I just thought Caridee, while fun, easy-going, and pretty, was just not up to snuff compared to Melrose (I also thought she was a bigger b*tch; Melrose was more a b*tch because she was about winning the competition - it wasn't personal. But with Caridee, it was personal, and meaner. Plus I have a soft spot for the underdog and Melrose was the underdog.) But it's not the first time the ultimate winner has had me scratching my head. I sometimes wonder if they do that so that the better model isn't tied into their contracts and can do better for herself? Elyse Sewell is doing very well in Asia.

Well, if they really wanted to make her look good, they could have just edited that whole issue out completely. Maybe they did downplay it... neither of us will really know for sure. I'm just offering another point of view.