America's Next Top Model season 2

The girls were picked up on a bus in New York City where they met each other and started sizing up the competition.

They were surprised to find themselves showing up on a U.S. Navy ship, where they met Tyra and found out this is where they had their first runway show. Tyra commented, "They really didn't know what they were doing."

The first photo shoot was a Garden of Eden-themed nude shoot for Fresh Look contact lenses, in which the women portraying as Eve with 12 different cultures, wore only sequins and body paint. One contestant, Anna, decided not to participate because, she said, it would insult her husband and child back home.^[4] Another, Jenascia overslept and arrived late for the shoot, despite other girls promises to wake the contestants when needed.

At panel, Camille, Mercedes, April, Sara, Heather and Shandi had pictures that stunned the judges, Yoanna's classic face was revered, and Bethany's bust was identified as a problem. Anna and Jenascia ended up in the bottom two. Though the judges were put off by Jenascia's tardiness, they ultimately chose to eliminate Anna, the plus-sized girl of the cycle, for refusing to do the photo shoot, and questionable desire and willpower.

• Featured photographer: Nigel Barker
• Special guests: Ed Libby, Jim De Yonker, Mike Randy, Ian Jones, and Yohanea Cepeda

The remaining eleven contestants received runway training from J. Alexander. At the subsequent walking challenge, Catie's gracefulness won her a trip to Carmen Marc Valvo's cocktail party, and she chose Mercedes and Camille to go with her.

At the photo shoot, the girls were required to style themselves using Steve Madden 90210 shoes, before they picked their own best shot for the week. While Catie, Camille, Yoanna, Mercedes, Sara and April did well, Bethany, Heather, and Jenascia struggled with selling the shoes.

Despite Shandi's lack of confidence and terrible runway walk, Bethany was cut, because the judges felt that she didn't know how to pose to flatter her large bust.

• Featured photographer: Ché Graham
• Special guests: Martin Snow, Maggie Rizer, and Carmen Marc Valvo

The girls got their makeovers, and some were more happy then others. For example, Catie cried because she didn't like her short hair and said she looked like a boy. Jenascia complained about the fact that she looked tall with short hair and Heather didn't like the fact that she would be more blonde because she didn't change after all. Afterwards, Jay Manuel tested their make-up skills by giving the girls 15 minutes to apply make-up with one mirror, set of brushes, and palette between them. The winner, Yoanna, got a dinner with 3 friends (Sara, Xiomara, and April), while the rest of the girls shopped for, prepared, and served the dinner.

After the challenge, Shandi, who had complained about the heat of the room, collapsed due to exhaustion, causing the other girls to exert concern and aid in order to remedy the situation. She turned out fine, however, and vowed to make time for sleep and to eat as much as she could to prevent it from happening again.

For the photoshoot, the contestants were suspended over a giant hole in a building wearing Laundry by Shelli Segal. Catie struggled because she feared falling to her death, but went through with 12 frames beautifully. In judging, Shandi wowed the judges with her immense improvement. April, Yoanna & Mercedes once again did well, and Sara finally showed she was more than just a pretty girl.

Xiomara and Heather were in the bottom two, both for their unsatisfactory photos. Xiomara was admonished for being distracted during her shoot and letting Jay concentrate on Catie's fear of heights instead of her, but it was Heather who was eliminated for her lack of versatility and experience, and coming across too mall-girl.

• Featured photographer: Richard Dean
• Special guests: Edward Tricomi, Joel Warren, Karima Casteneda, Julie Redfern, Mike Sharits, Mike Randi, Eric Niemand, and Halle Bowman

Camille's personality began to raise issues as she was singled out during a work-out session where she and April were competing in a last man standing boxing challenge, which April ended up winning. The contestants' personal style was then critiqued by Tyra and Simon Doonan, who stated that Catie's look was whore-ish. Catie started crying and arguing with Simon, saying he called her a whore, which he didn't and it showed that the rest of the girls were sick of her acting.

The contestants met Betsey Johnson and were challenged to dress in their personal style, but were only allowed to use everyone else's clothes, not their own. Camille asked Xiomara to borrow some earrings for the show, but decided against using them, putting them on the counter which resulted in the earrings being broken. Camille said that she would get them fixed by her friend, who was a jewelry designer.

Betsey Johnson said Jenascia needed six months of modeling school in order to be right for her show, which is what the episode was named after. She told Catie that she still needed to find what style she had and who she was in order to do it correctly. She said Shandi's strength was that she was not a sexpot and that she shouldn't try to be that and chose her as the winner. The winner, Shandi, got dinner at JL with previous cycle's winner, Adrianne Curry and picked Yoanna and Xiomara to join her.

The episode also focused on the fact that Mercedes had lupus and that she was scared because of her new medication making her hair fall out. She didn't want to tell the rest of the girls because she said she didn't need the sympathy. She vowed to make it to the top, despite what was going on with her health and to push through.

For the photo shoot, the contestants portrayed celebrities. Xiomara was upset that she had to become a darker color to portray Grace Jones, and Mercedes used the pain of her lupus to portray Billie Holiday's pain.

Mercedes used her lupus to her advantage, giving an emotional shot. Xiomara gave her strongest shot to date, and Yoanna proved she could be commercial, on a high fashion level. Camille's photo was highly praised, but her attitude came across as a major problem. Catie's photo had mixed reviews and Betsy Johnson had doubts whether she is strong enough to compete in the dog-eat-dog world of Modelling. Sara, Shandi & April's photo's all received praised but Jenascia received lukewarm criticism. In the end, it was Catie and Jenascia that were in the bottom 2. Jenascia was eliminated because she couldn't compensate for her lack of height with stunning photographs or a personality that stood out in front of the judges.

• Featured photographer: Andrew Eccles
• Special guests: Simon Doonan, Adrianne Curry, Martin Snow, Danilo, Michael Carl, and Betsey Johnson

The girls underwent personality coaching. Shandi broke down after revealing her family treated her like the black sheep and a psychic did a reading for all the girls.

This week's reward challenge was a tricky interview with Janice Dickinson. Mercedes won the reward, a shopping spree, for answering the questions best and revealing her condition, lupus, which she had kept secret until then. She took Sara. Also as part of their reward, Mercedes', Sara's, and Tyra's moms all showed up.

The girls posed underwater for Quench Water. April gave the best photo of the cycle yet, but she came across too uptight in judging. Sara also did well, proving she could be both strong and soft in a photo. Shandi and Camille struggled, but not as much as Xiomara, who Nole said looked like a "walrus wearing chiffon". This eliminated her as Camille's photo was much better, despite her bad attitude and dominatrix tendencies.

• Featured photographer: George Holz
• Special guests: Sam Christensen, Suzannah Galland, Carolyn London, and Nolé Marin

The photos for the week were simple black and white beauty shots that focused on their faces. Camille was late to the acting class because she went to see a doctor for her puffed up lip, which had swollen due to an allergic reaction.

The contestants then participated in an acting challenge with Mark Collier. Camille decided to not follow the lines and instead, she rewrote parts of the script. Camille was then called clueless by the coach who also criticized Catie for her unconvincing acting. The winner of the acting challenge was April while Shandi came second.

The last stop was a Matrix themed commercial for Rollitos chips. April was hailed for her performance in the commercial and photo shoot, while Camille and Catie fell flat in both areas. Yoanna gave a shot that showed off her bone structure beautifully, and both Mercedes and Shandi showed off their beauty in their photos. Sara came across as pretty, but almost a bit too sexy in her photo. But, it was Camille and Catie in the bottom 2. Camille was criticized for her attitude once again but was ultimately saved, marking the first time a contestant had survived a consecutive Bottom two appearance and Catie was sent home as the judges felt that she was not emotionally prepared enough to handle the modelling industry.

• Featured photographer: Bill Heuberger
• Featured commercial director: James Gay
• Special guests: Tasha Smith-Arqese, Mark Collier, De La Guarda, Eric Niemand, and Kyle Hagler

The girls celebrated Sara's birthday, and Sara disclosed her passion for modeling, stating that she wanted it the most. The models then practiced dancing. April stepped it up for Tony Michaels and won the challenge. She took Shandi and Sara to a party with male guests.

Shandi acted flirty and fun with the male guests and was called on it by her boyfriend. They previously had an argument because he wanted to go to the movies with a friend of his who happened to be a girl named Lauren. Instead of a photo shoot, the contestants performed in Tyra's music video for "Shake Ya Body". During the shoot, April nearly pushed Yoanna off the runway, while walking on the wrong side. Shandi performed the best in her solo, Mercedes forgot the choreography and Yoanna messed up again and fell.

Yoanna was in the bottom two for her poor performance in the video, but a teary-eyed Tyra eliminated Sara, who the panel felt was too pin-up and sexy for the fashion world. Sara became extremely emotional as soon as Yoanna was called. The episode was followed by the premiere of the video.

• Featured director: Kennedy
• Special guests: Rodney Jerkins and Tony Michaels

The remaining girls were taken to a restaurant where Tyra introduced their international destination for the cycle, Milan, Italy. The girls then went on go-sees where Shandi was described as the best high fashion model, Mercedes as being a bit commercial, April as photographing well but weak in other areas, and Yoanna having to work on her body. Camille won the challenge for her strong presence. At dinner in front of Tyra, Camille implied that Yoanna had an eating disorder which was not true.

The girls did a high fashion shoot for Solstice sunglasses featuring designs by Dior, Max Mara, Burberry, Gucci & Giorgio Armani. April had mixed reviews, Camille looked pigeon-toed and was the photographer's least favorite, Mercedes looked commercial, Yoanna hid her body well and Shandi took some of the photographer's best shots all year. She was also praised for her response to rather harsh designers (which turned out to be actors testing the models' attitudes) when asked why she should get booked. Shandi simply responded that if the designers would look at her photos they would possibly see something special there. Camille got the worst review, giving off an attitude that "she knew it all". While she was walking for the designers, they asked her why she walked the way she did, and Camille replied, "This is my signature walk, and it's the walk that's going to make me famous."

Mercedes was in the bottom two for looking commercial and for a lack of editorial potential, but it was Camille who was eliminated because of her attitude and getting very defensive all the time when critiqued. Camille is the first girl in the show's history to have at least three bottom two appearances in the same cycle.^[a]

• Special guests: Kyle Hagler, David Brown, Elena Cimarosti, Carlo De Amici, Kesia Elwin, Liliana Rolando, Nolé Marin, and Michael Giannini
• Featured photographer: Massimo Costoli

This episode was an overview of the past eight episodes of the cycle which featured previously unseen footage. It was so named because April was afraid when it was implied that they might have to handle such creatures in a photoshoot. Also seen in this episode was a discussion between Jay Manuel and Janice Dickinson, about Heather's Laundry photo.

Male models were invited to come over to the house and had fun with the girls, where Shandi, who was overwhelmed by loneliness of being apart from her boyfriend, ended up having sex with another male model. Lambasted by a sense of guilt, she called her boyfriend, Eric, the next day and told him what happened. Eric got mad and yelled at her before he finally hung up. The next day, Shandi called him back and he wished her good luck in the next photo shoot.

This week, the girls learned how to complement their body with their attire. Then, they were put into the test where they shopped at a flea market and found an outfit that was high fashion and complemented their body the best.^[14] Shandi was chosen as the winner and picked Yoanna to join in her reward.

For this week's photo shoot, the girls teamed up to do a sensual, romantic nude shoot. At panel, Mercedes impressed the judges at the judging challenge with her ability to make a piece of cloth look like a high fashion shirt and for her strong editorial picture. April was criticized for trying to take control of the photo shoot and Mercedes was criticized for looking too commercial. In the end, April was sent home for being too technical.

• Featured photographers: Almicare Incalza and Alex Martinengo
• Special guests: Jean Luc, Nolé Marin, Loris Rocchi, and Stephen Fairchild

For the final photo, the top three had a beauty shot for which they were dressed in the opposite of their normal styles. At judging, Mercedes was hailed for finally looking like a high-fashion model. Yoanna's photo received praise, but the judges wondered if her body was right for the modeling industry. Shandi gave a pretty photo, but wasn't up to par with the other two. This eliminated her, despite giving some of the best photos in the competition.

• Featured photographer: Massimo Costoli

After the shoot, the remaining two met up with Dean and Dan of DSquared² for whom they walked in a fashion show. During the show, Yoanna broke her high heels and had to use Mercedes' heel, but was able to successfully complete the show.

At panel, the judges were immensely impressed by Mercedes and they felt that she stole the runway show. Tyra recognized the uniqueness of Yoanna's face, and believed that Yoanna knew the modeling industry better than Mercedes. After a long and hard deliberation, both finalists were called in and Yoanna was declared the second winner of America's Next Top Model.^[16]

• Special guests: Nolé Marin, Gian Luca Guaitoli, Dean Caten, and Dan Caten