Last week, the world of modeling competitive reality shows was in a tizzy when Saleisha Stowers was named America's Next Top Model. Fans have accused her of cheating in the competition because of her past connections to host Tyra Banks, and her appearance in a Wendy's commercial, which is against the rules of the show. Yesterday, yet another “cheating” model, VJ Logan, was named the winner of a reality show when Mary Alice Stephenson and Ben Stein chose him as America's Most Smartest Model.

The moral is clear: cheating works. Perhaps this is not the case in all reality shows, but in the cut throat world of modeling, you're allowed to take any advantage you can.

VJ's c”cheating” on America's Most Smartest Model can't be limited to just one event, it was a pattern throughout the entire season. He hid study materials from other models so they couldn't prepare for a challenge. He teamed up with the weakest competitor, Jesse Lewis, during a team competition so that, even if his team lost, he wouldn't go home. He skipped and leaned on the treadmill instead of running. He eavesdropped on the winners of the commercial challenge to learn the lines before he was given them. He called a friend for information about the Jaguar XKR when he didn't win the Edhe challenge to get the information fairly. He copied Andre Birleanu's poses. The list goes on and on.

By themselves, these infractions aren't too severe. But VJ was calculating in the way he took every opportunity he could to benefit his own chances of victory. The most interesting part of the entire endeavor is that, while some fans didn't support this kind of behavior, one fan did: host and judge Mary Alice. Whenever fellow competitors called VJ out for cheating, Mary Alice dismissed them, saying VJ was just being strategic.

Perhaps the lesson to be learned from America's Next Top Model and America's Most Smartest Model is this: it doesn't matter what fans or fellow competitors think, all that really matters is what the judges think. If Tyra loves the way you look, it doesn't matter if you have a national burger commercial under your belt. If Mary Alice sees something special in you, you can cheat and copy off others all you want. So to all future modeling reality show contestants, heed this advice: get in good with the judges. After that, it doesn't really matter what you do.


-John Kubicek, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image courtesy of VH1)