Real Battle Begins Now

Sheena 

Jodilly

Katarina
Photos from http://asntm2.starworldasia.tv/

So Sheena Liam of Malaysia won Asia’s Next Top Model Cycle 2 in Kuala Lumpur during the finals on Wednesday night. The two Pinays--Jodilly Pendre and Katarina Rodriguez—settled for a runner finish. I’m not an avid fan of this show on TV5. In fact I have only watched a single or two episodes. But judging from the comments in various forums it seems that Pendre has stronger performance over Liam, since she won best photo twice and was runner up five times. Liam on the other hand became a winner and a runner-up respectively, just once.

With this, I really can’t blame netizens who feel that Pendre was robbed of the title in favor of the host country. Something is really wrong if you compare the final result to the mother show which is America’s Next Top Model (ANTM), hosted and produced by supermodel Tyra Banks. It’s a very successful show that it has completed 20 seasons already and the franchise has been sold to various countries since many years back. In ANTM, Tyra and the rest of the members of the panel of judges will always base their final decision based from the performance of the finalist from day one. There are times though that a less favorite will win when the judges feel that such finalist is more commercial or marketable than the frontrunner. By marketable, it means the one who will most likely be booked by casting agencies. But such case or situation seldom happens in ANTM because it’s always the finalist with the strongest and most solid portfolio who will come out a winner.

  The regular judges in the second cycle of the Asian edition were host and supermodel-actress Nadya Hutagalung, celebrity photographer Mike Rosenthal, celebrated choreographer Adam Williams, Filipina supermodel and TV presenter Joey Mead King, with guest judge, Marina Fairfax from Storm Models Management. In the finals they were joined by Natasha Kraal, editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar Malaysia, Kenneth Goh, fashion director of Harper’s Bazaar Malaysia, and Singapore and Malaysian model Ling Tan. During the deliberation, the judges were convinced that Sheena is the “face of modern Asia,” thus her victory.

Now, the judges’ justification remains to be seen and it would take years to prove that, because in every contest, victory does not guarantee success at all. Winning the title is just the beginning of the real battle.

In Philippine reality shows, the winner is often outlasted by the runner up in the long run. Let’s take the case of ABS-CBN’s Star Circle Quest 1. Hero Angeles won the title and Sandara Park was a runner-up. But where are they now? Hero is somewhere, outside showbizness. You see him every now and then in TV shows, but it’s very safe to say that he is no longer a regular resident of showbizlandia. Sandara on the hand is a big star in Korea now. Joross Gamboa and Michelle Madrigal who were also from that batch are still very visible until now.

 In ABS-CBN’s Star in a Million with Erik Santos as the winner, it can never be denied that the runners up Sheryn Regis and Christian Bautista hit it big way ahead of him in terms of bookings and selling records. Sheryn migrated to Texas so she was not visible for a time here, but she is making a comeback and her solid fans happily embraced her.  Christian made it really big in Asia particularly in Indonesia as a singer and in Singapore as an actor when he did Kitchen Musical.   

Now let’s talk about ABS-CBN’s Little Big Star. Sam Concepcion won the title in 2005 and Charice was a runner-up. Charice made it big internationally while Sam was left here still proving his worth in the industry until now. Aicelle Santos was a runner-up of Gerald Santos in the second season of GMA-7’s Pinoy Pop Superstar then. But look who is still around and who is nowhere to be found. Julie Anne San Jose was a runner-up of GMA7’s Pop Star Kids with Rita Iringan as the winner in 2005. But who has sold out platinum records now between the two? GMA-7’s heartthrob Alden Richards tried his luck in the artista search Startruck in 2009 but made it only up to top 60. Yet he is very successful now, compared to the male winner Steven Silva. From that batch also came Rocco Nacino who was second-runner up. There is no doubt Rocco is the most successful among the finalists of that batch. So you see, winning does not always guarantee success in the industry.

Netizens have all the reason to question the result of the recently concluded Asia’s Next Top Model because it’s really questionable after all. But it’s always “the decision of the judges is final and irrevocable”, so we ought to respect that. I have doubts as well because I always want a Filipino contestant to win but I won’t comment about it anymore because it’s already water under the bridge and I don’t want to be branded a sore loser. Let us just see then who shall come out the real winner in the real world in the real competition that starts now.