Australia’s Next Top Model

Five seasons on, what is there that Australia’s Next Top Model can possibly tell us that it hasn’t already done before?

Or does it really need to, if all it seeks to do is squeeze another thirteen girls through its meat grinder in the hope of produin another Alice Burdeu? Time will tell, I guess.

After last year’s “bullying” debacle, it surely needs to find a way to put positivity to the fore. Yet it opens the new season by throwing the girls into a bear pit of simulated paparazzi and industry honchos before they have even met their competition. The girls, aged from 16-20, haul their luggage through a surprise A-list event, one by one. The concept is presumably to see how each copes with an unprepared moment.

Watching on are designers Collette Dinnigan, Charlie Brown, Wayne Cooper and, filmed by “judge-cam”, Charlotte Dawson, Alex Perry and Priscilla Leighton-Clark.

As each girl walks through the crowd the commentary from the three either praises or derides the girls’ appearance.

Some are noted for their natural smiles, bone structure and confidence. Others are quickly dubbed “Garuda Economy, Jon Benet-Ramsay, Minnie Ha Ha” or “Lucy Liu.” This is brutal stuff, with Alex Perry especially quick to toss out a bite-size TV barb.

Where, oh where is our new host Sarah Murdoch?

Finally, after all the girls have assembled, Murdoch appears before the crowd and invites each girl (“the poor things”) to answer a spontaneous question, Miss USA style. Therafter each is hurried backstage to style director Jonathan Pease and instantly given a new frock, high heels, a quick hair and make up style and pushed out onto the runway.

This is fastrack fashion where the girls have no say.

Pease is abrupt, virtually barking orders at naughty schoolgirls. “Come on, let’s go, you can’t be foolin’ round like that, girl. Straight into make up.”

On the catwalk more disaster unfolds, with several girls stomping through on high heels.

In such a hothouse environment it’s amazing the girls could put one foot in front of the other.

“What happened to your arms? Your arms were like, flailing. Focus, girl, focus,” orders Pease.

The experienced Murdoch, in contrast, knows how the girls feel and watches on with a mix of empathy and context. Her supportive comments contrast with the ‘bitchier’, intercut, asides.

As always the girls are let loose in an ultra-modern house: pool, stunning interiors, big bedrooms, and a few House Rules. Champagne is also on hand for the girls over 18 (sparkling water for the rest). It doesn’t take long before an undercurrent of in-fighting begins. The show trades off catfights, but containing them will be a mark of its success this year.

A photo shoot serves as the first challenge with the traditional assessment by judges before one is sent home.

The biggest point of difference for ANTM cycle 5 is host Sarah Murdoch. After Jodhi Meares’ notorious exit in 2008, Murdoch has a relatively easy task to fill. That said, she does so in leaps and bounds. No doubt her experience as a successful model gives her an insight into aspirant emotions (although Meares had also been a professional model). But Murdoch expresses it  honestly adding a gentle, mothering tone to her hosting.

By contrast, Perry and Pease border on malicious. After five seasons it has to be asked whether men  (even as experienced fashion experts) so dismissive of teenage girls is necessarily the best way to couch reality entertainment. Other reality shows, including Project Runway Australia, have proven that supportive judges can work.

Murdoch aside, ANTM seems determined to cut another of its seasons from the same cloth.

Australia’s Next Top Model premieres 7:30pm Tuesday on FOX8.