One of the fun ANTM games that I like to play is trying to figure out who will be in the bottom 2 within the first 15 minutes of the show. If you have watched as many cycles as I have - thank you MTV and VH1 for providing them in marathon form! - then, by this point, you know all of the clues that will allow you to be successful at this little party game. I will not divulge my secrets on GEP - I may try to write a book on day about the philosophy of ANTM.Last night, I settled in bed with my purple pen and looseleaf paper, ready to get back to a REAL episode. By the first commercial break, I was sick. I knew at that point that the one, the only, the beloved Stacy Ann would be leaving. I spent the rest of the evening working through the denial, anger, bargaining, and depression; here is my story:
At first, I couldn't believe that my little Stacy Ann would be leaving. I thought that it was just a fluke. Now that there are 7 girls, they obviously have to give EVERYONE extra air time. Stacy Ann has that amazing jawline, and she's a minority - how would they EVER kick her off so early? I tried to tell myself that I really wasn't seeing as much of her as I thought I was...it really wasn't that bad, was it?
Then, at the green carpet party, I could tell that she was getting that arrogance that many ANTM losers get on their last episode, and I was angry with her. Angry that she thought she was super awesome. Angry that she thought she wasn't fake. Angry. Angry. Angry. Some of this anger was projected on Fatima - how is she going to be AMERICA's Next Top Model when she's not even a US citizen* and doesn't have proper papers to travel!
When it came time for judging, I regained a glimmer of hope. There's no way Fatima will stay since she missed the ENTIRE photo shoot! I thought - they will sacrifice Fatima for Stacy Ann. Sure, Fatima's previous pictures are a little better, but Stacy Ann has heart. She is always so happy and pleasant and pretty, and she isn't a catty bitch and she stays out of fights with the other girls...c'mon noted fashion photographer Nigel, see the good in Stacy Ann and teach that meany Fatima a big old lesson that you can't wait until the last minute and expect it all to work out!
And then, they dropped the bomb...instead of showing Stacy Ann's cute little teary-eyed airplane picture, they showed the blank nothingness that is Fatima. I spent the rest of the evening crying and eating chocolate covered strawberries, thinking about all of the things in Rome that Stacy Ann would miss. Thinking about how we won't be blessed with hearing her wonderfully cute voice speaking horrible Italian while shooting a lame Cover Girl commercial. Thinking about how she won't get to let her real personality shine through all of the fakeness when they do go-sees. Thinking about how she'll never have a chance to expose Dominque for the transvestite that she is...it still depresses me. I don't know if I will reach accpetance...it may take several ANTM, Cycle 10 marathons to get me to that point.
tearfully,
ll
*Other ANTM favorites have been foreign (ex., Natasha, Cycle 8), but at least they recognized how they could incorporate their non-native status into some "America is great because it accepts everyone" bull crap. 
