‘America’s Next Top Model: Guys & Girls’ review: Nina starts to find her stride

Every season on “America’s Next Top Model,” there is the sort of “quirky girl” personality who doesn’t fit in with everyone else, stands out for one or two features, and then gets sent home at around fourth or fifth place. While there are rare exceptions to the rule (Ann, Nicole), it’s an uphill battle when it is hard for you to be either seen or perceived as different.

Last night’s episode brought the remaining contestants to Bali, where they faced a series of pretty revealing / interesting challenges. For one, there was a photo shoot that both involved being underwater and also being in your underwear, which can’t be a good combination for anyone. This is what in our mind was the beginning of the end for Don, who struggles with severe anxiety. There’s nothing more anxiety-worthy than being underwater and feeling like the walls are closing in, but you have to do it anyway.

Don’s final strike against him was the photo shoot, and he wasn’t able to recover here from his performance earlier in the day. We’ll spend a minute talking about this now, mostly because he is a guy that turned our opinion around of him over the season. We thought at first he was a “hey, look a me!” type who claimed that he was a rapper, model, and about a million other things while not really being good at any of them, but he proved that he is a very good model who is comfortable in his own (tattoo-covered) skin, and there is something more to him than what you may see when you first notice him.

But in going back to Nina, her win of Best Photo for the second week in a row is huge. The social-media crowd loves her, as do the judges, and we don’t see how any of these drama-loving contestants can spend much time bashing her when her only major character flaw seems to be just wanting to play the savior much of the time. We get why she sees the good in Chris (since we think he wants to be a good person most of the time), but sooner or later, couldn’t this be more of a distraction than it’s worth when you are competing for a career?

Don was joined in the bottom two this week by Marvin, a guy who at one point looked like he was going to be the person to take home the title. Assuming that Jeremy’s days are numbered and he is struggling, is there really a guy capable of winning this first season to include them? Chris has the best shot now, but he has to get through Nina, Jourdan (winner of many challenges), and a much-improved Renee to get it. Cory may as well, but we’re not seeing him kill it enough in the photos.

So is this Nina’s season now in your mind? Share what you think below, and click here if you have a hankering to check out more from this season.

Photo: The CW