AjaAja

I had actually been wondering if anyone else had caught on to the sexist comments he made. Anyway, I think in more recent news, he's trying to pin everything on editing and saying it was taken out of context. The problem is between the homophobic comments from the incident itself, the misogynist comments in the interviews (which I believe are done a bit after the incidents themselves), the fact that this whole thing managed to linger on all the way to panel (showing a lack of trying to resolve any 'misunderstanding' if we even give Denzel the benefit of the doubt), indications of latent homophobic attitudes from previous episodes, and the lack of remorse or ownership in the present, it doesn't add up to this being one of those blame it purely editing situations. It is not unusual for any of us to have latent prejudice attitudes that we ourselves are not even conscious of and there is always that chance that they may come out when we are stressed or vulnerable without our even realizing. What makes the difference in my opinion is when a person is able to admit the incident happened, own up to it, and take the necessary steps to address it. The next thing I'm going to say is a bit on the snide side but I'm going to say it anyway: I'm sorry to Mr. Denzel that I'm just a woman but that is how I handle my business. And seriously, if a situation really is just a misunderstanding, even better, I could simply approach the person and tell them that 'when I made the comments, I did not realize what I said could be interpreted in that way and I apologize if I offended the you. This is what I really meant...' So like I mentioned earlier, had this been a misunderstanding and Denzel actually made a real effort to resolve it, it wouldn't have had to even come up at panel in the first place; taking the 'that's not what I said so shut-up and listen to what I have to say so that I can save face from this debacle you've caused with your histrionics over nothing because I did absolutely nothing wrong' approach is not what I consider making a real effort to resolve it but maybe that's just me. This is something I was curious about as well. In the whole reality tv scheme of things, it seems to me that it is possible that the viewers over-played how close they really are. The fact is that this is the time where a 'true' 'friend' would be expected to be by one's side. It makes no sense for there to be nothing there - even for the sake of continuity, you would expect the editors to edit in a little something-something if there was anything remotely usable. In my opinion, the fact that Adam is there and Matthew is not shows that we may not know some of these people as well as we may think we do. Because things are being packed into something like 23 or so episodes, each of which is probably less than 45 minutes of content long, it's easy for the audience to make more or less out of something that happens early on because we're aren't seeing all the boring everyday filler which is quite important factor in the development of a relationship (not so much for a relationship like Denzel and Mirjarna but very much so for a close friendship unless there is some serious life-changing experience or trauma that the two people share (I won't say it's impossible but I do highly doubt that exists between Matthew and Will)). What people think of each other and what fascinations they may develop during the initial stages of getting settled in a new environment with new people rarely says much about the course relationships will take in the long run when the dust settles; there are plenty of times when the people I've ended up getting along the most with by the end were completely different from the those I may have been initially drawn to. Another layer of complication of course is that if this relationship benefits either of the two parties and their ability to draw an audience, you could expect that the people on Matthew's side or Will's side will purposely play it up because they are in the business of projecting an image and wanting to draw in more people. I'd say even on ANTM's part, Matthew/Will probably provides some good publicity from the viewers in general and probably more exposure with relevant audiences so producers would have every reason to want to play it up as well; Plus, it makes for another opportunity for Tyra to capitalize on. If you notice, there is a greater tendency to see Matthew hanging out with Kari or even Lenox at the moment and Will to be hanging out with Raelia (who happens to also be the one he confided in first after the incident). Perhaps, it is just I but I tend to take a healthy dose of skepticism when dealing with a stranger who is a normal person and a huge dose of skepticism when I am dealing with a celebrity.

I think for once Tyra said exactly the right thing to someone.

Giving someone a mohawk for a hair flipping shoot is a bit much. Someone else would have to have pulled an Epic Fail for the person with the mohawk not to get eliminated. Lennox doing well this week isn't a huge surprise. The whole five frames thing wouldn't have worked if she didn't do well. Things tend to follow an established formula; just like Will has a 90% of not being eliminated because how the previews present him. Maybe Matthew is being set up for the "resting on pretty" edit?

Worst assault ever. If he was going to get sent home for assaulting someone, he should've had enough sense to do some damage and make it count; at least that's what I would've done in that position (it's easier against another female: get a chunk of her hair, scratch her face, break her nose, knock some teeth out, and to top it off, flick a bunch of cash and a check in her face like she's a cheap whore (at least enough for her medical bills), and walk away. Against a guy, the most damage you can do is impair his ability to procreate either temporarily or permenantly based on what the situation calls for, insult his lack of performance, and make sure he cries for mercy in front of an audience of his peers. That is how you take care of business). Otherwise, what's the point; if he couldn't do it right, he shouldn't have done it in the first place. It's also obvious that Adam was not doing anything nor had any intention to help defuse the situation; he could have walked away a long time ago, instead of passive aggressively adding sparks to the situation. Wasn't Adam involved in some assault related debacle himself? In my opinion, this pathetic excuse for an assault only highlights how horrible Adam's past behavior is because this is literally nothing by comparison. Romeo seems unstable and probably shouldn't have been let into the competition in the first place. One thing I have to give props to Lenox is that she doesn't appear to be drinking and/or acting a fool (especially given that she's underage and that hasn't stopped people before). If anything, Tyra should praise her for conducting herself professionally having been pelted into such a chaotic mess and it's probably her first encounter with such craziness. When you think about it that way, Tyra's conduct is appalling. It doesn't seem that Lenox is used to such a chaotic environment (and this cycle's house environment is by far the most chaotic thus far) and she is probably stressed out even at the house. Tyra at least had her mother with her to help her to bring some sense of security and stability. Instead of showing the appropriate maternal instincts and help this poor girl, Tyra shows she has the instincts of a black widow and devours the confidence of a poor girl who already wasn't so confident to begin with. If Tyra ever had an once of empathy, she clearly left it somewhere twenty or so cycles ago. It's sad that the ability to project yourself in sexual manner at that age is now a given. The pairings scream scripted; they just happen to pair Matthew and Will? Puh-lease. Lenox and Romeo? Why not someone who's more accommodating and can actually help her improve. Tyra, what the hell is wrong with you? So overtly, setting people like this. If you want get on Lenox's case for "not trying" and not being sexual enough, why not set up any of the other guys with Will? Unless, you're willing to pair everyone up in the most uncomfortable pairings, you just look like a bitch for berating someone you setup to fail. Plus, you look like a bitch for giving people more fuel to burn poor Matthew. Out of six or so guys, you just happen to choose the one who's in the same story arc. I would have called foul play right then and there and made a scene. Plus, as a competitor, it's in Matthew's best interest that one of the other guys gets paired with Will and pretty much getting eliminiated on the spot, because they are just too straight to do something like that. If you want to cause controversy and take people out of their comfort zone, that's the way to do it. Any other guy set up with Will, would help take some of the crap off of Matthew or it would create perfect fodder for elimination (say if the guy refused to do the shoot). So instead of choosing the socially conscious route and possibly stirring up some real controversy, Tyra chooses to pounce on innocent prey. Very classy. A "1" is what you give someone who's over-confident to put her/him in her/his place, not what you give someone who's vulnerable. And this is coming from someone who hasn't been too critical of Tyra previously. Really, if you're not going to set things up well, one would think, you'd have the sense to make the difference in editting. Tyra, I give you a "1".

Yes, I notice people seem to have just accepted "smize" now. It seems that Trya just keeps using her made-up words until she wears us down and we get used to them. This is a good point. Makeover drama used to be about someone her hair cut too short. I guess Trya figured that it's all been said and done at this point, so she might as well go crazy. That seemed to be the way of reality tv in general. I think the term "Ty-over" is quite appropriate for Tyra's trend of insane makeovers; "makeover" just doesn't capture the craziness of "beard weave" and urine hair. I totally agree it makes the situation make little sense in real life; however having said, I think it's quite likely this will go further. I don't see why it would be mentioned in the first place on a reality tv show if it isn't a set up for a story arc. As such, I'd be even more shocked if Matt/Will does not happen eventually. Many people by now know that much of reality tv is not as "real" as it's made out to be. I don't know how much of this show is made up but the kiss being a result of a dare seems like a perfect story set-up. It's a brilliant way to preserve Matt's previous heterosexual idenification and end up starting something up with a guy. If this is a set-up, I'd it's there to appeal more to the gay male audience. The raunchiness of the season is probably an attempt to draw in more of the young male audience (I guess the occasional lesbian story arcs just weren't enough). I'm surprised Tyra would knowingly/willingly liquor the contestants up. Especially, when she enjoys to portray herself as socially-conscious. Alcohol abuse/use is a much bigger and more prevalent issue among teenagers and young adults than smoking. She seems to have come a long way from banning smoking inside the house and not showing it on the show.

I only saw the second half of the show and haven't seen the previous episodes and frankly, what I saw doesn't compel me to go back and watch them. I didn't know the show started up again or that it moved to Monday (though I wasn't really planning on watching this cycle). I suppose it's not a surprise that I have no idea what's going on but I can tell whatever it is, it's a hot mess of hook-up drama, which I have no interest in watching. Matthew/Will is certainly an uncommon match-up but hook-up drama is still hook-up drama. It was just awkward with people demanding Matthew update his sexual orientation status to fit their own cognitive constructs and the fact that he was quite defensive about it (this certainly doesn't mean that he's not "straight" but it only made it more awkward and torturous to watch). It would be nice to have a third party with some sense to help rescue the poor guy (Will's too much a part of it to be considered a third party). Men in our society are brought up to be too insecure about their sexuality; I can kiss my girlfriends just fine without anyone questioning whether I'm attracted to other women. Frankly, this cycle does not look very promising and I've stayed through a lot with this show. Adding guys seems to have turned the show into just another trashy reality-tv show (it was a lot of things before but at least it wasn't trashy). Some/Many of the guys probably applied for the wrong reasons; it's funny though: I agree with Matthew that [they wasted their time because] the pickings are slim. It is nice to see some familiar posters from TWOP since it's demise so I might if only for that reason.