In an industry where not only is thin “in”, it is a mandatory standard, America’s Next Top Model has surprised the world and the high fashion industry by selecting a full-figured girl to be this cycle’s competition winner. The winner of this season’s cycle is Whitney Thompson, pictured right here with the runners up Fatima Siad (left) and Anna Bradfield (center) at the CW Network 2008 Upfronts held at the Lincoln Center in Manhattan. You’d never guess by looking at Whitney that she is a plus-sized, but in high fashion, any size that will not fit into sample runway sizes is plus-sized, and those generally range from size 2 to size 6. And this was Whitney’s struggle all season when she would run into designers who didn’t have her size 8 in stock. Nonetheless, all through the season Whitney was making history by being the first ANTM plus-sized girl to get “this far”. It should come as no surprise that she’s the season winner, as Tyra Banks, show producer, has been speaking very loudly about women’s health and weight concerns, and there are even some rumors that Whitney won the show so that she, and the show, could be used as a platform to showcase this for Tyra. Either way, the fashion industry has made a very bold statement, let’s hope this is not just “for looks” and that there is some follow through here, as waves like this could certainly sway industry norms for a long time to come.

How many is that now? Twins for the Brangelinas! ~ Hollywire

Sexy Girly Kiss on Tape! Scarlett Johansson and Penelope Cruz Go At It! ~ Celebrity Body Gossip

Finally! A Plus-Sized Girl Smokes Out the Skinny Chicks on America’s Next Top Model ~ Bitten and Bound

Lauren Conrad Gets Fall Down Drunk! ~ I Don’t Want Your Life

You would never guess from looking at her peaches and cream complexion, but Caridee, a former winner of America’s Next Top Model once struggled with a horrible skin condition known as psoriasis. Caridee has talked openly about her struggle with psoriasis, saying that it was debilitating to the point where she was embarrassed to even be seen by anyone. She would wear long pants and shirts and wouldn’t go out in public because people would stare. Now she is putting a pretty face to the disease by letting people know psoriasis is not the end. Caridee is in Miami to raise funds and awareness at the second annual Psoriasis Walk. It is always great to see celebs putting their faces on important causes, but when they make the cause personal as Caridee has, it means so much more. Here is Caridee showing off her pretty face at the Verizon BlackBerry Launch.

Source: WBIR

The premiere of reality TV show America’s Next Top Model, Cycle 9, aired tonight @ 8:00pm. What a fab show! Oh ya, these girls actually look like models this year, and so it’s already better than last season. Out of over 20 contestants, 13 girls were chosen to live in the LA mansion for the competition. One of the girls’ moms is a crackhead, another girl comes from the horse county of the world, and another goes to Yale. It’s going to be a totally fabulous and fun-packed season, so stay tuned for updates! Also, feel free to post comments on the episode. Btw, is Tyra going swimming?

America’s Next Top Model, Cycle 8, winner Jaslene Gonzalez is on this month’s cover of Seventeen Magazine. It’s totally unfortunate for Seventeen since now it looks more like a cover for GQ. She really looks like a tranny and she’s definitely not licious!

Jaslene’s photographed above @ the Cycle 8 runway show finale. What can i say!? The backstabbing, stick thin with no curves @ all, fugly, ghetto talking girl wins as the “top model”. She can’t even speak proper English! How is she going to represent CoverGirl!? Oh well, they made their bed… now they can lie in it! Oh, the OUTRAGE!! Natasha, the Russian girl, who wasn’t even born in the USA, was atleast able to speak properly and she was naturally beautiful. She didn’t need make-up to transform HER looks! Well, I guess it could be worse, the master schemer… Renee could have won. That really would have sucked! And, atleast Natasha, the girl with the fabulous personality and friendly, warm smile (perfect for CoverGirl), was able to get a free trip to Australia!

This week the girls have a photo shoot where they are body painted and must use traditional clothing and Aboriginal dance to express themselves. Most of the girls have a  great time with it except Dionne who has a problem with dancing and Natasha who was bitterly sick during this shoot.

The girls also decide to go out on the town one night and leave Natasha behind since she was sick. Which gives them the perfect opportunity to bad talk the poor girl. The girls continue to attack Natasha even in front of the judges.

Thankfully the judges see past that and realize that the other models are just jelous of Natasha since she is one of their biggest competition, eventhough the others do not see it that way.

Finally, it is between Dionne and Natasha in the bottom two and Dionne ends up getting the boot. The expression on the other models faces is priceless. I must say I am on team Natasha and hope she wins !

This week the girls get interviewing lessons and head down to Sydney, Australia where they have to use what they have learned to interview the locals. The girl who does the best job wins the challenge and gets to be on Tyra’s talk show and Natasha ended up winning this challenge.

The girls also had to do the famous Cover Girl shoot…where most of them except for Natasha who once again was the judges favourite Cover Girl, struggle with their lines. Some like Brittany and Jael struggled more then others. Although Brit had a pretty good excuse since she lost her short term memory due to a car accident when she was little BUT Jael had no excuse for being so aweful. And the judges agreed, Jael was the 6th wannabe model to get voted off the show. The judges felt that she just didn’t present herself as a model.