SPOILER ALERT! - My Episode 2 recap for People Magazine
This week’s episode begins with Christy (Team Karolina) making obnoxious remarks. She ignorantly claims Stephanie (Team Coco) needs to “work out every day.” There’s no such thing as one perfect body type, just like there isn’t just one ideal skin or eye color.
One thing that does make or break a model’s career is her attitude, and this girl has a horrible one. At the end of the day the only thing you can’t work off at the gym is an ugly personality. With very few exceptions, mean girls do not make it in my industry.
“She Won Fair and Square:” The 60-sec. test shoot involves striking as many usable poses possible while modeling eyewear. I teach the challenge, showing the girls my “160 poses in 60 seconds” routine – they get the idea that it’s OK to let go.
Team Coco does fairly well, but I’m really impressed with Madeline and Devyn from Team Karolina. Zi Lin never once thinks to actually put the glasses on her head and Sandra ends up with hair across her face in almost every shot. I later realize all of Team Naomi are in the bottom three and it was me who put them there. This will go over well.
Madeline wins in the end. I think she was genuinely surprised I didn’t pick a Team Coco girl, but she won fair and square.
Naomi’s Actions Speak Louder than Words: The fighting on Team Naomi reaches epic proportions. Sandra threatens physical violence against Jocelyn, and Miss Campbell herself has to come mediate. Naomi says that she cares about the girls and that’s why she “went ballistic over losing Alexandria” to Karolina last week.
She then tells Sandra off for, well, “going ballistic” this week. “You cannot take things personally sometimes. You have to learn to brush it off,” she says, and at this point I suppose it’s too much to ask for a flashback to Naomi taking it very personally last week with Karolina. At the end of the day the moral of Team Naomi’s dilemma is this: You lead by words and actions.
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![SPOILER ALERT!! - My Episode 6 recap for People Magazine
This week’s episode of The Face is all about being a brand ambassador. The most envied campaigns in fashion and beauty nearly all require that the model be able to speak, sometimes extensively, about a product. Learning how to communicate as a brand ambassador is a must.
The challenge is a red carpet press event thrown by a magazine. The clients are journalist William Norwich and iconic model Pat Cleveland, both experts on red carpet etiquette, who will look at how the girls walk and hold themselves in front of press, photographers and fans, as well as they answer questions. Billy and Pat teach the girls how to pose for the cameras in their Guido Maria Kretschmer gowns, and remind them that “to admit when you don’t know something” is the height of intelligence. In other words, no making stuff up.On the red carpet, Ebony (Team Karolina) breezes through a tough question from Wendy “How You Doin’” Williams about her children having different fathers. Devyn tells Wendy that she doesn’t categorize herself as a “black girl model” and Naomi calls her out. “That’s a disgrace!” she says, throwing Devyn off her game and making her think she has lost it for her team.
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Next, Jocelyn (Team Naomi) is upstaged by former pageant queen Zi Lin on the red carpet. Jocelyn refuses to answer a question about her mystery “reality star boyfriend.” Zi Lin is asked the name of her eyeshadow (by Ulta, the brand these girls represent) and instead of admitting she doesn’t know, she starts talking about how her name means purple in Chinese and then says of the eyeshadow “I call it Ulta Special Purple.” Googling that product name does not get you very far.
Team Coco does well. Margaux quickly fires back at a negative comment about her height with the classic example of 5-foot-7 Kate Moss. Although inaudible to anyone else, Naomi thinks she hears Margaux mispronounce the apparently complex and nuanced name ‘Moss’ and calls her out on that. It’s an act both distracting and completely uncalled for considering no one criticized Zi Lin’s pronunciation, ever.
Team Karolina wins and Naomi gives the news to her girls, saying, “We’ve won three challenges, Karolina has won three challenges, and Coco’s won zero.” Although technically correct, my team won the biggest challenge of all: the public vote. Fans of the show gave Team Coco 70% of the popular vote online, leaving just 18% for Naomi and 12% for Karolina. Whatever the outcome of The Face’s challenges, the people have spoken and they loved the way my girls played the game.
Karolina is faced with the difficult task of sending two girls home this week. Apparently Naomi’s name-calling last week made no impact on her as she puts Zi Lin and Margaux, arguably the two strongest girls in the competition, through to the finale. Stephanie leaves with her head held high and says she is walking away as a model and that she never could have said that before.
Of course the show cannot end there. Despite the fact that both of our teams lost, Naomi seems determined to make Team Coco feel like somehow we’re the real losers, saying she’s “yet to be inspired” by us.
Regardless of how the points are divided, I’m very proud of my team. As aspiring spokespeople for Ulta Beauty, none of my girls made up an imaginary brand name like Zi Lin did. “Do not say my girl lied, you better re- check your facts,” says Naomi. I remind her those were the client’s words, but Naomi couldn’t care less and goes off topic telling me “Check your lipstick, before you come and talk to me, because you’re wearing it.” For the record, my purple lipstick was not called “Ulta Special Purple.”
–Coco Rocha](http://25.media.tumblr.com/6bc2bd4dc96a161354e8b5c5615dc252/tumblr_mk84ucQmlB1qeyuguo1_500.jpg)
![SPOILER ALERT!! - My Episode 4 recap for People Magazine(Photo by Ben Cope of 7 Artist Management)
Vogue! Let Your Body Move to the Music: When I shot my new Longchamp campaign film a few months back, they assigned Salim Gauwloos, a.k.a. SLAM, to teach me disco dancing. A few weeks later I brought him to The Face to help me teach this week’s challenge – a test shoot all about movement and dance.
Having a dance background is not a prerequisite in modeling, but it certainly helps; ten years ago I was discovered at an Irish dance competition, and one of my early breakout moments was doing an Irish jig down Jean Paul Gaultier’s runway. Since then dance has been an integral part of the way I model and I treat every job as a performance.
Salim, best known as one of Madonna’s iconic dancers in videos like ‘Vogue’, teaches the girls a simple routine and we set up a photoshoot to judge them on control, timing and expression. I don’t care if they can dance – I want these girls to move. A lack of experience makes some girls nervous, and Devyn (Team Karolina) stops mid-shoot and walks off set a few times because she can’t keep up with the other girls.
[[MORE]]Ebony, who vowed to never step foot in the elimination room again last week, has some beautiful moves. Contrary to that, Jocelyn (Team Naomi) says she’s really confident because she “used to dance.” I guess that dance was the ‘Macarena’ circa 1994 because that seems to be her go-to pose. Margaux (Team Coco) second-guesses herself and completely loses focus, but Stephanie impresses everyone. Not only was she the only one who remembered all the steps, but she did so gracefully. Despite all this, in the end I give Ebony the win.
“Wicked Witch” Is a Test: The campaign this week is to create a look book for Marshall’s to be judged by celebrity stylist Jen Rade. My team picks outfits before I arrive, but Team Karolina has a conflict because Devyn doesn’t want to be cute or girly. Again, Karolina reminds her girls that a model must be all things to all people.
The girls of Team Naomi are surprisingly all getting along for the minute and pick out their looks. The peace is broken, however, when Naomi comes in saying, “I think it would be nice for you to wear something completely opposite to what you’re wearing.” I guess it was too much to expect all of Team Naomi to agree for once. Jocelyn is irritated and tells Naomi that she’s not going to show her the poses in advance. The world gasps.
Jen, the self-professed “wicked witch of wardrobe” judges Karolina’s team with some sense of control, but when it comes to Team Coco she is irrationally aggressive from the minute we walk in. We are treated to her non-stop stream of mean-spirited and hurtful comments, which are hugely demoralizing, especially for Stephanie who has no modeling experience. If I ever had a stylist like this on a shoot, I’d walk. How can you get a good performance from a model who’s being trashed off-camera?
Despite the harsh beginning, we do pretty well with the look book. Team Naomi gets much better treatment from Jen – I guess she got all the aggression out of her system on us.
In the end Jen announces that, for the third time in a row, Team Naomi wins. They performed adequately with their look book, and I give them credit considering Jocelyn’s uprising. Despite winning, the team starts fighting again and Naomi has to break up the mess herself for the tenth time.
Low Moment: Since we’ve lost every challenge so far, I’m starting to doubt myself as a mentor. I choose Stephanie to go into elimination because I know Naomi sees Margaux as her main threat and Stephanie is much less likely to get sent home. My decision pays off; Naomi sends Madeline (Team Karolina) home and tells Karolina that she did so because Madeline’s “not memorable.”
However, in a private interview, she tells the viewers that her decision to keep Stephanie was “because she was the weaker of the two girls.” Well, which one is it? One thing we can be sure of – Naomi is in it to win it.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/96af189f0ed8a17815c0394fc1cc5446/tumblr_mj9azzhIW81qeyuguo1_500.jpg)
![SPOILER ALERT! - My Episode 3 recap for People Magazine(Photo by Ben Cope of 7 Artist Management)Tonight at 9/8c I hope you’ll watch episode 4 of The Face! If you missed last week’s episode you can watch it HERE and read my recap for People Magazine below:
This week’s episode of The Face starts out with a quick-change challenge. Runway models often have two or more looks in a show, leaving us mere seconds backstage to throw on the next look and walk the runway. The girls are all done up in heavy red lipstick and slicked hair — the perfect look to be totally messed up in a hasty change. Karolina teaches the challenge and sets the bar mighty high by changing into a runway look in just 41 seconds.
Timing Is Everything: Team Naomi’s Zi Lin goes first with a time of 1:18, which she says is not good enough for her. Aside from being a magnificent beauty, Zi Lin is refreshingly humble in this competition — something some of the other girls could definitely learn from. Devyn of Team Karolina beats her time with 1:09, but Margaux (Team Coco) beats her by two seconds and wins a $5,000 shopping spree. Devyn complains that it isn’t fair because Margaux “wasn’t completely composed,” which a slo-mo recap proves to be false. Karolina is not impressed with her teammate’s poor sportsmanship and lets us all know it.
A Surprise Move: On a Sunday afternoon when we aren’t shooting, I’m called in unexpectedly to see my girl Marlee. She tells me that her family is facing financial difficulties back home and she needs to leave the competition. This comes as a total shock to me but at the end of the day family always comes first, so I completely understand and respect Marlee’s choice to leave.
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Gowns Down!: The client this week is Kleinfeld Bridal of Say Yes to the Dress fame. The girls are to navigate a dramatic staircase in their epic dresses, some of which weigh upwards of 30 lbs. Although my Stephanie is the only one who has never done runway before, Margaux takes the first spill during rehearsal. Naomi has doubts about Jocelyn’s runway ability, but it’s Sandra who almost falls headfirst. Karolina instructs her team very well, though I am tempted to remind her that she called me “bossy” for doing that last week!
When it comes to the actual challenge, Stephanie is amazing and I can’t be more proud of my baby model-in-training. The client loves her, the crowd loves her. Even Naomi is impressed! Unfortunately Margaux takes another big fall, this time in front of the client and a live audience. Overall it was not a strong performance from Team Coco and I’m feeling nervous; there were a few minor missteps on Karolina’s team, but no epic Jennifer Lawrence-worthy tumbles like Margaux’s. Team Naomi’s Zi Lin is the true runway star, gliding down the stairs in a giant gown that even Naomi admitted she couldn’t handle. Way to go Zi Lin!
Memory Fails: The audience vote reveals that Team Naomi wins the challenge, thanks in no small part to Zi Lin’s magnificent walk. The client tells me he likes two of my girls (including clumsy Margaux), but can’t remember Brittany. In the end I forgive Margaux’s fall (all runway girls have fallen) and send Brittany to elimination for not making an impression. When you’re trying to get a job over plenty of other beautiful models you want to be the one to stand out. Saying you were “un-memorable” is akin to the kiss of death.
Both Ebony (Team Karolina) and Brittany plead their cases before Naomi, who pulls a McKayla Maroney and lets us know she is not impressed. She says they are both trying to play on her heartstrings and that’s a song she does not want to hear. Naomi chooses Ebony over Brittany, resulting in Team Coco going from four girls to two in a single episode. Talk about getting kicked when you’re down!
Brittany accepts Naomi’s decision and is realistic about the fact that we all face rejection sometime in our careers. I applaud Brittany’s drive and determination, and I know she will continue to do well long after this season’s finale.
–Coco Rocha](http://25.media.tumblr.com/e59233cfc5b65bb36b1aefd8411f7663/tumblr_mj6ydaZxaM1qeyuguo1_500.jpg)
![SPOILER ALERT! - My Episode 2 recap for People Magazine
This week’s episode begins with Christy (Team Karolina) making obnoxious remarks. She ignorantly claims Stephanie (Team Coco) needs to “work out every day.” There’s no such thing as one perfect body type, just like there isn’t just one ideal skin or eye color.
One thing that does make or break a model’s career is her attitude, and this girl has a horrible one. At the end of the day the only thing you can’t work off at the gym is an ugly personality. With very few exceptions, mean girls do not make it in my industry.
“She Won Fair and Square:” The 60-sec. test shoot involves striking as many usable poses possible while modeling eyewear. I teach the challenge, showing the girls my “160 poses in 60 seconds” routine – they get the idea that it’s OK to let go.
Team Coco does fairly well, but I’m really impressed with Madeline and Devyn from Team Karolina. Zi Lin never once thinks to actually put the glasses on her head and Sandra ends up with hair across her face in almost every shot. I later realize all of Team Naomi are in the bottom three and it was me who put them there. This will go over well.
Madeline wins in the end. I think she was genuinely surprised I didn’t pick a Team Coco girl, but she won fair and square.
Naomi’s Actions Speak Louder than Words: The fighting on Team Naomi reaches epic proportions. Sandra threatens physical violence against Jocelyn, and Miss Campbell herself has to come mediate. Naomi says that she cares about the girls and that’s why she “went ballistic over losing Alexandria” to Karolina last week.
She then tells Sandra off for, well, “going ballistic” this week. “You cannot take things personally sometimes. You have to learn to brush it off,” she says, and at this point I suppose it’s too much to ask for a flashback to Naomi taking it very personally last week with Karolina. At the end of the day the moral of Team Naomi’s dilemma is this: You lead by words and actions.
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When Pillow Fights Get Serious: The team challenge this week is a lingerie commercial for Cosabella. Each girl is to portray sexy, sweet or conservative. I’m the only coach without any experience modeling lingerie (one of the things I’ve decided not to do in my career), but as a woman I know how I like to be sold lingerie and I have no doubt I can lead my team to win. Karolina calls me a “bossy” coach; I’m not their cheerleader, I’m their coach, so I coach! My team does extremely well.
Team Naomi doesn’t mesh well on set, but ends the shoot with a lighthearted pillow fight. Great idea. Wait — my team actually did the pillow fight first, but for some reason it was cut from this episode. Imitation is flattery; a little credit is nice, too!
The representative from Cosabella announces to the dismay of everyone on set that day that Team Naomi won. I didn’t see it, but that was his choice and unfortunately that’s the reality of this business. The client decides.
Nice Girls Finish First: When it comes time for elimination I’m heartbroken. Ugly tears and all. My only choice is to send Stephanie to fight her case against Christy. After all the nasty Stephanie-bashing Christy did, it’s Stephanie who’s saved and Christy who goes home. Don’t you love it when nice girls win in the end?
Will that be the theme of this show? We shall see…
Watch next week as our models navigate an enormous staircase for a live audience while wearing huge bridal gowns. Some will rise to the occasion, while others will fall from grace.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/38fd0feb0f476055a67b2359dd38ebb0/tumblr_mij416NV4l1qeyuguo1_500.jpg)
![SPOILER ALERT - My The Face Episode 1 recap for People MagazineI’m happy to announce that every week I will be blogging my experience filming The Face for People Magazine! Here’s the full version of my first entry! Keep checking back at People for more.
In what is technically the first episode of my new show The Face, the audience is introduced to “three of the biggest names in the world of modeling.” The world famous supermodel Naomi Campbell, Czech bombshell Karolina Kurkova and then some weird-looking girl named Coco Rocha… or was it Coca Roca? Oh hey, that’s me! Last week in the casting special we hand picked our teams of four girls each. From thousands of hopefuls, Naomi, Karolina and I were presented with 24 girls, which we narrowed down to 12. The real games began as we picked our teams of four. There was a battle over the first girl who came out, a beautiful brunette named Margaux who Naomi announced she ‘had to have.’ I wasn’t going to let her go without a fight, but in the end the decision between Team Naomi or Team Coco was left up to Margaux herself. To the shock of everyone on set, Margaux picked me! What? Even I would pick Naomi over me! I later lost the battle for a Chinese glamazon named Zi Lin to Naomi but hey, one outta two ain’t bad! The next girl on my team was 23-year-old Marlee, a mom and an all-around great girl who I knew could be my chameleon. Then I picked Stephanie. Of all the contestants who made it to the top 24, Stephanie was the only one with absolutely no experience. That really excited me because I thought, here’s a blank canvas I can truly start from scratch with. The final model on my team is 26-year-old Brittany who 28-year-old Karolina Kurkova told 42-year-old Naomi Campbell was “too old” to model. Oh KK, them’s fighting words! Despite Brittany’s makeover (which made her look like she’d gotten her hair caught up in a lawn mower), I saw boldness and a fight in her, and took her onto Team Coco as my final team member.
The goal in all this is to win the coveted Ulta beauty contract, and throughout the season Naomi, Karolina and I hope to guide one of our girls to win that prize.
Episode 101 starts off with the girls moving into the loft. We are treated to some very, shall we say, “over-confident” sound bites from Christy (Team Karolina), making me glad I picked a team of humble girls. Team Naomi is a very entertaining, if not disjointed, team. The comic relief is Sandra, who announces that everyone “better watch out” - fair warning, I suppose. Naomi tells her girls she doesn’t want any fights on her team - a team of people who were already clashing five minutes into the show. This should be interesting.
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Our host Nigel Barker announces that the first test shoot (sort of a practice run for the girls to really hone their skills) of the season is a “who wore it better” challenge to style yourself against a fellow cast member using the same wardrobe. In a world of paparazzi and Instagram, models are never really “off-duty” these days - we always need to leave the house looking put together. Naomi is judging this test shoot by herself and Devyn (Team Karolina) goes first, picking my girl Stephanie to go up against, adding that she picked her because she believes she is the “weakest link.” Turns out Devyn underestimated her and Stephanie wins! Yay #TeamCoco! Sandra is up next, letting us know that her personal style is “swagalicious.” She goes up against Marlee (Team Coco) and loses. As it happens, “swag on top of swag on top of swag” is NOT the look this season. The next pairing is Margaux (Team Coco) versus Aleksandra (Team Naomi) and the look they are going for is ’60s. Russian contestant Aleksandra lets us know that she doesn’t know anything about the ’60s because… well, she wasn’t born yet. Not sure how that is an excuse. I guess in Russian history they skipped straight from the 1950s to the 1970s. AGAIN, Team Coco takes the win and I’m really not sure how this is happening on Naomi’s watch. Overconfident Christy (Team Karolina) goes against her teammate Ebony and is incredulous when she loses. Zi Lin (Team Naomi) goes up against Brittany (Team Coco) and decides that she can’t fit into the pants, so she just holds them in her hand instead of wearing them. Zi Lin wins despite not wearing the pants, yet when Madeline (Team Karolina) complains that the shoes don’t fit her she is berated for complaining. So let me get this straight - crying over a small sample size is worse than just not wearing it at all? Seems inconsistent to me, but I do agree that no matter what she should have sucked it up and worn the shoes. Very rarely in modeling are you given the right size of anything (pants or shoes included) and yet you ALWAYS have to make it work - that’s your job. Welcome to modeling girls! I remember being in front of Miuccia Prada with a pair of shoes three sizes too small - I smashed my foot in there and walked like I was having the time of my life.
In the end Naomi’s girl Zi Lin wins the test shoot and a $5000 shopping spree at Topshop. This comes as a shock to some of her fellow contestants - and myself - as she styled what should be a “masculine” look with a midriff-baring, floral crop top. Masculine? Really? Personally I felt, given the direction, Margaux from my team should have won.
Up next is the girls’ first campaign. This is where the show gets serious. This is a team challenge and each team is doing a photoshoot for W Magazine. If that wasn’t a big enough deal, the photographer is the legendary Patrick Demarchelier! The girls are told that the story is uptown meets downtown and are left to come up with their own game plans. Team Karolina seems to get started well together, while Team Naomi is not cohesive at all. Sandra’s idea is basically that she beats everyone up and her teammate Jocelyn doesn’t really get too excited about that. Team Coco works together well, but they are a little apprehensive about Stephanie, who has no experience at all. We three mentors roll up in a black SUV - I’m wearing a DSquared outfit, a look that is sort of a homage to ‘90s-era Cindy Crawford. Aviator shades. Feeling like a boss. We immediately head over to our teams to see what they are thinking. Of the three mentors I am definitely the most theatrical in my posing and, as I mention on the show, I never, EVER play it safe. I push my girls to follow suit and give them the inspiration of “West Side Story meets Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat It.’” I’m picturing this as an epic musical in my head but, in reality, I’m expecting a lot from my team.
The photoshoot begins with Team Naomi in front of Patrick’s lens. Their pictures are fine, but a little too safe for my taste. I’m also not sure of the general story they are selling. The picture just appears to be of four girls that stood and sat proudly on a bunch of old fishing dock stuff. Patrick has a very particular way of speaking with his thick French accent and Aleksandra, also foreign, has a hard time understanding him. In her defense, there were no subtitles (like the ones you’ll see on your TV screen) in real life.
Up next is Team Karolina. They all look cute, but again, just four girls randomly hanging out on stuff. Team Coco is last and we bring our everything. This is choreographed, this is scripted, there’s a story going on. We are West Side Story and we are Michael Jackson in “Beat It.” Unfortunately, Stephanie struggles to keep up. To be fair, it’s nearly impossible in a big group photo to get everyone perfect in the same shot. In shoots we nearly always cut and paste group images together, but this is not an option today. Our final picture is three out of four stars, nowhere near the perfection I had imagined. I wonder if I took an unnecessary risk in really pushing my girls this hard right off the bat. It turns out, I did. Karolina’s “safe and nice” picture wins the campaign. I could have had my girls do this, but I pushed them for exceptional. I can’t help but feel guilty that we lost, as taking the risk was my decision.
As one of the two losing teams I had to submit one girl from my team to go up for elimination. I picked inexperienced Stephanie, the only fair decision I could make. Naomi selected Aleksandra to go up for elimination and they both plead their case before Karolina, who is in the position to pick one of the two to go home. Karolina spares Stephanie, I guess because she saw potential in her inexperience. All in all I felt it was a fair decision, but Naomi is not happy when she hears she lost the first girl on the first real challenge. Doors slam (the door would go on to slam a total of three times in this episode), and quite possibly the bravest cameraman in the history of television attempts to follow Naomi Campbell into her room. He’s immediately thrown out. Karolina comes back into the loft from the elimination room and can instantly feel the tension in the air. She asks me if she should go see Naomi and I say, “I think so,” which in retrospect was sending the lamb to the slaughter. Karolina fares no better than our intrepid cameraman and is promptly kicked out, the door slamming quite literally on her heels. After about half an hour (moments in TV land), Naomi emerges to tell Karolina in full diva style that she is “not happy with her decision.”
Well well, I guess no one told Karolina that she was supposed to be on Team Naomi.
Stay tuned to People Magazine for more.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/8a9096a07f3e92a438f79f46710df164/tumblr_mi6ppr3VRI1qeyuguo1_500.jpg)
