Episode 2.05

**The Girl That Runs Her Own Race** is the fifth episode in the second cycle of Asia's Next Top Model. It is the eighteenth episode overall.

## Episode Summary

The remaining eleven girls were woken up by Adam used a megaphone. Energetic Adam then announced that it was fitness week. The blurry girls then greeted by Daniel Remon, a trainer from Technogym Kinesis and taught them how to use gym equipment correctly and safely, and also told them how important it was for models to keep themselves fit. After the lesson, the models were told to go to a boot camp. On the way to the challenge, Janice complained to Marie and Poojaa about Tia, which made the girls very confused about the 'BFF' relationship between Janice and Tia, and prompted for Poojaa to say that there is tension between Janice and Tia.

At the boot camp, they were greeted by Jason de la Peña, an English journalist, who is an also presenter for Sky News, Russia Today, Sky Sports, and ESPN-StarSports, and a former cricketer. Before they started the group challenge, the top two girls from last week, Marie and Josephine were appointed team leaders and they get to pick their teammates to form a team of four.

 Josephine
 Tia

Since the group was odd numbered, Nicole and Tia were the last two girls to be picked, with Josephine making the last pick. Nicole was picked instead of Tia, leaving her to form a one-man team. Joey then mentioned that this will be a team work challenge, the timer stops when all the models have reached the finish line. Tia being alone in her team, was in at an advantage for she need not wait for any teammate. Team Marie starts the obstacle course first, where they finished at 15 minutes and 15 seconds, while Team Josephine finished at 7 minutes and 50 seconds. Team Tia finished at only 2 minutes and 03 seconds, making her the challenge winner. Tia won a pampering spa treatment at the Ritz Carlton Kuala Lumpur, and she also picked Janice to enjoy the prize with her.

Marie and Pooja recalled what Janice gossiped about Tia in the car and shared it with the other girls. Back at the model house, the girls had surprised gifts from M·A·C Cosmetics. Roommates Tia and Sneha thought it would be fair to gather everyone in the living room to discuss and arrange who should bag the products, but Nicole was angry as she felt it unnecessary to argue over 'small cosmetics'.

For the photo shoot, the remaining models traveled to Studio Image Rom and participated in a futuristic sports theme photo shoot, featuring Malaysian photographer Loh Lin Shan. For this week's photo shoot, Loh told the girls to fully utilize their sports prop while giving futuristic, avant-garde poses, but no to anything robotic and boring.

Jodilly, Nicole and Sheena were praised and complimented by the photographer. Natalie greatly improved, showing her best yet while Janice was praised for enhancing her energy on set despite the photographer feeling that she was shielding her feelings. Previous week top three Marie, Josephine and Poojaa all seemed to be confused and took a huge step back from their performances. Katarina and Sneha were consistently giving safe and boring poses, especially Katarina who seemed to be not trying at all. Sneha was criticized for looking aged. Tia was criticized for having the "Tia Expression" and ignored directions given by mentors, Joey and Mike.

After the photo shoot, the models found out that the kitchen in the model house was closed, followed by a Nadya Mail stating that Poojaa and Sneha were chosen to prepare a three course meal for the house. Both of them were first-time cooks but the outcome was surprisingly delicious. After the dinner, Janice saw Jodilly, Katarina and Nicole sitting in their room, assumed that they were bitching about her. Nicole quickly invite Janice to sit down so they can have an intervention, when Nicole mentioned about Tia being her "BFF" in the house. Furious Janice defended herself by saying Tia is only her 'pretend BFF', as they get along "best" but doesn't mean they're best friends. The girls were left confused. Then, Janice quickly recalled that she heard her name being mentioned several times from the other girls (Sheena and Natalie) during the photo shoot, and snaps into an argument with everyone in the house, which resulted to a disappointed Tia transferring to another room.

At the judging panel, the models were presented with special guest Malaysian Supermodel Amber Chia. Natalie was praised at panel for delivering a great photo. The judges were surprised by Nicole's shot and praised for her consistency. The judges were also happy to see that Jodilly and Sheena have stepped up their game. Janice's energy look drained at panel, where she expressed her feelings of having to live with the girls in the house, causing her a lot of stress, but the judges praised her for improving since the previous weeks. Josephine, Marie and Poojaa have a huge step back despite having good photos last week. A disappointed Joey opined that Marie's shot was a "flop". Poojaa was criticized for her signature "hands-on-hip" pose every week, and for not giving any variation at all, while Sneha and Katarina were criticized for being too safe every week. Challenge winner Tia has been slipping back gradually. Even worst, Mike later brought up the 'ill-mannered' issue that had happened during the photo shoot. Nadya then quickly mentioned that this is the worst performance throughout the competition, and warned the girls to step up their game. As the judges deliberated, Tia broke down in tears after being accused of ignoring Mike and Joey during the photo shoot. Natalie received first call out, and Jodilly secured her second best photo. Nicole and Sheena round up the top four, making Sheena extend her record of being the girl with most non-consecutive top three appearance in the cycle, with four. Josephine, Poojaa, Sneha and Tia landed in an unusual bottom four, marking Sneha's third consecutive bottom three appearance and Tia's second bottom two appearance. Poojaa, who was in the top three last week, was surprisingly eliminated for giving the same pose for the fifth consecutive time.

## Photo Shoots

JaniceJodillyJosephineKatarinaMarieNatalie
  Best Photo NicolePoojaaSheenaSnehaTia