'America's Next Top Model': Amsterdam-ed if you do...

In structure, this cycle of "America's Next Top Model" is nearly identical to each of those that have preceded it, yet, against all odds, this has been one of the stronger seasons in recent history. I pondered what made this so during the remaining models' trip to Amsterdam:

Elina. She's so irritating, which makes her so necessary to the season. Unlike the Top Models in previous history who ran on ignorant, refer-to-yourself-in-the-third-person delusion (Jade Cole or Dominique Reighard, anyone?), Elina Ivanova is not confident as a model but utterly confident in her own smarts and sophistication, even if she's not really that intelligent. In lieu of the red-light district challenge, she sassily voiced her pro-prostitution stance, but when Samantha tried to argue the other side, Elina simply shut down. I totally called, too, that she would be even more irritating once she reached European soil.