Cindy Bishop and Yu Tsai returned as judges for panel this cycle, while Kelly Tandiono departed from the show, and was replaced by Cara G.

Casting calls were held in three countries, listed below:[3] Contestants were also encouraged to apply for the competition online if they were unable to make an appearance at the live auditions.

(Ages stated are at start of contest)[4] The 14 finalists arrived in Singapore and were immediately put to the test with a daring lingerie catwalk challenge across a bridge, where Shikin was deemed to be the best performer.

[21] The contestants were asked to create photo stories from specially selected text phrases in a challenge that was collectively won by Clara, Cindy, Dorothy, and Maureen.

At panel, Dorothy was originally eliminated after landing in the bottom two with Veronika, but was allowed to remain in the competition when Nametha was disqualified for having broken the rules.

[25] The remaining six contestants had a go-sees challenge, which was won by Minh Tu, before being photographed by Yu Tsai in a black-and-white bondage photo shoot with a male model where they had to convey power and seduction.

Later, the girls had to model as ice queens at a skating rink in Sunway Pyramid and confronted Xiao Qing regarding her suspicious presence in the competition.

[32] The contestants took part in a vertical runway challenge for Subaru, which was won by Shikin, and later had a vintage road trip photo shoot with photographer Kevin Ou.

[34] The final three contestants received a surprise visit from their loved ones, and were later photographed at an avant-garde "motherland" themed photo shoot with Yu Tsai, where they had to embody the essence of their home countries.

The finalists were later taken to the National Gallery Singapore, and reunited with some of the previously eliminated models for the final runway show, where they were dressed in renaissance inspired designs created by Xiao Qing Zhang.