[1] (Ages stated are at start of contest)[2] 34 semi-finalists arrived at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada, where they were dressed up as "goddesses" and took a profile shot before showing off their walks.

In interviews, London revealed that she was a street preacher, Allison admitted that she was fascinated by blood, Natalie stated that she "never had to work a day in her life", Tahlia showed her burn scars, Kortnie told the judges that Dale Earnhardt, Jr. used to be her boyfriend, Kathryn disappointed the panel for not knowing five working models, but then impressed them by citing three designers, and Monique confessed that she was a conspiracy theorist.

[a] After a trip to the rooftop of the Empire State Building, Celia won a quiz and was handed the key to their new Top Model house and was chosen to select the first bed for herself.

In judging, London's photo received unanimously great praise, mainly because she managed to smile wide without looking cheesy and because she found her photographer while also finding her light at the same time.

Allison (called first during the call-out ceremony), Celia, Teyona, Fo, Nijah, Kortnie and Natalie also received praise, however Aminat, Sandra, Isabella, Tahlia, and Jessica struggled to make it work.

They arrived at Bergdorf Goodman where the two Jays were waiting for their makeovers; most of the girls were pleased by their new looks, but Fo was visibly affected by the loss of her hair and her presumed femininity.

However, when Natalie was visibly upset they dropped the charade and told her that in a Top Model first, She was not getting a makeover; she was deemed to be sufficiently model-looking the way she was.

The judges were impressed by Teyona, Celia, Allison, London, and Natalie, but were disappointed with a large majority of the rest for lack of posing "tension."

Back at the house, tension arose when Natalie claimed that Tahlia's picture last week was the worst in the entire group.

The girls were challenged to walk for Jill Stuart, wearing her Spring Collection and carrying large shopping bags.

The photoshoot involved posing in groups as different characters including Snobs, Brokers, Nannies, Artists and Tourists in the famous Manhattan locations of Fifth Avenue, Wall Street, Upper East Side, SoHo and Times Square, respectively.

Tahlia once again expressed her desire to quit in the make-up room, however at panel, her improvement impressed the judges and she received the first call-out.

Despite Sandra's poor performance in the challenge and continual reliance on being beautiful and using profile shots to coast through the competition, was yet again spared elimination for her determination to win.

Right after Sandra was congratulated for making it to the top nine, Celia went to stand by Kortnie and told Tyra that "Tahlia did express that she did not want to be in this competition anymore and that she felt that this was not a wise career pathway option", and that she found it unfair to eliminate other girls with more passion while Tahlia, who did not even want to be there, continued to remain in the competition.

Celia was praised for embodying her color and for strong personal style, however, the judges were disappointed about her controversial actions last panel after the call-out ceremony and before Kortnie had been dismissed.

In the end, Celia's strong photos and personal style saved her from elimination, however she was warned to learn her lesson and not to "mess with another girl's money.

She considered Angelea as tough competition, repeated reiterated the fact that she was there to become America's Next Top Model, wanting to have Nijah eliminated, getting told she's not liked by Jessica, feeling misunderstood by the other girls, disapproving of Aminat and Teyona stripping on the runway, broke down during Toccara's visit of her being picked on when she was younger, reacting to Celia's judging disruptions of Tahlia not wanting to compete during Kortnie's elimination in front of Allison, Celia, London and Natalie, shouting at Allison in the same scene for not listening to her then letting Celia know that Sandra thinks she acts so immature for a 25-year-old.

The week's reward challenge had the girls become the creative directors of their competitors' photo shoots as they take pictures for a Southpole Junior advert.

Teyona's creativity amazed Jay and she was chosen as the winner, and got the opportunity to appear in the June issue of Seventeen magazine, which she shared with Aminat and Celia.

R&B superstar Ciara arrived at this week's photo shoot, and the girls had to portray crazed fans of the star tangled up in wires.

London's weight gain was too obvious to be ignored, and Jay discussed it with her after her photo shoot, telling her that while she was way too small for plus-size modeling she should watch her eating habits to continue to fit in sample sizes.

The following day, the girls learned the martial art of Capoeira and Celia accidentally kicked Aminat in the face during practice.

Most girls struggled, such as Celia who repeatedly blocked her face, Teyona who did capoeira more than she modeled, and Natalie who didn't push through.

At panel, Allison's photo received universal praise for her successful embodiment of the icon and Teyona was told she looked like a model but not much like Carmen.

In the end, Natalie was dropped to the bottom two, for constantly delivering only moderate pictures, along with Aminat for her lack of expressions in her photos.

For this week's photo shoot, the girls had to pose in small, high fashion swimsuits while standing out on a crowded beach of locals and tourists in Santos.

The girls arrived at Águia de Ouro [pt] and met Paulina where they learned the steps in samba dance.

Celia managed to relax her face and delivered a convincing performance, winning her jewelry from Ara Vartanian worth over US$7,000, which she shared with Allison.

For the week's photo shoot, the girls traveled to the Brazilian jungle where they were dressed as exotic birds sitting in their nests, with Tyra herself as the photographer.

Allison was called first for her ability to capture her beauty in a photo due to her stunning picture, despite her average but believable commercial.