TORONTO – The next season of “Canada’s Next Top Model” will see the girls working both the airport and fashion runways.
Cycle 3 of the series, debuting May 26 on CTV, travels internationally for the first time in the show’s history, says host and executive producer Jay Manuel.
“We go from kind of extreme cold to extreme heat, and there’s actually more than one trip for the girls,” the Toronto-born fashion guru said Monday in a telephone interview from New York, where he lives.
“America’s Next Top Model,” in which Manuel serves as a photo-shoot director, usually has one international trip near the end of the season.
But the Toronto-based “Canada’s Next Top Model” has never travelled internationally before, and this season’s multiple trips mark a first for the franchise, said Manuel.
“I think the girls, as we were rolling out and obviously shooting the show, were just shocked because I guess most people feel: ‘The Canadian version, it just stays in Canada,”‘ he said. “And I was just like: ‘No, Canadian talent is incredible and they’re a part of the international fashion scene and the show has to be international.”
Manuel wouldn’t divulge where the 11 contestants travel but said they have to pack their bags in the debut episode: “There are two main trips, but there’s a surprise twist trip right in the first episode.”
“Canada’s Next Top Model” is a Gemini Award-winning reality series in which contestants go through a series of fashion-related challenges and photo shoots, with one getting voted off every week.
This season’s judges are Manuel, fashion journalist Jeanne Beker, supermodel Yasmin Warsame and Montreal-born photographer Mike Ruiz. Nole Marin returns as creative director.
The winner gets a modelling contract with Elmer Olsen Model Management, a $100,000 beauty contract from P&G Beauty and a spread in Fashion Magazine.
The contestants, revealed Monday, were chosen from a countrywide open casting call that began in January.
They are:
-Jill, 19, a student from Vancouver.
-Maryam, 18, a student from North Vancouver.
-Alexandra, 22, a sales employee from Penticton, B.C.
-Linsay, 22, a student from Edmonton.
-Nikita, 20, a sales representative from Calgary.
-Meaghan, 19, a retail worker from Winnipeg.
-Tiffany, 23, a receptionist in Toronto.
-Rebeccah, 19, a retail sales associate from Ottawa.
-Tara, 19, a student from Chateauguay, Que.
-Ebonie, 21, a receptionist from Repentigny, Que.
-Heather, 21, a student from Halifax.
Rebecca Hardy, a tomboyish meat packing plant worker from Mannheim, Ont., won Season 2 in July 2007.
Manuel said all the episodes for the upcoming season have been shot.
In addition to the show’s Tuesday airings on CTV, it will also repeat on Star and FashionTelevisionChannel on Wednesdays, on MTV Canada on Thursdays and on A Channel on Fridays.
