Writing recaps of New Zealand’s Next Top Model is something that I’d normally do over at Pretty Pretty Pretty, but since the first episode of Season Two was filmed in Wellington (nice work, Positively Tourism!), I thought I might put up some thoughts on all the places that they shot.

  • The girls stay at
    The Museum Hotel    , which one girl describes as “pristine”, while another expresses surprise that they’re not staying in a backpackers’ to save money. It’s cute that she knows about budgets, and hopefully she’ll learn about product placement sooner rather than later. The Museum Hotel is indeed a gorgeous space, and the bathtubs are so big that you could probably fit all 13 girls in at once. There is in fact a clip of them all sitting in a spa later but I couldn’t figure out if it was at th hotel or out at Boomrock.
  • For their first catwalk experience, the girls are charged with stomping around the Water Whirler – which we’d already read about on Stuff. It was reassuring to see how bad most of the girls were at walking in heels, but a warning: if you’re thinking about trying to recreate this scene, security guards will have a very different idea about what ‘fierce’ is. You are not allowed on the Water Whirler.
  • Because every tourist venture needs a montage, we get to see the girls with Solace in the Wind (a less polite person than me would comment on how Mr Solace appears to be more animated – and articulate – than some of them) and getting excited about shopping in the Old Bank Arcade. We also see them buying cakes at the Harbourside Markets, because it’s important to remember that models really do eat.
  • For some time-killing, the girls are taken out to Boomrock to drive around in cars, do clay-shooting and marvel as Sara Tetro arrives in a helicopter. A couple of the girls read off a teleprompter about how beautiful it is out there and a girl from Lower Hutt says she never knew it existed. Still, at least she’s representing our city better than Danielle from Kawerau who says she’s defying the odds by not being pregnant or in jail yet. I guess she won’t be getting a job at Tourism Kawerau any time soon.
  • Next the group are off to Massey University, where heaps of people in the fashion industry have come from (except it was called Wellington Polytech then, of course). The girls get to run around in the impressive big hall of the old museum to find out who’s continuing on. It’s nice to see them in an interesting space rather than a generic conference room.
  • The lucky 22 who make it through are then off to the Embassy Theatre for their first photoshoot. Did you know it was refurbished for the Return of the King premiere? I’m suprised that Kerry Prenderghastly doesn’t pop up to take all the credit for it. I also like that they’ve take the chaise lounge out of the toilet for the girls to pose on. Glad to see it getting some use.
  • After the photos were done, we find the judges relaxing in the glitzy Foxtail (minimum spend $4000 for private hire) trying to decide who to kick out, and shortly after that they break the news to the girls in the empty function room at Foxglove (minimum spend $4000 as well).

It’s good to see that the girls got around the city and had a jolly good tour. Heaven knows they’re going to have to get around enough and give enough head to get ahead in the industry, after all…