Acting homeless on America’s Next Top Model

WTF.

The most recent aired episode of America’s Next Top Model (February 27, 2008) had the contestants model as homeless people.

Again, WTF.

I hate people who pretend to be homeless, and in doing so think that they are taking part in a great social experiment (see: TYRA BANKS).

Here’s Tyra the drama queen on her experience as a homeless person.

HOMELESSNESS IS NOT AN EXPERIMENT.

People who are homeless don’t choose to be homeless and they can’t just pack up their things and decide to quit whenever they want, unlike those who are just pretending. No matter how far one may go in attempting to live the life of a homeless person, the fact remains that that person is not homeless and in effect has immediately undermined the purpose of their experiment in the first place.

Think about it: A homeless person does not KNOW for a fact that at the end of any given day, they can go back to a HOUSE/STUDIO/WHATEVER and relax and think over the events that have taken place that day. Somebody who is pretending to be homeless does in fact have this luxury and if anything were to go extremely wrong during their experience, the option is always there to pull the plug and walk away. HOMELESS PEOPLE CANNOT DO THAT.

If anything, these “trials of homelessness” just serve to elevate the person doing the experiment. Really now, what good comes from this? Nothing. Experiments like this just reveal to the person that they’ve been a douche bag all their life because they came to the realization — through the “humbling” experience — that they were mistreating others. We surely don’t need models pushing the stereotype further.

More here and here. And pictures here.