Posts Tagged ‘Eurovision’s Next Top Model’

On April 1 Wiwi Bloggs met with Europe’s top modeling agencies to determine which Eurovision contestants had the beauty and charm to succeed as international superstars. After heated deliberations and a few broken stilettos, Wiwi invited 23 men from the Eurovision family to compete in the semi-finals of Eurovision’s Next Top Male Model 2010. Contestants from Britain to Belarus flashed their pearly whites, flexed their muscles and sang their hearts out to convince you they have what it takes to become Europe’s next big thang.  Following six weeks and more than 13,400 votes (7,440 in the semi-finals, 6,031 in the finals), Wiwi is proud to announce that Turkey’s Ferman Akgül is Eurovision’s Next Top Male Model.

The final results are as follows:

1. Turkey, Ferman Akgül (2,175 votes, 36.06%) 2. Israel, Harel Skaat (1,555, 25.78%) 3. Poland, Marcin Mrozinski (465, 7.71%) 4. Romania, Ovi (384, 6.37%) 5. Norway, Didrik Solli-Tangen (381, 6.32%) 6. Spain, Daniel Diges (304, 5.04%) 7. Bosnia, Vukasin Brajic (271, 4.49%) 8. Serbia, Milan Stankovic (146, 2.42%) 9. Bulgaria, Miro (78, 1.29%) 10. Belgium, Tom Dice (70, 1.16%) 11. Greece, Giorgos Alkaios (58, 0.96%) 12. Cyprus, Jon Lilygreen (56, 0.93%) 13. Russia, Peter Nalitch (51, 0.85%) 14. United Kingdom, Josh Dubovie (37, 0.61%)

Turkish Delight

Ferman and his rap-rock band maNga were stars long before Wiwi began his search for Eurovision’s Next Top Model. In 2009, the group won “Best European Act” at the MTV Music Awards, and their single “Dünyanin Sonuna Dogmusum” (End of the World) topped the charts in Turkey and climbed to #335 in Russia (hey, it’s a big country with a lot of artists — give maNga some credit). Along the way the group learned how to rock black, and Ferman learned how to flirt with the camera. Here’s the video.

“Beni Benimie Birak” peaked at #2 in Turkey. Werq!

In a year of rather bland looks—Belgium’s Tom Dice seriously looked like a flight attendant—Ferman and maNga brought edgy looks to the table, as captured in their live Eurovision performance.

The Road to Becoming Eurovision’s Next Top Male Model:

During the first week of voting, Poland’s Marcin Mrozinski established himself as the early front-runner. Of the 1,136 votes cast, Marcin claimed an impressive 42% of them. Norway’s Didrik Solli-Tangen finished second with 17%. Norwegian voters, who didn’t like the photo that Wiwi selected of Didrik, accused Wiwi of trying to sabotage Norway’s campaign. Looking back, the photo does make Didrik look as if he’d like to cut someone with a razor blade. Wiwi is sorry.

Anyway, Israel’s Harel Skaat, who Wiwi deemed the sexiest Eurovision contestant ever, finished the first week in third position with 15%. Turkey’s Ferman Akgul was in fifth position with 5% of the vote. (Coincidentally, Romania’s Paula Seling, the eventual winner of Eurovision’s Next Top Model 2010, was also in fifth place at the end of the first week of voting. Cosmic connections, people!)

With the Top Model House overrun with testosterone, Wiwi decided that two men had to go. A quick google image search of Belarus’ “Artyom Mihalenko” didn’t turn up any photos. Without a past, Arytom had no chance of a future and was sent home. Wiwi also booted Estonia’s Madis Kubu, mainly because his video for “Siren” was real creepy.

During the second week of competition, the death of Poland’s president and a number of the government’s elite forced Marcin Mrozinski to cancel Eurovision appearances and to delay the release of the final version of his Eurovision song “Legenda.” Wiwi’s voters respected his courage and kept him in first position with 35% of all votes. Harel Skaat, the jock from Jerusalem, finally made his move and slid into joint second with Norway’s Didrik Solli-Tangen, with both men claiming 17%. Spain’s Daniel Diges also surged, perhaps because Wiwi posted this photo of him modeling Calvin Klein underwear. Caliente!

Wiwi grew tired of cleaning up after the 21 remaining men. In a bold move partly related to a pharmacist not refilling his subscription for painkillers, Wiwi sent six men home: Denmark’s Tomas N’evergreen, Estonia’s Robin Juhkental, Switzerland’s Michael von der Heide, F.Y.R. Macedonia’s Gjoko Taneski, Lithuania’s Jurgis Didziulis, and the other guy from Belarus (couldn’t pronounce his name then, can’t pronounce it now).

The search for Eurovision’s Next Top Male Model took a sharp turn during the third week of competition. Fans in Spain and Turkey began to rally support on Facebook and Twitter, so Daniel Diges and Ferman Akgul pushed to the front of the pack with 30% and 24% of all votes respectively. Poland, Israel and Norway remained contenders with 19%, 9% and 9% respectively. Serbia’s Milan Stankovic saw a surge in votes after Wiwi published this shirtless photo of him. He finished the week in a solid sixth position:

Wiwi was feeling generous following the previous week’s bloodbath, so he made no eliminations.

After four weeks of voting and a total of 7,440 votes, Wiwi finally brought the semi-finals to a close. France’s Jessy Matador was the last contestant sent home. That left us with 14 men. Based on the semi-final results, there were clear favorites. Turkey had pushed to the front with 42% of all votes, but Spain remained a threat with 30%. Poland (10%), Israel (7%) and Norway (5%) would have to work harder to catch them in the finals. As we can see from the final results, Israel came closest—but none of them were able to stop Europe from indulging in a bit of Turkish Delight.

The aftermath

Ferman’s selection as Eurovision’s Next Top Male Model hasn’t been embraced by everyone. As you can see on this comments page, a number of Wiwi’s readers believe that Harel Skaat is the rightful winner and that he lost out as a result of the Turkish diaspora’s voting power. What do y’all think? Did Ferman deserve the title? Why are people upset? Did Britain’s Josh Dubovie deserve to finish last? And what exactly makes a good top male model anyway? Let Wiwi know below!

On March 29, Wiwi Bloggs began his annual search for Eurovision’s Next Top Model with 26 beautiful contestants from across Europe. Slovakia’s Kristina Pelakova brought youth and vitality. Moldova’s Olia Tira brought an edgy look and Lady Gaga-like costumes. And Armenia’s Eva Rivas brought long legs and an uncanny resemblance to actress Angelina Jolie. But in the end one woman rose above them all. Following two months and nearly 8,000 votes, Wiwi is proud to announce that Romania’s Paula Seling is Eurovision’s Next Top Model.

Final Results: 1. Romania, Paula Seling (1,359, 31.35%) 2. Azerbaijan, Safura (978, 22.56%) 3. Armenia, Eva Rivas (601, 13.86%) 4. Croatia, Feminnem, Nika Antolos (283, 6.53%) 5. Germany, Lena Meyer-Landrut (259, 5.97%) 6. Ukraine, Alyosha (186, 4.29%) 7. Georgia, Sofia Nizharadze (129, 2.98%) 8. Portugal, Filipa Azevedo (82, 1.89%) 9. Moldova, Olia Tira (81, 1.87%) 10. Sweden, Anna Bergendahl (78, 1.8%) 11. Slovenia, Barbara Ogrinc (77, 1.78%) 12. Albania, Juliana Pasha (75, 1.73%) 13. Slovakia, Kristina (74, 1.71%) 14. Latvia, Aisha (73, 1.68%)

Paula won over European voters with her porcelain skin, Hollywood smile and attractive curves. She’s clearly a natural beauty, but she also knows how to work a variety of looks. As you can see in her official preview video of “Playing With Fire,” Paula feels as comfortable in a frock as she does in a leather bodysuit.

Paula has the looks of an international superstar, but she also has the talent. The 31-year old is already one of Romania’s biggest pop stars, having released 13 albums, and she’s opened for the likes of Joan Baez, Chick Corea, Michael Bolton and Beyonce. Romanians love this woman. Avantaje magazine named her Woman of the Year in 2002 and she won “Best Music Video” at the 2002 Romanian MTV Music Awards for “Serile Verii” (Summer Nights).

Wiwi was lucky enough to see Paula perform at London’s Shadow Lounge ahead of Eurovision. She was so kind to all of her fans and clearly loved performing in front of a crowd. But Wiwi gathered as much from this video of “Get Up Now” in which she takes a shower for her fans!

Unlike a number of her competitors, Paula doesn’t have an ego problem and she doesn’t take her fans for granted. Following her third place finish at Eurovision, she posted this “thank you” video on www.paulaseling.com.

Paula looks particularly stunning in this video for “Timpul” (Time).

The Road to Becoming Eurovision’s Next Top Model

During the first week of voting, readers cast 310 votes. Armenia’s long-legged beauty Eva Rivas jumped into the lead with 35% of all votes. Azerbaijan’s Safura followed closely behind with 18%. And Germany’s Lena Meyer-Landrut made a case for herself with 8%. At this stage of the contest, Paula sat in fifth position with just 5% of the vote and Wiwi was worried the Romanian beauty might not make it to the top. But she wouldn’t be sent home this week because seven women received no votes or just one vote, equivalent to 0%. Wiwi decided to send home Finland’s Susan Aho and Johanna Virtanen, and Belarus’ Yulia Shishko and Alyona Karpovich.

Eliminated: Both halves of Finland’s folk duo Kuunkuiskaajat

Things took a dramatic turn during the second week of competition. The vote tally climbed to more than 2,200 as voters across the Republic of Georgia logged on to support their candidate Sofia Nizharadze. She jumped from ninth place with just 3% of all votes to first place with 59%. Armenia’s Eva Rivas, who had just planted apricot trees in Cyprus as a goodwill gesture, remained in contention with 14%. Paula fell to seventh place following the surge from Sofia and from Latvia’s Aisha (who went on to finish last in the first Eurovision semi-final).

Once again, Wiwi had to send four women home: Iceland’s Hera Bjork, Ireland’s Niamh Kavanagh, Malta’s Thea Garrett and Belarus’ Ninel Karpovich. None of them received more than 8 votes, and Wiwi could not justify sparing any of them. In fact, Wiwi actually took a sick pleasure in sending Ninel home: she was the last female member of 3 + 2 and Wiwi really didn’t care for their song.

The final Belarusian bites the dust

Only 18 women remained in the Top Model House during the third week of competition. At this point, more than 3,300 votes had been cast. Georgia’s Sofia continued to push ahead, eating up an impressive 66% of all votes. Wiwi had to say goodbye to Chanée, Denmark’s most famous singer of Thai descent, Sieneke, the plus-size representative from the Netherlands, and Neda Parmac and Pamela Ramljak, two-thirds of the Croatian trio Feminnem.

Croatia’s Feminnem

By the end of the semi-finals, more than 3,500 votes had been cast and it looked like Georgia was going to walk away with its first victory in Eurovision’s Next Top Model. Unfortunately for them, all votes were reset. This was only fair given that people had voted for contestants who had been eliminated. Now everyone had a chance to vote again. To help them make their decision, voters could now review interviews with each contestant, check out online portfolios and watch them on stage at Eurovision.

This shook things up dramatically. A total of 4,344 votes were cast in the final and all of Europe’s love took a sharp turn toward Romania. Georgia’s Sofia fell from first place to seventh; Romania’s Paula jumped from seventh place to first. Paula’s spectacular performances during the second semi-final and the final clearly earned her a lot of votes. Wearing a black leather cat suit probably didn’t hurt either.

Paula had a fantastic career before Eurovision, and Wiwi knows she is going to have an even better one now that it’s over. The voters and sponsors of Eurovision’s Next Top Model are all  behind you Paula. Now go out there and make Wiwi proud!

Eurovision’s Next Top Model: Vote Now in the Final! Eurovision’s Next Top Model: Vote Now in the Semi-finals! Elimination #1 Elimination #2 Elimination #3 Semi-final Results

On May 29 the men of Eurovision battled it out with their voices. Now it’s time to battle it out with their bodies. Since March, Wiwi’s readers have cast more than 12,600 votes (7,440 in the semi-finals, and 5,235 so far in the final) to determine who deserves the title of Eurovision’s Next Top Male Model 2010.

With only one week of voting left, the contest remains a battle between Turkey’s edgy rocker Ferman Akgul and Israel’s sexy manboy Harel Skaat. The Turk currently claims 38% of all votes, with the Israeli trailing with 23% (Wiwi dares not draw comparisons with the recent drama on board the Mavi Marmara in the Gaza flotilla). Despite being eliminated in the semi-finals of Eurovision (the singing contest, not the modeling contest), Poland’s Marcin Mrozinski remains in third place with 9%. 

As this vote will determine Europe’s next big thang, please review footage of all of the men in action at Eurovision below. Then review their online portfolios and get a sense of their personality and charm by watching these interviews. You can see the most up-to-date results at the bottom of this post. Polls close on Sunday, June 13 at noon. It’s up to you, Europe! Keep voting!

1. Turkey, Ferman Akgül (1,965, 37.54%)

2. Israel, Harel Skaat (1,209, 23.09%)

3. Poland, Marcin Mrozinski (460, 8.79%)

4. Norway, Didrik Solli-Tangen (361, 6.9%)

5. Spain, Daniel Diges (295, 5.64%)

6. Bosnia, Vukasin Brajic (261, 4.99%)

7. Romania, Ovi (249, 4.76%)

8. Serbia, Milan Stankovic (124, 2.37%)

9. Bulgaria, Miro (67, 1.28%)

10. Belgium, Tom Dice (66, 1.26%)

11. Greece, Giorgos Alkaios (56, 1.07% )

12. Cyprus, Jon Lilygreen (50, 0.96%)

13. Russia, Peter Nalitch (38, 0.73%)

14. United Kingdom, Josh Dubovie (34, 0.65%)

The results: Eurovision’s Next Top Male Model: Interviews With the Finalists

Eurovision’s Next Top Male Model: It’s Turkey vs. Israel

Eurovision’s Next Top Male Model: Elimination #3

Eurovision’s Next Top Male Model: Elimination #2

Eurovision’s Next Top Male Model: Elimination #1

Spain’s Daniel Diges

With Eurovision kicking off on May 25, voters have a lot of decisions to make. By far the most important is determining who will win Eurovision’s Next Top Male Model. As of Monday, May 24 at 10am, Wiwi’s readers had cast 3,775 votes. Below, you can see how your favorite contestant fared and also check out interviews with each piece of meat performer. We don’t want our representative to be a jerk, so please listen to them carefully. You can review each candidate’s portfolio by clicking here. You can also place your vote at the end of this post. Polls close June 4 at midnight!

1. Turkey, Ferman Akgül 1,527 40.45%

2. Israel, Harel Skaat (946, 25.06%)

3. Poland, Marcin Mrozinski (403, 10.68%)

4. Bosnia, Vukasin Brajic (240, 6.36%)

5. Spain, Daniel Diges (201, 5.32%)

6. Norway, Didrik Solli-Tangen (191, 5.06%)

7. Romania, Ovi (59, 1.56%)

7. Serbia, Milan Stankovic (59, 1.56%)

9. Bulgaria, Miro (44. 1.17%)

10. Belgium, Tom Dice (27, 0.72%)

11. Cyprus, Jon Lilygreen (21, 0.56%)

11. Russia, Peter Nalitch (21, 0.56%)

13. Greece, Giorgos Alkaios (20, 0.53%)

14. United Kingdom, Josh Dubovie (16, 0.42%)

Elena Gheorghe, Eurovision’s Next Top Model 2009

As of May 17 at midnight, Wiwi’s readers had cast 1,720 votes to determine who should win Eurovision’s Next Top Model. Eurovision front-runner and teen singing sensation Safura has jumped into a commanding lead with 39% of all votes. Last week she was in fifth position with only 4%. Romania’s Paula Seling (the beauty from Bucharest), Croatia’s Nika Antolos (the babe from the Balkans) and Armenia’s Eva Rivas (Yerevan’s answer to Angelina Jolie) all remain in contention.

Below, you can see the complete rankings. You can also watch an interview with each candidate. Wiwi thinks it’s important you see these women working their beauty in real life, not just in a photograph. And it’s probably important that you get to know them as people, too. We don’t want a meanie representing Eurovision on the runway next season. Don’t forget to tell your Facebook friends to vote in Wiwi’s search for Eurovision’s Next Top Model! You can also vote and see the most current results after the interviews. Enjoy the ladies!

1. Azerbaijan, Safura (678 votes, 39.42%)

2. Romania, Paula Seling (383 votes, 22.27%)

3. Armenia, Eva Rivas (222 votes, 12.91%)

4. Croatia, Feminnem, Nika Antolos (168 votes, 9.77%)

5. Germany, Lena Meyer-Landrut (77 votes, 4.48%)

6. Portugal, Filipa Azevedo (37 votes, 2.15%)

7. Georgia, Sofia Nizharadze (26 votes, 1.51%)

8. Moldova, Olia Tira (25 votes, 1.45%)

9. Ukraine, Alyosha (22 votes, 1.28%)

10. Latvia, Aisha (21 votes, 1.22%)

11. Slovakia, Kristina (18 votes, 1.05%)

11. Sweden, Anna Bergendahl (18 votes, 1.05%)

13. Slovenia, Barbara Ogrinc (13 votes, 0.76%)

14. Albania, Juliana Pasha (12 votes, 0.7%)

***EUROVISION’S NEXT TOP MODEL: LAST CHANCE TO VOTE***