Jump to content

ANTM Rankdown: The Top 20 Countdown

*Amanda

By *Amanda
in Rankdowns

 Share

Recommended Posts

*Amanda

*Amanda

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)
06. SHANDI SULLIVAN (CYCLE 2, 3RD PLACE)

IPB Image

9.44

Alex: 5/20
Victoria: 5/20
Chris: 7/20
Dee: 8/20
IDF: 10/20
Denise: 11/20
Diana: 11/20
Richard: 12/20
Wally: 16/20

05. Shandi Sullivan
Every reality show that I love has a moment at the beginning of the series that just ~makes~ the series. Big Brother has Shannon cleaning the toilet with Hardy’s toothbrush. Survivor has Sue’s snake and rats speech. The Amazing Race has the footrace between Chris & Alex and Wil & Tara. Can you guess what ANTM has? “YOU HAD SAX?!?!?!?!?!” That moment turned ANTM from a good show to a great show. It’s one of those reality show moments that transcends reality television. Similar to all the other reality show moments I already listed, they’re moments you could watch alone and be amazed by, but work best in the context of the season. Knowing Shandi’s journey makes that moment all the more shocking and enthralling.
I’m not a big fan of the ugly duckling storylines on ANTM. I’m not just a grump, it’s just because it was done at its best with Shandi and it was never done as well ever again. If you look at Shandi during episode one, you obviously don’t see stunning model. I don’t want to be mean, but she’s clearly not someone who turns heads on the street or anything like that. So when she took her Eve photoshoot and is in awe of how good she looks, you can’t help but smile. She is beautiful. She’s never seen herself as a beautiful person but now she does. But it doesn’t even come close to how she looks when she gets her makeover. That makeover elevates her to another level. It is obviously the best makeover in ANTM history and there isn’t even a close second. ANTM has ruined a lot of people’s hair, but they worked some magic with Shandi. Most of the models on this show try out because they know they’re beautiful. Shandi wanted to find that part of herself and now she has. And now she has to live this part of herself away from the man she loves while competing in a competition that is meant to push you to your limits.
Throughout the season, Shandi gains more confidence. She used to have the worst runway walk of all time, and though it never becomes flawless, she is MUCH improved there. She took some bad photos before her makeover like all her casting pictures and that awful shoe picture. But as she improves, she somehow delivers the Coliseum picture which, at one point, used to be my favorite picture in ANTM history. I’m not sure if it’s still my favorite, but it’s certainly top 10 for sure. Shandi killing it at the dancing challenge is one of the most shocking and amazing things. We also learn more about her tragic backstory. Her family was never in her life and she turned to drugs to cope. She even was arrested for some shady sh*t involving drugs I can’t actually remember, but she was brave enough to open up about this on the show. The only person that’s been there for her was her boyfriend. Even before she had this ugly duckling transformation, he was by her side.
You know how people say that kids that were coddled in high school break out in college and go crazy? ANTM was pretty much Shandi’s college break out. She talks about her boyfriend a lot about how much she misses him and loves him. But the distance is obviously difficult. She’s jealous of her boyfriend going to the movies with girls at home. Shandi’s living the gorgeous model life now. She gets to kiss a handsome man for an acting challenge. She dances with guys at clubs, and though it doesn’t go further than that, she loves the male attention. This all causes some drama between her and her boyfriend though. As Shandi’s loving the model life, he’s still just an average joe Walgreen’s employee at home. I’m not gonna recap what, I assume, is the worst night of Shandi’s life. Anyone who knows ANTM has seen that video. “YOU HAD SAX?!?!”. Shandi getting to have sex with hot Italian men that crave for her is exciting. She was never that woman and she gets to finally be that woman. Of course, that requires her to cheat on her boyfriend who she loves very much. Tbh I’m not crazy about their relationship. The fact that she was jealous of him going to the movies with another girl is a huge red flag. And him “jokingly” hoping she fails so she comes home sooner is rather sh*tty and manipulative. He didn’t deserve to be cheated on, but I think it was clear there wasn’t a lot of stability there (though I think they’re still together to this day). I really can’t believe such a well-crafted and dark story was gifted to us on this unscripted series. Shandi continues to crush the competition that week though lol. She is clearly not the same though and she gets “shockingly” eliminated in third place. She deserved to beat Mercedes, but Yoanna was always the right winner once we lost April. This whole experience pretty much killed her interest in modeling and I can’t blame her. I hope she’s happy now wherever she is and whatever she’s doing. There will never be another ANTM story like Shandi Sullivan.


SHANDI SULLIVAN
Infamous for cheating on her boyfriend who managed to impress with a decent portfolio – it was a good portfolio considering the photoshoot, they had to do at the time. Anyway, I would rather her win her season over April and co. so hence why she is this high on my list.


08. Shandi Sullivan

IPB Image

IPB Image

IPB Image

IPB Image

IPB Image

IPB Image

IPB Image

54-uDg9KAB0

Shandi Sullivan. Shantrax. Evil Shandae. Probably the biggest game-changer in the history of the show. With a story so compelling in the earlier days of reality television, there was no way that Shandi could avoid impacting the landscape of America's Next Top Model and reality television completely. To be honest, I do not think there has ever been a more compelling transformation story in reality television. From geeky, meek, shy, unfashionable, unconfident, lanky, Missourian Walgreens clerk to legitimate high fashion bombshell. That surface transformation is still so breathtaking to see. I don't even need to address that transformation at length, it's so legendary.

What is more fascinating and complex is the personal transformation that Shandi underwent after the makeover, as she tries to leave behind a life of worthlessness, addiction, neglect, abandon, and pain. Revisiting Shandi's journey was actually more emotional and painful than I had initially remember. Shandi had been so neglected and unloved by family, made to feel invisible, worthless, unwanted, and unattractive her entire life by the people that mean the most to her. This led Shandi to a life of drugs and crime, ending with an arrest for robbery and two years probation. But even these cries for attention were not good enough to warrant attention from any of her family. Such a heartbreaking tale. To see the reasons as to why Shandi lacked an ounce of confidence in herself, to see why she lacked self-care and self-love, still is such a hard pill to swallow. I mean...that scene with the psychic medium made me cry all over again. Even though she was given contacts and a platinum blonde makeover from the gods, it's not the physical transformation that allowed Shandi to begin to gain confidence.

Shandi transforms because she is surrounded by people that love her, hug her, and believe in her ability to dig deep inside her and become this high-fashion supermodel. What Shandi needed was not the physical goods, since she naturally had all of those. Exquisite bone structure. Long, tall, slender body. Beautiful eyes. Gorgeous smile. Shandi needed a family and people to tell her that she could do something bigger with her life than she previously hoped. That was all she needed to feel like this competition really could be hers to take. And boy did Shandi take the competition by storm.

The way Shandi started to come alive in front of the camera, the way she began to walk into panel with life in her eyes and a confidence in her stature, the way she practiced her runway walk constantly, the way she learned how to sell herself and her abilities to potential fashion designers, the way she handled intense criticisms at panel with poise and maturity, the way she learned about how to dress fashionably. Shandi really came alive across the course of the season on such a mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical level. The Shandi of old was blossoming and metamorphosing into a beautiful creature that loved life and took herself seriously.

This newfound confidence helped Shandi to soar in the competition. Garden of Eve photo? Sexy as hell. Laundry by Segal photo? ICONIC. Nicole Kidman impersonation? Beautiful. "Shake Your Body" performance? ICONIC. Solstice sunglasses? Best picture in ANTM history. Nude photo? Incredible. I mean, Betsey Johnson even picked Shandi as the winner of her runway challenge because Shandi exuded this amazingly cool personality that felt so unique to her. That is what is most memorable about Shandi, her super cool energy. Did Shandi have a few flubs throughout the competition? Sure. But those flubs really do not even compare to the heights at which she soared throughout the competition.

Despite all of her greatness, Shandi could not necessarily shed all of the negativity from her home life. While revisiting her journey, I truly was astonished by the toxicity of her relationship with Eric, which is maybe the most prominent storyline of the cycle and maybe the most prominent storyline in ANTM history. Shandi's one confidant back home happened to be her boyfriend Eric, and both of them seemingly loved each other so immensely. But when you really look at their relationship critically, you see just how glaringly negative that entire relationship was from the beginning. Really sad to see too, since it's so glaringly obvious just how many relationship and intimacy issues Shandi had due to her horrible upbringing. All of the co-dependency between the two is really hard to watch. And as Shandi changes due to her newfound confidence and this life-changing experience, the insecurities of both these partners starts to seep out like crazy. Watching the relationship start off so seemingly perfect and sweet and derail into infidelity and conflict is still so jarring and complex. With all of this newly gained attention, Shandi honestly did not know what to do. She had been starved for attention, validation, and love all of her life. It's hard to blame Shandi for flirting with men and cheating - Shandi was a hurting individual who made mistakes because she just did not know any better. That iconic cheating scandal in Italy was really hard to watch again, but just highlights the complexity of Shandi's character.

If not for that entire incident, I think Shandi would have won the entire competition. Her remorse and guilt for having betrayed her only loved one sucked all of the life and energy out of her. Watching her defeat in those final two weeks is still so tough. But Shandi ultimately won that cycle. And if she won this Rankdown, I'd be perfectly happy. Because she is complex, honest, real, transformative, interesting, captivating, etc. A star really.

IPB Image
I could not find any gifs of Shandi besides this one. :bye2: This was from an
that cycle, which was interesting. :haha: Anyway, I feel like Shandi kind of quietly snuck through in this rankdown because I literally can't remember one mention of her this whole time. :haha: But I really liked Shandi a lot. She definitely had a huge transformation from coming in as this kind of awkward girl who struggled and lacked confidence - to becoming a full fledged fashion model. :wub: She really surprised me with how good she was and I love seeing those kinds of stories pan out. I enjoyed her personality, as well as her modeling... it's unfortunate that what a lot of people remember most is the drama that went down regarding her and her boyfriend. I don't really want to talk about that, but it's great how the other girls and Tyra were all there to help her work through things. I always viewed Shandi as the little ducking that turned a swan and really owned her beauty on this show. She was shockingly good in the dance challenge too, so way to go Shandi. She took several photos I love, but I think my favorites are the sunglasses one and the beauty shot. <3


SHE IS THE ONE WHO WAS SO MAD AT HER BOYFRIEND FOR GOING TO A MOVIE WITH A FRIEND THAT WAS A GIRL THEN SLEPT WITH A MODEL TWO EPISODES LATER. I can’t stand cheaters so goodbye now. The constant miserable crying was too much for me and I probably should have ranked you lower.


#012

Shandi Sullivan (Cycle 2, 3rd Place)

IPB Image

Shandi’s ANTM journey is without a doubt one of the most infamous. What was supposed to be a Cinderella story (likely ending with her as the winner) turned into somewhat of a tragedy once she cheated on her boyfriend. To me, that’s a shame, because I think it could have very well been possible that if she won, she could have had a solid career for a while. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

Shandi’s body of work was impressive at the time, although it doesn’t hold up quite as well in 2019. Nonetheless, she did take two incredible pictures (Laundry and Solstice), as well as her very underrated Nude picture with Yoanna (unpopular opinion: Shandi had my favorite picture that week). Sadly, she was cut at the final three because she unfortunately tanked at the wrong time, and with Yoanna and Mercedes taking some of their best pictures that week, she all but forced the judges’ hands.

Overall, I loved seeing Shandi transform from a “dorky” Walgreens employee to a budding model. I think had she won, she would have placed higher for me, but in a way, Shandi’s story ending the way it did may have actually made her more memorable.


IPB Image

I definitely feel like this 16th ranking will be quite controversial for Shandi, as she was never nominated by ANY of us - the rankers, public, randomizer, etc. I do really like Shandi but I actually really like all of my Top 16, and heck all of my Top 19 so rankings are hard. I’ll put Shandi at the lower end of the rankings, as I feel she’s a big threat to win for Cycle 2 and this whole game. Hopefully tis lower ranking can help give Mercedes or April the win but I don’t think that will be too likely, so if Shandi wins for Cycle 2, then that’s fine. :haha: B ut yeah when I watched Cycle 2, I did really like Shandi but loved and was more invested in Mercedes, April and Sara.

Shandi is a model from Cycle 2 and finished in 3rd place. was one of the original/first quirky and awkward models on ANTM, which is an archetype that is really adored on ANTM. Those types aren’t usually my favorites but Shandi does stand out as amongst my faves of those types. :yes:

Shandi is definitely a strong model, so here are some of my favorite photos of her.

IPB Image
IPB Image
IPB Image
IPB Image
IPB Image

That third photo is especially iconic! :omg: Ooh I remember her shocking me and really slaying the Tyra Banks music video shoot. Shandi was doing her thing and quite hot in it - and much more so than the models I do normally find quite hot. :omg:

IPB Image

Here’s a great montage video of her standout moments of Cycle 2.

54-uDg9KAB0

I do see Shandi ranking really high in this rankdown so best of luck to her!

Edited by gabegir45
Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Replies 775
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

*Amanda

*Amanda

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Alex

1.

2. Bre Scullark

3. Melrose Bickerstaff

4. April Wilkner

5. Shandi Sullivan

6.

7. Eva Pigford

8. Brittany Brower

9. Sophie Sumner

10. Lisa D'Amato

11.

12. Toccara Jones

13. Norelle Van Herk

14.

15. Amanda Swafford

16. Anya Kop

17. Kayla Ferrel

18. Mercedes Scelba-Shorte

19. Kahlen Rondot

20.

 

Chris

1. Anya Kop

2.

3.

4. Kahlen Rondot

5.

6. Sophie Sumner

7. Shandi Sullivan

8. Toccara Jones

9. Amanda Swafford

10.

11. Bre Scullark

12. Norelle Van Herk

13. Kayla Ferrel

14.

15. Eva Pigford

16. Mercedes Scelba-Shorte

17. Melrose Bickerstaff

18. April Wilkner

19. Brittany Brower

20. Lisa D'Amato

 

Dee

1.

2. Eva Pigford

3. Kahlen Rondot

4.

5. Bre Scullark

6.

7.

8. Shandi Sullivan

9.

10. Brittany Brower

11. Amanda Swafford

12. Lisa D'Amato

13. Melrose Bickerstaff

14. April Wilkner

15. Toccara Jones

16. Mercedes Scelba-Shorte

17. Norelle Van Herk

18. Anya Kop

19. Kayla Ferrel

20. Sophie Sumner

 

Denise

1.

2. Sophie Sumner

3. Anya Kop

4. Mercedes Scelba-Shorte

5.

6. Eva Pigford

7.

8. Melrose Bickerstaff

9. Kayla Ferrel

10. Toccara Jones

11. Shandi Sullivan

12. Norelle Van Herk

13.

14. April Wilkner

15. Brittany Brower

16.

17. Lisa D'Amato

18. Kahlen Rondot

19. Amanda Swafford

20. Bre Scullark

 

Diana

1. Melrose Bickerstaff

2.

3.

4. Bre Scullark

5.

6. Anya Kop

7. Kahlen Rondot

8. Mercedes Scelba-Shorte

9.

10. April Wilkner

11. Shandi Sullivan

12. Amanda Swafford

13. Kayla Ferrel

14. Brittany Brower

15. Toccara Jones

16. Sophie Sumner

17. Norelle Van Herk

18.

19. Eva Pigford

20. Lisa D'Amato

 

Richard

1.

2.

3. April Wilkner

4. Anya Kop

5. Toccara Jones

6.

7. Kahlen Rondot

8. Brittany Brower

9. Mercedes Scelba-Shorte

10. Lisa D'Amato

11. Kayla Ferrel

12. Shandi Sullivan

13.

14. Eva Pigford

15.

16. Amanda Swafford

17. Melrose Bickerstaff

18. Bre Scullark

19. Sophie Sumner

20. Norelle Van Herk

 

Victoria

1. Amanda Swafford

2. Brittany Brower

3. Lisa D'Amato

4.

5. Shandi Sullivan

6.

7.

8.

9. Melrose Bickerstaff

10. Mercedes Scelba-Shorte

11. Kayla Ferrel

12. Sophie Sumner

13. April Wilkner

14. Norelle Van Herk

15. Toccara Jones

16. Eva Pigford

17. Kahlen Rondot

18. Anya Kop

19.

20. Bre Scullark

 

Wally

1. Mercedes Scelba-Shorte

2.

3. Eva Pigford

4.

5.

6. April Wilkner

7. Anya Kop

8.

9. Sophie Sumner

10. Toccara Jones

11. Kahlen Rondot

12. Amanda Swafford

13. Brittany Brower

14.

15. Lisa D'Amato

16. Shandi Sullivan

17. Kayla Ferrel

18. Melrose Bickerstaff

19. Norelle Van Herk

20. Bre Scullark

 

IDF

1.

2.

3.

4. Toccara Jones

5. Amanda Swafford

6.

7. Eva Pigford

8. Melrose Bickerstaff

9. Kahlen Rondot

10. Shandi Sullivan

11. Lisa D'Amato

12. Mercedes Scelba-Shorte

13. Bre Scullark

14.

15. Kayla Ferrel

16. Brittany Brower

17. Sophie Sumner

18. Norelle Van Herk

19. Anya Kop

20. April Wilkner

Link to comment
Share on other sites
*Wallace

*Wallace

Posted
Posted

I legit think hers was the first I wrote and I had a lot of feelings :dead:

You are always SO heated in your write-ups. :dead:

 

Your passion made it seem like she cheated on you :haha:

It did. :dead:

 

@Wally; I’m just messing with you. :dead:

Okayy. :wub: I wasn't mad but was just wondering what you thought and how that was predictable. :haha:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...