The two-hour premiere episode devoted an hour to narrowing 32 contestants to 13 finalists, and the second hour featured the first photo shoot and elimination. As the girls moved into their house in Los Angeles, the oldest contestant, 26-year-old Jade, claimed she was "the undiscovered supermodel" and declared herself front runner of the competition. The bedroom themes for this cycle were Twiggy, Janice Dickinson, Christie Brinkley, Iman and a room themed of past contestants of America's Next Top Model. The girls were led to believe that they would all be shaved bald as a way to level the competition for the photo shoot, when in fact they were fitted with skull caps and posed wearing Swarovski crystals in an array of mannequin heads. Seen lacking in potential, the self-described hillbilly from Brevard, North Carolina, Kathy was eliminated over Furonda, (whose photo was the worst in the group) because the judges felt that she looked lost in her photo.
The two-hour premiere episode devoted an hour to narrowing 32 contestants to 13 finalists, and the second hour featured the first photo shoot and elimination. As the girls moved into their house in Los Angeles, the oldest contestant, 26-year-old Jade, claimed she was "the undiscovered supermodel" and declared herself front runner of the competition. The bedroom themes for this cycle were Twiggy, Janice Dickinson, Christie Brinkley, Iman and a room themed of past contestants of America's Next Top Model. The girls were led to believe that they would all be shaved bald as a way to level the competition for the photo shoot, when in fact they were fitted with skull caps and posed wearing Swarovski crystals in an array of mannequin heads. Seen lacking in potential, the self-described hillbilly from Brevard, North Carolina, Kathy was eliminated over Furonda, (whose photo was the worst in the group) because the judges felt that she looked lost in her photo.
In this episode, the twelve remaining contestants received makeovers. Some were dramatic, such as Jade's short blond cut Nnenna's head being shaved, Sara's sides being very short while the middle was longer,while others were less dramatic, such as Joanie and Kari being made blonder than they already were, Danielle's weave piece and Furonda's long weave that she thought made her look cool. During the makeover process, Jay spoke with each of the girls to establish a name for their individual style, which they later had to attempt to embody in a clothing challenge. Nnenna won the challenge for her interpretation of the "new African queen." Also Jade got a little agitated because Wendy was on the phone, and she also stated that Furonda crown had fake diamonds on it and she then stated " This is not America's Next Top Best Friend! This is America's Next Top Model." For the photo shoot, the girls posed with ice sculptures. Though Jade made a poor impression on the judges with her excuses and took a poor photograph, Wendy, whose family had been affected by Hurricane Katrina, was sent home due to her inability to transfer her modeling potential to photographs.
This episode featured the eleven remaining contestants practicing the runway. Like contestants from past cycles, several girls tripped or fell during the challenge and during an impromptu Vivienne Westwood style runway challenge at judging. The girls had to do a runway with cockroaches for Jared Gold's spring collection. Gina was very afraid to do the challenge and with Jade knowing this she tried to tell Gina to kiss it making Gina afraid and screeching. Jade Cole was praised for kissing the roach at the end of the runway. For the photoshoot, the girls had to take a photo while falling and were posed as a character from a popular fairy tale.
Episode four featured the girls receiving lessons on commercial and high-fashion posing. Their challenge was to model for a Sears catalogue, using the four seasons as their back-drop. This week's photoshoot involved the contestants posing as their dream careers.
In the sixth episode, the girls learned about improv by attending a workshop at The Groundlings. Later, the girls put their skills to use in a challenge led by Nick Cannon. Furonda's quick wit impressed Cannon and his friends, and she won a guest role on Veronica Mars. Furonda also won the opportunity to record a public service announcement about HIV prevention, which she shared with Nnenna. In lieu of a photoshoot that week, the girls once again had to utilize their improv skills in a commercial shoot for CoverGirl. Mollie Sue and Jade were in the bottom two; Jade again for her bad attitude and Mollie Sue because she fails to show any personality. Mollie Sue was ultimately sent home due to her "lack of persona."
On this episode, the contestants learned the "runway twirl" from the Aswirl Twins. They put their knowledge to the test in a church fashion show challenge. Jade and Joanie were two crowd favorites, but in the end, Jade won a $25,000 diamond ring. Jade then chose Furonda to have a $10,000 diamond ring, who lastly chose Nnenna to have an $8,000 diamond ring.
Brooke was mad at Nnenna for not sharing the phone with the other girls because Nnenna kept using the phone to call her boyfriend. The photoshoot required the girls to "krump", which is a modern dance style, to advertise Payless ShoeSource shoes. Leslie and Sara wound up in the bottom two, and Sara was saved although her photo was less than stellar and she failed to do well at the judging challenge. In the end, Leslie was eliminated for lacking presence in front of the judges.
In this week's episode the contestants were critiqued quite harshly by a woman (later revealed to be an actress, whose tactless remarks were aimed to irk). After the critique, each model took a Polaroid shot to measure how they took the criticism and how it affected their work through their facial expressions. Jade won the challenge because she took the criticism she was given without allowing it to affect her negatively. Jade chose Nnenna to share in the prize with her, which turned out to be a visit from a loved one. Nnenna's boyfriend, to her dismay, arrived, as well as Jade's mother. Two photoshoots were taken in this episode, one where the contestants were made up to look like dolls.
The other shoot directed by Tyra, required each girl to be photographed crying. After the photoshoots the girls all went to the dentist to have their teeth whitened. However, Joanie and Danielle were both offered to have their teeth fixed. Joanie received veneers to fix her snaggletooth, and while Danielle was offered the chance to fix the gap between her front teeth; she refused claiming the gap was a part of who she was. Brooke and Jade were in the bottom two, Brooke for her lackluster performance and misuse of the chances she had been given week to week, and Jade for her overall "fakeness." Ultimately, it was Brooke who was sent home.
This episode began with a session of press training, in which the final six contestants were taught how to deal with difficult interview questions and given pointers on how to improve. Danielle, who had previously refused to have the gap between her front teeth closed, changed her mind at Tyra's urging in order to attain a more "CoverGirl"-like smile. Before long, the contestants were told that they would be heading to Bangkok, Thailand for the remainder of the competition. Upon arriving in the city, they were given the assignment to pose hanging upside down from nets as mermaids over an open floating market. Though Joanie, Jade, and Danielle performed well on this difficult photoshoot, Sara's was considered mediocre and Furonda and Nnenna struggled to turn out a good shot, ultimately landing both of them in the bottom two. Nnenna was eliminated when her progress in the competition came to a stop and the judges felt she was slipping fast.
This episode is not an actual episode that progresses the story of the sixth cycle of ANTM, but it shows a 'behind-the-scenes' look at each of the episodes up to this point. Jade is revealed to have a "secret language" of her own, using made-up words such as "analystical." Kathy's quote equating her chance to compete on ANTM to the odds of her making it to the moon was the inspiration for the episode's title.
While in Thailand, the girls competed by learning and performing an intricate Thai dance and perform in front of judges. While Furonda's performance made the Thai audience laugh, Joanie was declared the winner of the challenge, breaking the streak of challenge wins by Nnenna and Jade. Danielle was unable to participate in the challenge as she was taken to the hospital for exhaustion, dehydration, and food poisoning, but she returned in time for the week's photoshoot. Tempers rose when Joanie and Jade had an argument. To arrive at the shoot, the girls traveled by elephant deep into the jungle, where they posed on the elephants to advertise Venus razors. At judging, Sara was called out for copying Joanie's photoshoot poses, though both girls turned out good pictures. Jade and Furonda were the bottom two, Jade for her bad attitude and Furonda because she "doesn't quite get it". Furonda was eliminated for her lack of ability to take instruction.
It’s down to the final four models who meet Thai designer Pichita Rucksajit. They are tasked with traveling by “tuk tuk”, a Thai taxi, to meet and impress local designers. Next the girls fly on to Phuket where Tyra gives them a lesson about the regions culture and local history which includes the 2004 Tsunami.
Later the girls hit the beach for a photo shoot modeling Op bikinis to appear in a June/July 2006 spread in ElleGirl magazine and Amp’d Mobile with Nigel Barker behind the lens.
It's down to Joanie, Jade and Danielle. While Joanie and Jade do well in the shooting of the CoverGirl commercial, Danielle continues to struggle with her Southern accent. In the end, a runway challenge through an ancient city will reveal this year's America's Next Top Model.