Austria's Next Topmodel

Austria's Next Topmodel
File:Austrias next topmodel.jpg
Genre	Reality television
Created by	Tyra Banks
Presented by	Melanie Scheriau (5-) Former Lena Gercke (1-4)
Judges	Melanie Scheriau (5-) Carmen Kreuzer (5-) Rolf Scheider (5-) Former Lena Gercke (1-4) Atil Kutoglu (3-4) Elvyra Geyer (3-4) Andrea Weidler (1-2) Andreas Ortner (2) Sabine Landl (2) Alamande Belfor (1)
Opening theme	Vera Böhnisch - "Take Me Higher" (1) Cobra Starship - "Good Girls Go Bad" (2) Victoria S - "One In A Million" (3) Jason Derülo - "Breathing" (4)
Country of origin	Austria
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	53
Production
Running time	120 mins
Original release
Network	Puls 4
Release	8 January 2009 – present

Austria's Next Topmodel is an Austrian reality documentary based on Tyra Banks America's Next Top Model that places contestants against each other in a variety of competitions to determine who will win the title of Austria's Next Topmodel, including the cover of a magazine, a contract with a modelling agency, and other prizes that differ throughout the cycles.

Show format

For the first four Cycles the host of the show was Lena Gercke, the first winner of Germany's Next Topmodel who is also the first winner of a Top Model franchise that later become a host of another Top Model show. The jury will also consist of the head of vienna-based agency Wiener Models Andrea Weidler and Dutch-born runway coach Alamande Belfor.

The first cycle aired in January and February 2009 and saw victory for 16-year-old Larissa Marolt from St. Kanzian am Klopeinersee. As her victory was announced, she was directly carried via helicopter to Munich and from there to Los Angeles where she would meet her competitors for the fourth season of Germany's Next Topmodel. Larissa achieved the 8th placement in the fourth season of the German counterpart of the show.

The show had a spin-off called Die Model WG where six of the girls once again moved together and were filmed over ten weeks in their second attempt at a breakthrough in the modelling business.

The second cycle began in late 2009 with the catch phrase More Girls, More Jet Set, More Glamour as promised a radical change. Amanda Belfor was replaced by former model and photographer Dominique Andreas Ortner. Beauty expert Sabine Landl, who styled the girls in cycle 1, also joined the jury. Gercke and Weidler remained. However, many of the changes were not welcomed by the viewers and many did not agree with the choice of winner Aylin Kösetürk, who failed to achieve any significant success after her victory.

The third cycle premiered in January 2011 and introduced new judges; designer Atil Kutoglu and runway coach Elvyra Geyer with Gercke remaining as the host. A significant change was that one girl per federal state plus five wildcards made the cast. Additionally, there was an international destination in every episode, however only the contestants who won the casting were allowed to travel to that destination.

Gercke did not return to host the fifth Cycle in order to concentrate on her own modelling career. Austrian model Melanie Scheriau is currently hosting the new cycle that began to air in January 2013. The sixth cycle will also feature male contestants for the first time and is set to air in late 2014.

Judges

Judges	Seasons
	1	2	3	4	5
Lena Gercke (Host)	♦	♦	♦	♦
Andrea Weidler	♦	♦		1
Alamande Belfor	♦
Andreas Ortner		♦		1
Sabine Landl	1	♦
Atil Kutoglu	1		♦	♦
Elvyra Greyer		1	♦	♦
Melanie Scheriau (Host)					♦
Carmen Kreuzer				1	♦
Rolf Scheider					♦

¹ Served as guest judge that Cycle.

Controversies

Question of title

Before the show began, it caused controversy because of another modeling contest named Österreichs (German for "Austria's") Next Topmodel, which was established in 2007. Dominik Wachta, founder of what can be described as a mix between a model casting and a beauty pageant, accused the TV channel Puls 4 for stealing his idea. Further steps to change the name of the show have been unsuccessful as it was already licensed by CBS as the role-model version created by Banks.

Racism controversy

In the third cycle, contestant Magalie Berghahn was eliminated from the show due to the racist comments she made during a phone conversation with her boyfriend. She referred to fellow competitor Lydia Nnenna Obute as "Neger Oide" (negative afflicted Austrian slang for "Black Woman") and to Vanessa Lotz as "Deitsche" (slang for German Woman). Both Obute and Lotz won a go-see that episode. The conversation was fully taped and aired during the show. She was confronted by host Lena Gercke with the video material in front of the other two girls. Gercke then told her that she was expelled from the show because the competition had no room for racist ideas and thoughts. Puls 4 was later accused of using the controversy for promotional purposes as Berghahns comments had already shown in the preview for the episode and had not censored when the episode aired. Berghahn was not invited to the final runway show during the cycles finale. She later stated that the scandal had ruined her life.

Death of Sabrina Rauch

In January 2012, 21-year old Sabrina Angelika Rauch (a cycle 4 contestant) died in a car crash after spinning out of control on her way home from a party. Her vehicle collided with a concrete mast with Rauch being killed at the scene of the accident instantly. Her co-driver, a 26-year old male friend, survived the accident. Only three days before the episode featuring Rauch's elimination was aired, a nude photo shoot she did prior to her participation on the show was exposed. She was confronted by the judges for having taken the photos, and they stated that it was 'too low for a top model' while the other contestants witnessed the scene. A friend of Rauch criticized the program for the editing of that certain scene. At the beginning of the next episode of the show, the broadcast station expressed their condolences to Rauch's relatives and friends on a silent screen.

Cycles

Cycle	Premiere date	Winner	Runner-up	Other contestants in order of elimination	Number of contestants	International Destinations
1	January 8, 2009	Larissa Marolt	Victoria Hooper	Piroschka Khyo, Birgit Königstorfer, Christiane Pliem, Kordula Stöckl, Julia Mähder, Kim Sade-Tiroch, Constanzia Delort-Laval, Tamara Puljarević	10	Milan
2	November 25, 2009	Aylin Kösetürk	Sarah Unterberger	Julia Huber, Lisa Schottak (quit), Angelika Czapka, Manuela Frey, Vanessa Hooper, Iris Shala, Anna Steinwendner, Jennifer Kogler, Lina Köberl, Johanna Gruber, Nina Kollmann	13	Istanbul Athens London Paris Cape Town
3	January 6, 2011	Lydia Nnenna Obute	Katharina Theuermann	Lisa Berghold (quit), Victoria Vogeler, Sarah Preiml, Magalie Berghahn, Nadine Oberteiler, Linda Linorter, Vanessa Alexandra Lotz, Valerie Heidenreich, Nicole Gerzabek, Julia Trummer, Darija Gavrić, Romana Gruber	14	New York
4	January 12, 2012	Antonia Hausmair	Gina Adamu	Isabelle Raisa, Alina Chlebecek, Sabrina Rauch, Katharina Mihalović, Nataša Marić, Michaela Schopf (quit), Christine Riener, Mădălina Andreica, Yemisi Rieger, Izabela Pop Kostić, Bianca Ebelsberger, Nadine Trinker, Lana Baltić, Melisa Popanicić	16	Tel Aviv Berlin New York
5	January 3, 2013	Gréta Uszkai	Katrin Krinner	Charlotte Rothpletz, Nadja Sejranić, Tatjana Catić (quit), Sabrina Kastner, Iris Mann, Sina Lisa Petru, Sabrina-Nathalie Reitz, Luca-Mercedes Stemer, Vanessa-Doreen Rolke, Charlotte Aichhorn, Isabelle Postl, Stefanie Wedam, Aleksandra Stanković	15	Hurghada
6	late 2014	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBATemplate:Flag incon Santiago