Due to the slightly sadistic nature of school, I haven’t been able to get my usual dose of pop culture. Nonetheless, I obviously still made time in between tests and papers to watch the premiere of “America’s Next Top Model.” Now, I thought I would never get sick of this show, but the past several seasons have really gone downhill.

I think Tyra Banks is a little concerned that the concept of the show is getting stale, especially with all of the other competing modeling shows, and as a result, has turned “ANTM” into one big over-the-top gimmick.

This season, Tyra had all of the girls dress up in school girl outfits and proceeded to make them take a “runway class,” get report cards and have their senior pictures taken for the yearbook.

She then made them attend a homecoming bonfire where someone was going to be announced homecoming queen and even had girls from previous seasons dressed up as cheerleaders. Clearly, they had absolutely nothing better to do, which makes me think that being on the show doesn’t really open up doors in the modeling world, as Tyra would have you believe.

The best part was when all of the girls were saying how they hoped to be chosen as the homecoming queen because they thought they deserved it, and then Tyra burst through the homecoming sign with a tiara on her mountain of teased hair. She proceeded to fake cry and do her special “white girl who hangs out at the mall because ‘like, oh my God! It’s so awesome!'” impression and tell the girls that she had slept with all of their boyfriends. Yeah Tyra. It’s totally not at all offensive that every time you try to do an impression of a white girl, you resort to that horrendously cliche valley girl voice. And why wouldn’t you be homecoming queen? The show is all about you, right?

I just never thought it would be possible that Tyra would be even more of an attention addict than she already is, but I love that she continues to surprise me. And the aspiring models don’t help the situation at all. Every time they see her, they scream and cheer and sometimes cry. It makes me wonder if there is a clause in their contract that says they must do this.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Tyra has someone in her dressing room at all times telling her that she is God’s gift to mankind, while feeding her grapes handpicked by blind Spanish monks and fanning her with giant peacock feathers dipped in gold shimmer.

I also think it is quite amusing how “ANTM” doesn’t even have fashion shows for real people anymore. The shows are purely for Tyra.

Last season, she actually hired men and women to dance on stilts while she walked down the runway to her seat. I still haven’t figured out who she was trying to impress because only a handful of the other judges were there, and they see her all the time.

I really just wish “ANTM” could be like it used to when it really was about modeling, and wasn’t “The Other Tyra Banks Show.” I know I’ll still watch, but I probably will become irritated while doing so. Stupid addicting TV.

Colleen is a junior in Communications and believes that Tyra Banks is the most self-absorbed person on the planet. She can be reached at [email protected].