The theme of last night’s photo shoot on America’s Next Top Model: All-Stars was “Michael Jackson Through The Years,” or something, but it didn’t really matter because La Toya Jackson was there for guidance. Though the episode felt suspiciously-timed — with the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray happening right now — it was a serious affair, and all the ladies were extremely focused. And yes, not only were the contestants cross-dressing in ornate, bedazzled outfits, trying to emulate the King Of Pop while his sister watched, some of them were given brown makeup to make their skin darker. But hey, it’s not like Tyra Banks’ team hasn’t been accused of doing blackface makeup before. But anyway: La Toya was super nice! And, unfortunately, a little on the creepy side… She kept speaking about her dead brother in the present tense.
But like I said, she was super nice. So nice, in fact, that when it came down eliminations — which Tyra let La Toya decide for herself — she refused to kick anyone off the show. La Toya felt that Michael “wouldn’t want to see you guys go home. He wants to see you try harder.” Sure he does! I think Angelea, who was up for elimination, put it best when she said, “I feel like somebody saved me. It could have been La Toya, it could have been Michael, it could have been Jesus.”