Australia's Next Top Model season 5


The fifth season of Australia's Next Top Model premiered on 28 April 2009 on Fox8. Auditions were held during October and November 2008 across Australia, and production of the prerecorded episodes began in January 2009 and concluded in March 2009. Model and television personality Sarah Murdoch took over as the host for this season, replacing Jodhi Meares, and joining incumbent judges Alex Perry and Charlotte Dawson. Harper's Bazaar, Cosmopolitan and Maybelline replaced the previous season's regular sponsors, Vogue and Napoleon Perdis.
The prizes for this season included a one-year modelling contract with Priscilla's Model Management in Sydney, a trip for two to New York City paid by Maybelline, a position as the face of Maybelline’s new colour collection, an eight-page spread in Harper's Bazaar Australia and courtesy of U by Kotex.
The winner of the competition was 17-year-old Tahnee Atkinson from North Fremantle, Western Australia.

Season summary

Requirements

Like in the previous two seasons, all contestants had to be aged 16 or older to be eligible for the show. Those auditioning were required to have a minimum height of at least tall. To qualify, all applicants had to be Australian citizens residing in Australia. Additional requirements stated that contestants should not have had prior experience as a model in a national campaign within the last five years. If a contestant was represented by an agent or a manager, she had to terminate that representation prior to the competition.

Cast

Contestants


ContestantAgeHeightHometownFinishPlace
Laura Tyrie18WillettonEpisode 113
Leah Johnsen18OakleighEpisode 212
Georgie Kidman16CastlemaineEpisode 311
Mikarla Hussey18WollongongEpisode 410–9
Eloise Hoile20GlenungaEpisode 410–9
Madison Wall17WurtullaEpisode 58
Laura Mitchell20Ocean ReefEpisode 67
Lauren 'Lola' Van Vorst20NewportEpisode 76
Francesca 'Franky' Okpara18WannerooEpisode 85
Adele Thiel18HornsbyEpisode 94
Clare Venema16BridgewaterEpisode 103
Cassi Van Den Dungen16SunburyEpisode 112
Tahnee Atkinson16North FremantleEpisode 111

Judges

  • Sarah Murdoch
  • Charlotte Dawson
  • Alex Perry

Other cast members

  • Jonathan Pease – style director, model mentor

Controversy

Before the season premiered, there was controversy over a number of issues.
Sixteen-year-old Cassi Van Den Dungen was criticised for being a "proud bogan and smoker" with her mother in support, having to take anger-management classes to control her temper whilst participating in the series, and for being engaged and living with a 25-year-old bricklayer. She also received backlash from Hume City Council mayor Jack Ogilvie over comments in which she described her hometown of Sunbury as "like a ghetto", with the mayor stating that Van Den Dungen was a "very immature, silly little girl" and that "she owes Sunbury an apology. I wonder if she knows what a ghetto is. Sunbury is far from being a ghetto, far from it."
Eighteen-year-old Mikarla Hussey's appearance initially shocked host Sarah Murdoch. In the second episode, a nutritionist assisted the contestants with healthy eating, weight management and lifestyle choices. Mikarla initially weighed 50 kg before production began. After her swimsuit photo shoot showed off her technically unhealthy body, she was forced to put on weight.
Lola Van Vorst was involved in a nude photo scandal, involving pictures taken by an ex-boyfriend.
On 6 June 2009, it was revealed that Clare Venema, Adele Thiel and Tahnee Atkinson had previous professional modelling experience that had not been disclosed during the show.