New modeling competition, "The Face," features two ex-beauty queens

     Oxygen's newest model reality show is "The Face." The premiere will be on Feb. 12, but last night (Feb. 5), Oxygen aired a one-hour special called "The Face: The Fight to Make the Final 12." Find out what happened when 24 model hopefuls become the lucky final 12.

     Thousands of models auditioned in the hopes of being one of the girls chosen to make the final cut to be "The Face." The prize? To become the face of ULTA Beauty, and in the process, be mentored by either supermodel Naomi Campbell, Karolina Kurkova or Coco Rocha in the process.

     From thousands, the girls were pared down to a mere 24, and those girls were invited to New York Fashion week, where they saw Naomi, Karolina and Coco strut their stuff on the runway during Zac Posen's Spring Runway Show. After the show, the 24 hopefuls meet with "The Face" host, Nigel Barker, who tells them what comes next.

     One by one the girls step up to have their shot taken. We get a little back story on some of the girls in the process. Some early favorites are Sandra, Devyn, Jocelyn and Margaux, who gives a sexy pose with her tongue sticking out. There is even one girl who has zero modeling experience named Stephanie. Even with that lack of experience, the three coaches see something in her and she moves on.

     Not only is it a competition between the 24 hopefuls, but it's also between the three supermodel coaches as well. Naomi says that "Karolina and Coco better watch out." After all the shots are taken, we are down to 22 girls, with only 2 that didn't make the cut.

     The next step for the girls is to have their runway walk evaluated. The girls walk down the runway in pairs, wearing a bikini and a big floppy hat, hiding their face, so that it's only the walk that is evaluated, and the coaches aren't swayed by girls that they favored in the picture round.

     Two by two, the girls came down the runway in their floppy hats to be judged by the three coaches. In the end, 18 of the 22 made it through to the next round. Of the 18, only 12 will make it to one of the three teams, so 6 more girls will have to go.

     The next day, the 18 girls that remain will have to choose their looks from the DKNY line. They also do their makeup and describe how they'd like their hair to look to the stylist. From there they get photographed and it's on to the final choices.

     The coaches sit in chairs at the end of a runway with Nigel Barker. In front of them is a screen at the far end of the runway, and each girl's original photo is first displayed, then their "new" look is displayed. They are backlit, so that only a silhouette is shown to the coaches. If a coach wants a girl for her team, she holds up her book. If no one picks the girl, she goes home. If more than one coach picks a girl, it's the girl's choice as to which coach she wants to work with.

     Not every girl is spotlighted, but several had more than one coach want them on their team. Margaux was chosen by both Naomi and Coco, and she chose to be on Coco's team, saying that she had followed Coco's career. Devyn was chosen by all three coaches, and she chose to go with Karolina. Zi Lin was another girl that all three coaches choose. Her choice was to go on Naomi's team.

     With only 2 girls left and only one spot on Coco's team left to fill, Brittany and Jessica both walked the runway. Initially no one chose Brittany, and instead of just being defeated, she asked why. When given another chance, Coco had to choose if she wanted Jessica or if she would give Brittany a shot. She went with Brittany, and so her team was filled.

The teams are as follows:

Team Naomi

Sandra Woodley
Aleksandra Dubrovskaya
Jocelyn Chew
ZiLin Luo (Miss Universe China 2011 and 4th runner-up in Miss Universe 2011)

ZiLin Luo

Team Karolina

Devyn Abdullah
Ebony Olivia Smith
Christy Nelson
Madeleine Armstrong

Team Coco

Margaux Brooke
Marlee Nichols
Stephanie Lalanne
Brittany Mason (Miss Indiana USA 2008 and Top 15 in Miss USA 2008)

Brittany Mason

Tune in next Tue., February 12 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on Oxygen, to find out how the teams due in the challenges, and who will be eliminated first.

SOURCE: Examiner.com, 2/6/2013

***Another ex-beauty queen, Amanda Delgado (Miss U.S. International 2012 and Top 15 in Miss International 2012), was eliminated during the first cut out of 24 contenders.