If the past 11 seasons of supermodel Tyra Banks' "America's Next Top Model" have taught us anything, it's that a pretty face alone cannot conquer the elite and savage world of professional modeling. Attitude is an edge, confidence is a must and a willingness to shamelessly peddle CoverGirl cosmetics will all but win you the title.
Tonight, as the 12th "cycle" of "Top Model" premieres at 8 p.m. on the CW, we'll finally meet the newest batch of hopeful stuff-strutters -- and cross our fingers that somewhere behind each woman's doe eyes and puckered lips is the talent to become the next Tyra.
The two-hour "Top Model" season premiere will feature a photo shoot in Central Park called "Return to Innocence," in which the 13 model hopefuls play "games that young girls played back in the day, [like] dodgeball, jacks, [and] double-Dutch jump-rope," Banks said in an interview reported by StarPulse.com.
A physical challenge likely won't be any problem for Cycle 12 contestant Sandra Nyanchoka, 19, who recalls a tomboyish childhood in her official interview package on CWTV.com.
"In Kenya we don't have snow, so we used to spend a lot of time outdoors playing hopscotch and catch," Nyanchoka said.
Nyanchoka, who prefers speaking in her native Kiswahili, joins a diverse crew of models this season, who represent a variety of sizes, figures, skin tones and backgrounds.
"I'm really into art and artistic photography," Allison Harvard, 20, said in her official interview, "and I wanted to try to bring something that hasn't been done ... to any and all of the photographs that I take."
Another contestant, Kortnie Coles, 24, will try to become only the second plus-size model to win the reality competition.
"Your body is a temple, and sometimes my temple wants cheesecake," Coles jokes with the judges in a brief preview of the first episode on CWTV.com.
Despite the producers' best efforts to keep everything as tightly wrapped as a geisha top, some Cycle 12 spoilers have still managed to leak out -- and boy, are they doozies. Good looks aren't everything, but this season sure looks good.
"Top Model" airs tonight on channel 16 of DarTV.