TV Pick of the week: America's Next Top Model

Fierce: Mt Eden and a sheep are props in an America's Next Top Model episode that was shot here in NZ. Photo / Supplied, Nigel Barker

It has become customary for the candidates of a Top Model show to do a stint in a foreign environment.

In late 2009, when filming cycle 14 of America's Next Top Model, Tyra Banks and her right-hand men, Miss J. Alexander and Nigel Barker, descended on Auckland with a brood of aspiring models.

The much-anticipated episode airs this week, painting New Zealand in a picturesque, if rather rainy light.

Some of the contestants had never left the United States, let alone jet-setted across the globe. They arrived in Auckland drained after their 22-hour flight, and were met by New Zealand's Next Top Model judge, Colin Mathura-Jeffree.

Their excitement turned to shock when it was announced that, rather than reclining in the comfort of their accommodation, they would immediately have to go on a round of go-sees.

To add even more pressure, they had only four-and-a-half hours to complete the task. Tardiness would result in elimination.

Later in the episode, Nigel Barker and Jay Manuel take the girls on a shoot in the New Zealand countryside, where they are asked to pose with sheep.

Alexander told TimeOut he was overwhelmed by how much rain the country had.

"There was so much rain I was like, oh my goodness, we are going to slide off this cliff we were standing on."

The girls were greeted by a kapa haka group and then did a photo shoot up Mt Eden, all whilst shivering in the rain.

Says Alexander: "I said to the girls, 'you know this is a real challenge here, but you know, you're stuck with the weather'."

Working with sheep also proved quite the challenge, he adds.

"The girls had to work hard because an animal can absolutely outshine you in a photo.

"But it's hard to know what to do with a sheep, they are not sexy, and it's wool which is difficult. One tried to sit on it, and we had to say, you can't sit on the damn sheep," he laughs.

LOWDOWN

When: Tuesday, 7.30pm
Where: Four
What: Tall girls in Hobbiton

-TimeOut