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Banks vs. Klum: Only One Is America’s Top Ex-Supermodel

There’s room for only one set of bangs in this town.Photo: Getty Images


The Daily News has a random ode to Heidi Klum and Tyra Banks today. The article praises them for “doing things they’re actually good at” after their modeling careers began to fizzle:

In the ‘90s, supermodels like Cindy Crawford and Naomi Campbell tried to break away from the runway with roles on the big screen. (Anyone remember Crawford’s flop, “Fair Game”? We thought not.) But Klum and Banks redefined the model slash actress cliché and instead created a platform that actually flies: model slash host.

Seriously, thank gawd they stopped trying to do things that required acting talent. (But Karolina Kurkova, we wish you all the best in your big-screen debut in GI Joe.) What’s interesting, however, is that Klum gets top mention in this article. This is probably because it’s inspired by models.com’s list of the world’s sexiest models, which ranks Klum number one, and Banks number four, after Gisele Bündchen and Adriana Lima. They may call Klum “Heidi Inc.,” but America’s Next Top Model is about to launch an unbelievable tenth cycle this week while Project Runway is only in its fourth season. Add to the mix that Banks draws over a million viewers each morning on her daily talk show and we had to wonder if the News was really right in insinuating that Klum is America’s top ex-supermodel. Is Klum more successful than ubiquitous Miss Tyra?

To answer this serious question, we decided to take a quantified look at the non-modeling highlights of each woman’s career, ranking each on the Fierceness Scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being “absolutely ferocious.”

Tyra Banks:
• 1993: Appears on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air looking really hot, in an early-nineties-ish way. Score: 5

• 1997: Publishes first book, Tyra’s Beauty Inside and Out. Score: 2

• 2003: ANTM premieres with Tyra performing the theme song. Score: 4

• 2004: Musical career fails when Banks is unable to release album T.Y.R.A. Score: 1

• 2008: Banks walks off of her talk show because she can’t stand bickering among the cast of the Bad Girls Club. Score: 1

TOTAL FIERCENESS: 13

Heidi Klum:
• 2001: Appears as an ill-tempered hair model in the movie Blow Dry, which is about a British hairdressing championship. Bold move. Score: 5

• 2004: Klum is featured in James Bond video game Everything or Nothing as the villain. Score: 4

• 2006: Klum’s Mouawad jewelry collection debuts on QVC, and most styles sell out in just 30 minutes. Score: 2

• 2006: Klum hosts Germany’s Next Top Model, with Banks in the wing as executive producer. Score: 3

• 2007: Sings the sap-tastic song “Wedding Day” with hubby Seal on his new album. Score: 1

TOTAL FIERCENESS: 15

Well, what do you know — sometimes we surprise ourselves. Klum wins, and she is in fact America’s Top Ex-Supermodel. We just can’t believe how wildly we miscalled this one; we’re going to go practice vamping in the bathroom until we regain a shred of our self-confidence…

Heidi Klum and Tyra Banks are models of success [NYDN]

Banks vs. Klum: Only One Is America’s Top Ex-Supermodel