Speaking of Lexie, she's next to go before panel. Tyra instantly says "Uma Thurman," and Lexie says she gets it all the time. Jay thinks there's a little Meryl Streep thrown in. I would also argue Hilary Duff, and by extension Donna Pescow. Lexie had a less than ideal childhood. She tries not to dwell on it, but her mom had her when she was sixteen and wasn't really prepared to have a kid. They fought a lot, and Lexie says it was worse than typical bickering. So she left when she was fourteen. I would not have guessed that at all. She's shown some sort of typical eighteen-year-old immaturity in this episode, and certainly doesn't give off the whole scarred-by-life's-tragedies vibe of the other girls with miserable backstories. Lexie says that leaving at fourteen was rough, but she thinks it's going to help with her modeling. She doesn't need someone there telling her what to do -- she can do everything on her own.

And then there's Vanessa. Tyra can tell that Vanessa has done some pageants by the way she walked in. And because it's on a sheet in front of her. Vanessa explains that she got a little postcard in the mail to compete in a pageant, and so entered it and ended up winning. Miss J. is curious what the other girls in the competition think about her. Vanessa says she's heard that other girls talk bad about her because she's one of the prettiest there. Miss J. cackles, throws up his hands and exclaims, "No shit." I'm surprised they don't take this opportunity to offer Vanessa a real beat-down, as they love to do to such girls. Miss J. says that it's obvious looking at Vanessa that she's very pretty and sexy, and Tyra adds that she has a Megan Fox vibe about her. She's also just a terrible person, which really does a lot to recommend contestants on this show.

With panel interviews over, the girls head outside to endure the first round of cuts. Ann is very nervous. By contrast, Vanessa is not at all nervous, because she knows she's amazing. Vanessa is exactly the kind of girl who has tortured Ann her whole life. Miss J. announces that Cynthia Rowley will be hosting a garden party right behind them. The bad news is that a few girls won't be invited. The ones who are invited, though, will get to hobnob with Cynthia and have a mini photo shoot that will provide the final piece of data in their overall evaluation. Terra tells us that she and Chris have discussed the need to be proud of each other, no matter what happens. Turns out they don't need to worry yet, because they're both invited to the party. So are most of the girls we've come to know so far. One exception is horrible Vanessa -- she's been excused. She takes it all in egomaniacal stride, noting that pageant girls normally have more refined features, and that's not high fashion. She gets her best pageant voice on when she tells us, "I promise you, you will see me on the big screen sooner or later." She does seem like she'd make a pretty good sorority girl massacre victim in a horror movie. Also not making the first cut is Emily. She's very disappointed, but says that she'll be okay and will definitely keep trying to model. And maybe she'll buy a lock for her diary and be less racist too.