AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL: More Girly Business

By Karu F. Daniels, AOL Black Voices

Participants of the Eighth Cycle of Tyra Banks's wildly popular televised modeling competition 'America's Next Top Model.'

The competition for the latest 'America's Next Top Model' will officially be on and popping when Tyra Banks' wildly popular show debuts its eight cycle Feb. 28 on The CW network.

According to a spokesperson, this finalists for this season will face tougher challenges and photo shoots ranging from the very glamorous to high-tech to controversial, all while living under one roof in a posh Los Angeles mansion.

Some of this cycle's participants will include Britney, a 21 year old bartender from Savannah; Cassandra, a 24 year old college student hailing from Seattle, Jaslin, a 20 year old Chicago native who's an online college admission advisor; a 22 year old band manager from Detroit named Jael; Brooklyn-based hairstylist Kathleen; and Renee, a 20 year old stay-at-home mom from Maui.

Sounds like a bunch of drama already.

As with seasons before, Banks and her fashionista cohorts -- art director of photo shoots Jay Manuel, and runway guru J. Alexander -- will mentor the participants, while former fashion icon Twiggy and famed fashion photographer Nigel Barker join in on the judging. The grand prize winner will be managed by Elite Model Management. She also receives a $100,000 contract with cosmetics giant CoverGirl and will appear on the cover and six-page fashion spread in 'Seventeen 'magazine.

If she's black, she may wind up hosting her own fashion competition on BET J, like Eva Marcelle (The America's Next Top Model Winner Formely Known As Eva Pigford).

Ain't no telling how long this show will go on but if last fall's successful season (which helped launch the new network) is any indication, it is showing no signs of slowing down.

So maybe we'll be talking about Cycle 10 in the near future.