Thread: Official ENTM-GD thread! 2.0

Hey everyone, Tyriont here - your devilishly handsome, piratical host. I want to take a moment to talk at you, so strap in and read the ensuing wall of text in an impossibly charming English accent.

Not long after I first moved to NYC, I was in a bit of a rough patch. I was having a bit of a rough time adapting – relocating to a new city when you don’t know anyone coupled with working rather insane hours from home wasn’t exactly the greatest of situations. I’d thrown myself into FFXIV as a way of coping – by which I mean I spent an entirely disgusting amount of time mining.

It was during this time period that one of my dearest friends – who followers of ENTM know as Ciara - mentioned this modeling contest that she was involved in which was currently casting, so people who were interested should apply. I went and threw in for what turned out was Cycle 2 of Eorzea’s Next Top Model.

I then proceeded to almost immediately get knocked out of the competition with a silly shot involving a fish and no shirt.

Nonetheless, I stuck around because the friendliness and warmth of the community as a whole had sucked me in. Rongi Pongi started ENTM to try and bring some lightness to the forums and holy crap did he ever succeed in that. As it turned out, that would be quite the significant decision to make. When Cycle 3 rolled around, I took on the role of handling organization for the male models.

At least, it started that way. Rongi hit upon the idea of the YouTube contest, meaning his time would be entirely devoted to that and he would be unable to handle the other half of the contest. So, being the weaselly, nefarious, impossibly handsome pirate that I am, I did the only reasonable thing and nicked the entire contest. It was at that point that my tenure as Host of ENTM began.

At this point, I have had a wonderful experience hosting Cycles 3, 4 and 5 along with serving as a judge for the YouTube Cycle. I have so many memorable experiences doing so – late nights agonizing over who to cast, coming to know our many incredibly talented models and judges – at one point, sitting in a parking lot outside a closed Home Depot leeching their wi-fi while driving from Oklahoma to New York so that I could get a round posted on time.

However, as can probably be assumed from the tone this has taken thus far, the time has come to pass the torch. After running three cycles I am, frankly, exhausted and it is beyond time to pass the running of the contest onto fresher blood who will be able to keep things going with the enthusiasm, new ideas and general fabulousness that the contest deserves.

Therefore, it is my absolute pleasure to announce that as of now, my partner in crime for Cycle 5 will be taking over officially as the host of Eorzea’s Next Top Model – Sakuraya Kai. She was absolutely indispensible throughout this last cycle as co-host and I could not be leaving Cycle 6 in better, more capable hands with her.

To thank individually those who have made hosting this contest such a pleasure would take forever and I would somehow reach the end of this post having to type over loud, “get the hell off the stage” award-ceremony-style music. So instead I will simply say thank you. Thank you to the models, thank you to the judges, thank you to Rongi for creating this contest in the first place and trusting a crazy pirate to run things. Thank you to the dear friends I have made through my tenure as host. Thank you to the fans for all your voting. Thank you to the ENTM community for giving me a reason to continue doing this.

And above all, thank you to me for being the most ruggedly handsome pirate in all of Eorzea. Damn, I’m gorgeous.

You’re in amazing hands and I’m excited to see how you react to what Kai has in store. I’d go into greater detail but I’m rather fond of my limbs attached. With that…farewell, ENTM. I’ll still be around, drunk on rum and hiding models in my basement dungeon. Which reminds me, I need to feed Tinsley and see if the Xev-trap needs fresh glitter.

Peace out, ENTM.