Australia's Next Top Model: Taylah Strangles Ashley The moment: Taylah strangles fellow contestant Ashley. Photo: Australia's Next Top Model From the scathing critiques by judges Alex Perry and Charlotte Dawson to the bitchy comments of girls desperately trying to make it to the top, Australia's Next Top Model is certainly no stranger to the proverbial verbal claws coming out in the heat of the moment. But things took a dramatic turn this week when contestant Taylah Roberts was disqualified from the competition after physically attacking her competitor Ashley Pogmore. The incident has been promoted over the last week as the most controversial moment in Top Model history - this is how it went down: "I'm gonna f---ing strangle you," screams Taylah, after Ashley starts a paint fight and ruins Taylah's clothes, which are inexplicably being worn by Dajana. Country girls: The contestants in Broken Hill. Dajana freaked out when she got covered in paint, but that was nothing compared to Taylah, who completely lost it when she found out what had happened. I'm going to strangle her ... where is she? ... I'm literally going to strangle her," says Taylah in a half-psychotic, half-jovial kind of way. Dajana, blessed with hindsight, tells us in the voiceover that this isn't going to end well at all (just in case you missed the endless promos and media coverage). Taylah finds Ashley and indeed proceeds to strangle her. At first it just looks like she's joking and doesn't really mean it - none of the other girls intervene, nor do any of the show's producers. But everybody realises it's a bit more serious when Taylah appears to push Ashley down into the bushes and continue fighting. But it's over almost as quickly as it began, and nobody seems quite sure exactly what just happened. Ashley is on her own, crying - understandably - and is comforted by Shannon, who tells us that "Taylah just took it a bit too far ... I don't think there's ever really a need to sort of do that to someone. Right you are, Shannon. Ashley is still crying and says she just wants to go home. Photo of the week: Madeline and Jade. Photo: Australia's Next Top Model/Jordan Graham Meanwhile, Taylah is feeling less than remorseful. She's crying and I don't give a f---. Taylah, calm down, there's plenty more Miss Shop where that shirt came from. Charlotte and Didier, curiously absent during the whole debacle, arrive on the scene to quiz the girls about what has just occurred. Taylah breaks down in tears as she relays the events. "I don't want them to think I'm like a really violent and unprofessional person," she tells us in the voice over. She certainly has a strange way of avoiding that perception. Didier reminds the girls that their reputations will quickly spread throughout the industry. Things seem to have cooled down - for now - and we move on to a photo shoot with fashion photographer (well, I guess it's lucky he wasn't an animal photographer) Jordan Graham. Didier reminds the girls that this is a really important photo shoot - as opposed to all the others, which apparently didn't matter. The girls are to be photographed in pairs, as Dajana thoughtfully puts it "a kind of lesbi-lesbian type thing." Madeline performs the best she has ever done, but is scared of the possibility of a nip-slip. The photographer reassures her in an appallingly poor choice of words that if they do come out, he'll touch them up later. Shannon frustrates the photographer with the amount of direction she needs, but her partner for the shoot Dajana still manages to turn up the heat. "Good thing I'm into boys cause that might have gotten out of control," she tells us. Ashley and Melissa work together next (thankfully the drama-hungry producers have resisted the temptation of pairing Ashley with Taylah so soon after their altercation). Ashley nails the brief of bad girls on the run, but Melissa, who has won best photo two weeks in a row now, is just too sweet and nice for this gig. Taylah rather ominously tells us that the judges know how professional she is and that she doesn't think there will be a problem. Oh dear. She's paired with Shanali, and wastes no time in bad-mouthing her in her voice over. Way to redeem yourself, Taylah. In the elimination room we're introduced to photographer Jez Smith from previous ANTM series, who's stepping into Alex Perry's expensive shoes this week. The girls will be judged individually despite shooting in pairs. Taylah says her goodbyes. Abbie impresses with a sultry collapsed-windmill look, but her partner Ducky suffers due to Abbie pulling the focus. Stick-in-the-mud Madeline finally impresses the judges this week with a stunning shot, as does her partner Jade. Shannon says working with a partner was like using a giant prop, but gets upstaged by Dajana in the final shot. Ashley looks deliciously evil and easily overshadows Melissa, who fades into the background due to her inability to "do tough." Shanali works her scowl, and now it's judgment day for Taylah. Jen brings proceedings to a halt with: "Before we go any further there's an issue we need to resolve." We return from a strategically-placed ad break for Taylah's critique. Jen tells Taylah that intimidating and harming a fellow competitor is unacceptable. You've left us with no other alternative ... but to disqualify you for breaking the rules of the competition. The girls look shocked and emotional, including Ashley. After Taylah says her goodbyes, it seems that the elimination is going to continue even though Taylah has just left. Could it be another double elimination this week, making it two in a row? If so, this season is really going to fly ... Intense: Dajana and Shannon. Two girls performed brilliantly, says Jen, and photo of the week goes jointly to partners Jade and Madeline. Also through are Ashley, Shanali, Dajana, Abbie and Shannon. That leaves what we've all considered to be two of the frontrunners in the competition so far as the bottom two: Ducky and Melissa. Jen tells us that they can't afford to become complacent. Is Jen going to shock us all and say that they're actually both safe because Taylah's already gone? Yep (called it!) A little predictable perhaps, but welcome news as neither Ducky nor Melissa deserves to leave just yet. "I definitely think I could have handled the situation better," says Taylah in her exit interview, telling us that it wasn't Ashley's fault, but stops short of actually apologising to her. When A Current Affair aired a story about this incident on Monday evening, they described it somewhat melodramatically as "the ugly incident that rocked Australia's modelling industry. Now, one young model's future hangs in the balance. That trumped-up claim makes it sound as if the victim's life is hanging in the balance. Anyone who watched the show knows that isn't true and that Ashley is - thankfully - perfectly fine. What Taylah did was deplorable to say the least, but this definitely wasn't a life-threatening situation by any means. In fact, the girls seem to have patched things up (or at least the show's producers have patched things up for them) well enough for the pair to be appearing together on breakfast radio on Wednesday and in a tell-all article and photo shoot in a gossip rag later this week. "Since the incident occurred during production several months ago, both girls have spent time together and Ashley has accepted Taylah's apology for the incident," said a statement on the Top Model Facebook page. Not to detract from the seriousness of an assault of any kind, but the portrayal of the incident was rather robotic and plain. Why couldn't Jen have done a Tyra Banks and really given Taylah something to think about? If you're going to cry controversy you may as well go all out and come out with a really strong anti-bullying message. Alas, it seems nothing in Top Model will ever be quite as controversial as that fateful night when Sarah Murdoch announced the wrong winner on live television.