Episode list

We swing around from London to Paris to NY as the team of Elite scouts and agents scour the world in search for the next Elite top model. Each agent has a different vision of who the Elite New Face should be and they have their own strategy to find her: visiting small modelling agencies, scouring online profiles, setting up casting calls in shopping malls and big cities. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack so to increase their chances they send their team of scouts further afield. Is there a better place to look than France's packed beaches in August? Or Amsterdam for Queen's Day, where orange clothed crowds descend on the city to celebrate? We watch as the scouts go from excitement to doubt back to excitement. Our agents and hardworking scouts regroup and pick their shortlist. Have they found the next big thing?

Now that their shortlist is complete, the next test for the agents is the National Final - a real fashion show in front of a VIP audience. For the agents it's the moment when it's all coming together, or not. For our models, it's obviously an intense experience, and fear and excitement are running equally high. We'll experience both the UK and France shows front stage and backstage, share the stress and fun, the tears and joy. We also drop in on some of the other more exotic finals that our agents travel to, giving us an insight into the global nature of the event.

Elite Model Look's 60 world finalists arrive in China together, all disorientated from the overseas travel. They have less than two weeks to learn what it takes to be a top model and get ready to take part in one of the biggest fashion shows on earth. Via interviews we reveal some of these girls' backstories - They have diverse backgrounds and personalities, in many ways they are a perfect snapshot of today's youth, with shared dreams and hopes. To help inspire and motivate the girls, Elite has flown in some of its most in demand top models: China's first supermodel LIU WEN; fashion icon MALGOSIA BELA; and CHARLOTTE DI CALYPSO, previous winner of the 2005 Elite Model Look contest and the face of Chanel's perfume Chance. They each coach a group of girls - giving them genuine insight into what makes a supermodel. As our agents try to get a sense of their personalities, they share with us their initial observations. Who has the most potential? What are the chances of their girls against the competition?

After their inspirational encounter with the supermodels, our girls get to work - it's their turn to show what they can do as they are put through their paces during photoshoots and catwalk training as well as fittings in preparation for the show. The Elite agents never stop mentoring. They are here to help everyone reach their true potential for the good of the Elite empire, but make no mistake they are still lobbying fiercely for their own country's girl to succeed above all others. For the girls it's a steep learning curve and we witness how the experience changes them. Our agents observe everything, and everything is fair game when thinking about who goes forward and who goes home.

It's been an amazing journey and for most it will all end abruptly tonight. Drama, tension and fear all hang heavy backstage. This is it, the biggest fashion show on earth, the World Final in China, with an international modelling contract on the line. There are no naïve girls any more, these are now seasoned professionals ready to take the main stage. Our three Elite top model-coaches will open the show, and introduce each of their teams on stage. It's hard to believe some of the confident models walking down the catwalk were goofy teenage kids a couple of months ago. We follow all the backstage drama as the girls nervously wait for the show to start. The agents take in the stunning presentation of our girls-turned-models on stage, while the Elite top model-coaches are doing their very best to hold the girls together and get them on-stage with the confidence they need to perform their best. Finally, after weeks of anticipation and hard work, we finally find out who will win a contract with Elite. For them this isn't the end but simply the beginning.

We catch up with Elite's agents a few weeks later back at the agency. We recap on the journey so far - did any of them pick a winner? Whatever the end result, there is no time to dwell on it, they are busy plotting how to launch the girls on the international market. For our models, this is the start of a new life. We now have the full story to revisit from when the models were first spotted, comparing the Polaroid pictures of them then with the sophisticated, potential model we now see...We hear how they adjust to their new status. They anxiously wait on for the casting directors to return calls. Will any of the girls land their first professional assignment as an elite model?