Three walks, three head-to-heads, one corrected board.
By Anthony Perlas · Nightlife Report · Sun Oct 18, 2026, PT
Updated Oct 18: Emily Sophie Christine moves to second, Kyla Dodds to third; Kyla’s designer confirmed as Krissy King.
Editorial picks. The Venus Games is Nightlife Report’s own editorial format. These are our picks, not official Bureau awards. The Bureau announced no winners.
Darlings, a board that can’t be corrected isn’t worth reading. So here’s the correction, done in public: the podium has been re-checked look by look, and two names have changed places.
The final Venus Games board:
- Ava Kortman, for Krown Kink (designer Casey Lee Parker). Nightlife Report Model of the Year.
- Emily Sophie Christine, for Sewreffic.
- Kyla Dodds, for Krissy King.
Best Overall Modeling Team: Deborah Beaumont Designs.
How we judge a round
We score the walk and the presentation. That’s it. Picture a judge with three views of the same model: front, side and back. From the front we watch posture and line. From the side, stride and pace. From the back, the turn. Then the pose at the end of the runway, how the garment is presented, how the look is carried from first step to exit, and how the room answers.
We never rate faces, bodies or attractiveness, and we never will.
One honest limit: we graded from stills, not video. Stride, pace and the turn don’t live in a single frame, so where a criterion needs motion, the card says “not scored” rather than pretend. Crowd response wasn’t logged look by look, so it’s unconfirmed for all three.
Head-to-head 1: Ava Kortman vs Emily Sophie Christine
Same night, same bill: “The Opening,” Fri Oct 16.
Two clean stills, two very different garments. Ava carried Krown Kink’s black lace top and red satin wide-leg trousers under the KK crown on the LED wall, and the look reads clean at the end mark: the satin catches the wall light and the frame works without a caption. Emily carried Sewreffic’s black top and gold-and-navy dot-print maxi under the flame wall, with bold print, bell sleeves and a wide black belt. That’s a busier garment to present, and it still reads cleanly in a still.
On camera, we called them even. Presence was the round that never swung. Then Ava came back on Saturday and did it again (see head-to-head 3).
Edge: Ava. Presence at the end mark, a clean presentation of the garment, and two nights instead of one.
Head-to-head 2: Emily Sophie Christine vs Kyla Dodds
Different nights, different shows: Emily in Friday’s Opening, Kyla in Saturday’s Finale.
These two never shared a runway, so this is a cross-night read and we’ll say so. Kyla closed out with Krissy King in red-and-white feather wings over a white beaded fringe top. Wings are the hardest thing on the floor to present: the garment is wider than the walk, and in P1001038 the wings are held open at the edges. That’s a real garment moment, and it’s why she’s on this board.
Emily’s case is depth. Our camera found her four times on Day 1, in the P1000704 to P1000713 run, and the look held in every one. Kyla’s look sits in two frames on our card.
Edge: Emily. One look carried across four clean frames beat one big moment in two. Close round. No scandal, no feud: two strong walks, and one of them had more on the record.
Head-to-head 3: Ava Kortman vs Kyla Dodds
Wings against wings at the Krissy King close.
Per our editor, Ava walked the Day 2 black-and-gold feather wings look: gold top, jeweled bottom, the mermaid screen behind her, frames P1001097 and P1001100. Those frames sit in the Krissy King Swim segment of our card. If that holds, Saturday gave us something rare: two contenders in wings on the same closing bill, black-and-gold against red-and-white.
Both garments are big. Both read in a still. In P1001100 the black wings sweep to the floor with gold-tipped feathers, and the whole look sits squarely in the frame.
Edge: Ava. Same test, two nights. Kyla brought one strong look to one night. Ava, per our editor, delivered a second look at the same level a night after the first.
The scorecard
Marks are the head judge’s qualitative calls from our stills: Edge (best of the three on that line), Strong, Present (on record, not the deciding factor). “Not scored” means stills only. No numbers, no bodies.
| Criterion | Ava Kortman | Emily Sophie Christine | Kyla Dodds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Front view: posture and line at the end mark | Edge | Strong | Strong |
| Side view: stride and pace | Not scored (stills only) | Not scored (stills only) | Not scored (stills only) |
| Back view: the turn | Not scored (stills only) | Not scored (stills only) | Not scored (stills only) |
| Pose at the end of the runway | Edge | Strong | Present |
| Garment presentation | Edge | Strong | Strong |
| How the look was carried, first step to exit | Edge (two nights, Day 2 per our editor) | Strong (four frames) | Present (two frames) |
| Camera: does the still hold? | Edge (even with Emily on Day 1) | Edge (even with Ava on Day 1) | Present |
| Crowd response | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed |
| Placement | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
Why each placed where
1st, Ava Kortman (Krown Kink, designer Casey Lee Parker). Presence was never in doubt. A clean garment presentation on Friday, and per our editor a second winged look on Saturday at the same standard. Nothing on either night’s slate took the throne. Nightlife Report Model of the Year.
2nd, Emily Sophie Christine (Sewreffic). The deepest record of the three. Four clean frames of one look, a busy print presented clearly, and a camera round we called even with the champion. She moves up from third.
3rd, Kyla Dodds (Krissy King). The biggest single garment moment of the weekend: red-and-white wings on the closing show, held open at the edges. Her designer is now confirmed as Krissy King. Kyla’s own Instagram story tagged @krissykingthelabel and @thebureaufashionweek. One night and two frames put her third behind a deeper Emily file. She moves down from second, still on the podium.
Best Overall Modeling Team: Deborah Beaumont Designs. Unchanged. The deepest lineup from first look to last.
What changed, and why
On Saturday night, at 10:19 PM PT, we filed Kyla Dodds second, with her house unconfirmed and her points held. Two things have moved since. Her designer is now on the record as Krissy King. And on a second look at the board, our head judge moved Emily Sophie Christine up to second and Kyla Dodds to third. The head-to-heads above show what the record supports. So the board reads: Ava, Emily, Kyla. Placement points follow the place: 16, 12, 10.
Editorial scoring: The Venus Games and Runway Points are Nightlife Report editorial picks by head judge Anthony Perlas. They aren’t official Bureau awards, and the Bureau announced no winners. We judge the walk and the presentation only: never faces, bodies or attractiveness. Anything we couldn’t confirm says “unconfirmed.” Camera-clock times are approximate.
Disclosure: Krissy King is also a Bureau co-founder and producer.
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