Uh...mer...ic...uh...'s...Next...To...P...Mah...Duhl...Is...

Duh!

Just kidding! It's actually:

Which: duh. But awesome! As much as I adore Laura, Nicole is the right winner.

This is the obligatory post-finale, pre-recap post. Recap may be up Monday, but the American Music Awards is promising this year (I mean,Whitney?!?), so it may be pushed back to Tuesday. Whatever. It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday, so I'm sure you understand.

Comments

[Iheartwinston]

yay for monday!

[Wookie]

Damn, I was gunning for Eddie...

[fo sho yo yo]

I gotta disagree here. Laura will not have the resources to make it in modeling without the title. At least with a contract, she's guaranteed a certain amount of money (after taxes and commission to her agency), but how many agencies will take models under 5'8", and how will she even make it to a place like NY let alone afford living there? :(

[Kelly]

I can't believe I forgot to set my DVR to record this. I only wanted to see the last episode of this cycle, your recaps do it for me way better than Tyrant ever can, Rich!

[Sal]

they both turned it out. I'm excited for Nicole.

[Dale]

I knew Nicole was the best one, but I was worried her walk was going to drag her down. But Laura's tears almost made me cry. The first time this show has made me do that! It's all Laura. I can't stand to see her be unhappy. )=

[Dara]

This season, I found myself really hoping that Nicole can pull off something with the winning title. I think she's just gorge.

[Bean]

Laura glided like an angel down that runway. Nicole stomped like Lurch from the Addams Family. I was sooo bummed when they named Nicole the winner. BAH!

[Dodger]

Was Ann Shoket on Coke? i hope so.

[Duper]

In a weird way I agree with Fo Sho, Nicole is so obviously head and shoulders above, and would have gotten signed anyway, and probably done even better than she might now if she hadn't won (The American Idol rule,) while this will be the high point of Laura's life. They let the one who 'wanted' it more but deserved it less win it last cycle, no?
Plus the editors went a little too far trying to trick us into thinking Laura won, to the point where for the first time all cycle I actually almost wanted her to, and when she didn't it seemed unfair...until I remembered every second of every other episode this cycle, that is.

[Dodger]

and only now do i realize Nicole looks like Jennifer Grey. Clearly no one puts baby in the corner.

[Christin]

Rich, I dearly hope you watched the extra-footage-montage-hour after the finale.

I know they're usually useless, but:

This one has Laura describing what having sex feels like to a horrified Nicole. With noises.

I'm just sayin'.

[Ginger]

I certainly think Nicole should be the winner, but I was a little disappointed all around. I thought they were both pretty atrocious on the runway (although, Laura did fare slightly better). In relation to all the cycle runway-finales, these girls were not up to par. Maybe Tyra doesn't expect them to book runway shows, since they be so short and all.

[Ben Robot]

Laura is super sweet and all but I have the feeling she would do ANYTHING to get out of her small town. ANY. THING.

[Marlo]

Nicole = gorilla on the runway. I'd be very curious to re-watch the Miss J runway coaching episode for this season to see what he had to say about Nicole then b/c I thought her walk was ridiculous and yet the judges acted like it was great b/c it was her "signature walk." Nigel nailed the coffin for Laura when he told Tyra that Nicole would be a great "high fashion" model and Miss J said Nicole would be great in Milan, where as Laura would do well in the US. We all know Tyra is on a quest to have the next international supermodel be one of her chosen ones. Barf-o-rama. Despite Nicole's fairytale hair, I was rooting for Laura the country girl with her pink cheeks and all of her dropped "G's."

[RF]

So, Nicole is a petite model at 5'7'' when Eva Pigford is a regular model at 5'6''? I don't get it Tyra.

[Kateeeeeeee]

Yay! Bloody Eyeball wins it! Finally, my fave NTM wins ANTM. Probably because I'm a "midget" too.

[matthew]

Wow, I m in shock they actually got it right and chose Bloody Eyeball! I was actually at a point where I was hoping for both Laura and Nicole to win equally. But then during the finale, it seemed that Laura was taking every chance she could to trash BE in every single interview, calling her awkward and socially inept. That right there made me not root for her anymore, because Nicole never said anything about Laura except good things such as feeling kinship and friendship towards her. So I sincerely hope Bloody can break the Next Top Model curse! It's not realistic but I will hope anyway!

[Golden J]

"Fo sho yo yo" - I like Laura, but I disagree with you. This is America's Next Top Model, not America's Next Top Charity Case.

[kiki]

Sorry, I don't think that Nicole was the "right" winner. I actually liked Nicole more and think she had potential to get some real high fashion work after she put ANTM behind her, but I guess that's not going to be a possibility now. Also, Laura had the right bubbly, down-home girl-next-door thing going on that was perfect for Cover Girl. And it seemed like she wanted it more, too. I don;t get it.

[Debbie]

I have to admit I was a little disappointed with Laura and her trash talking. I went into the episode being happy with either girl winning but as the show and trash talking went on I definately went with Team Nicole.

[Geno]

Golden J - nicely put. While I understand Fo Sho Yo Yo's sentiment, the winner should be someone who deserves it most, not someone who needs it most.

[Southeasterner]

YAY! The right girl won. I mean, I've loved Laura since Day 1 too, but by golly if I had to listen to another mention of her small town roots...! It was like the second coming of Icfast.

[Jenn]

Laura has talked about jobs on her website, so she's working even without the title.

[megtwice]

In my opinion, Nicole was the better model, if you go back through their portfolios. As much as I liked Laura, Nicole has better proportions and sense of artistry. I can't believe my favorite from the beginning actually won for once. I do think it's pretty pathetic how little ANTM did to disguise how much they didn't care about these girls, though. Their fashion capital is Hawaii? How many shoots did Tyra and Nigel do? The whole thing seemed to be about cutting corners rather obviously instead of exposing the girls to new places, photographers, designers, and experiences. I don't see how doing painful hula dances with half an hour of practice gives them any useful experience.