Top Model Talk: Final Week

The photo shoots, the fights, the glamour—Amy MacPherson on Canada’s Next Top Model.

By Amy MacPherson

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Cori’s gone, and everyone’s happy—Tara is literally dancing around the Top Model house as the episode’s first Jay Mail arrives.

“A top model is a true blend of inner and outer beauty,” Jay says. “Get ready to show us what you’ve got at your final photo shoot.” The girls apparently haven’t realized how few of them are left, because they all seem amazed. “Oh my God, we made it to the last f*cking photo shoot!” Tia cries.

Rebecca tells us via confessional that while she likes all the remaining girls, she’s in it to win. Tia takes it a step further, joking that she’s going to put Ex-Lax in the other girls’ food to throw them off their game.

The next morning, the girls meet Jay and Nolé to shoot a Cover Girl ad; whoever becomes Canada’s Next Top Model will see this picture in an actual magazine. Tia’s up first, and after a bit of nervousness and some help from Nolé, she manages to find the necessary balance between her lips, teeth and eyes. This shoot is right up Sinead’s alley and she has no trouble getting the shot right away. A nervous Rebecca worries that she won’t be able to get that “smiley, fun, girlie shot,” but she pulls it off by remembering something she found funny: Tia accidentally bashing her head against the wall. Tara has trouble looking approachable, but she also manages a great shot in the end.

The girls have another Jay Mail waiting for them when they get home. They learn that they’ll be meeting with the judges the following day, and they decide to deal with the pressure by playing a drinking game.

“You drink if you’ve done what the person asks at the end of ‘Never have I ever,’” Rebecca explains, and we watch as the girls make what are probably two of the most common statements in that game: “Never have I ever gone skinny-dipping” (everyone but Sinead drinks), and “Never have I ever made out with another girl” (all four of them drink). The girls then cavort drunkenly around the house until they finally collapse in their beds.

The next morning, it’s judging time! All four girls have excellent pictures. The judges find Tara’s confident and refreshing, Tia’s quirky and pretty, Rebecca’s whimsical and “fantastic,” and Sinead’s radiant and ad-worthy. After much deliberation (during which Yasmin demonstrates her math skills by saying Tara looks “half Chinese, half black and half white”), the judges decide to send Tia and Tara home. Tia is resigned, saying that she knew it was coming, and Tara is uncharacteristically gracious in defeat, hugging the remaining girls and thanking the judges.

Rebecca and Sinead return to the Top Model house to find notes from the other girls. Tia’s is the sappiest goodbye letter yet—“Hey, bags o’ douches. F*ck you, bitches,” it (jokingly) begins. Tara wishes them the best and advises Rebecca not to lick any more nipples. They also have yet another Jay Mail waiting for them, and they each grab a corner and scream “Jay Mail!” for old times’ sake.

“Get off the couch, walk over to that runway and start walking and practicing and stomping,” Jay says. “You’re going to duel it out on that runway [tomorrow].”

The next day’s fashion show, for designer Lucian Matis, is one of the coolest in Top Model history. It’s highly couture, with a Victorian theme featuring big fancy hair, powdered white faces and intricate, theatrical dresses. All of the Top Model judges are in the audience, and they clap and exclaim with delight as both Rebecca and Sinead absolutely kill the runway, stomping and posing with a fierceness that would make Tyra Banks proud.

The next morning, the show’s final Jay Mail orders the girls to pack their bags, say goodbye to the house and head to the judging room. Everyone there is nattily dressed and excited as they watch videos of Rebecca and Sinead’s fashion show performances. Nolé says that Rebecca looks like the editorial pages of a magazine come to life, and Paul Alexander jokes that Sinead must have been purposely throwing off her walk in previous episodes so she could score more points at the end.

It’s difficult for the judges to choose between the two, as both girls are strong in different ways: Sinead is more commercial, while Rebecca is more editorial. In the end, the judges decide to back the edgier choice, naming former bloodstained factory worker Rebecca Hardy as Canada’s Next Top Model. Excellent!

Next week: We all sit sadly on our couches and try to remember what we used to do with our Wednesday evenings.

Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Final Week

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