America's Next Top Model

Cycle Ten of America's Next Top Model comes to an end this week; on Wednesday night, we will finally know who the winner of the competition will be. We've worked our way through eleven other girls already, with one contestant who quit (Kimberly Rydzewski), one contestant who drank her own breast milk (Claire Unabia), one who talked about herself in the third person (Dominique) and one who many viewers thought should have made it to the final three, if not the top spot (Katarzyna Dolinska).

The three girls who have prevailed over those competitors are Anya, Fatima and Whitney. What are their strengths and weaknesses as we head into the finale of America's Next Top Model?

Whitney is the first plus-size model to make it this far in the competition. She's a beautiful girl with the kind of natural charisma that fits the Cover Girl persona well. She brings to her photographs the kind of voluptuous old school beauty of an Anna Nicole Smith (in her better years) or Marilyn Monroe.

However, her performance has never seemed to live up to her potential. She has yet, in my opinion, to take a photograph that truly capitalizes on what she is working with. And her commercial drove home how challenged she has been with leaving behind the rather over-the-top pageant persona that she seems to revert to when feeling nervous. As much as I would love to see a larger girl get to the top spot of America's Next Top Model, I just don't believe Whitney is the girl to do it.

Fatima has the body and the bone structure of an actual top model. In her case, though, this could actually be a weak area in that she looks so similar to supermodel Iman. Her overall body of work has gone from highs to lows. In a recent episode, though, she managed to take a photograph that not only worked, the judges noted that she found a way to bring a unique – i.e., not Iman – look to the shot.

The judges liked her commercial (personally, I wasn't convinced although I think she did okay), but throughout this competition, she hasn't necessarily gotten the most likable or warm edit. Can she unthaw in time to win the whole thing?

Anya has a very solid portfolio so far. Sometimes her photos were merely good – not great – but I can't recall an actual bad one in the whole bunch. Some viewers were put off by her occasionally ditzy-seeming persona, but others found her sweet and gracious.

She didn't do very well in the commercial, and Tyra has an issue with her laidback Hawaiian speech patterns. But she has won posing contests, and she also won the contest to be the most charming modelette at the party, showing that despite her sometimes oddball take on things, she can work a room professionally.

So personally, my money would be on Anya…but this is America's Next Top Model, after all. It's not unheard of for a less-than-obvious modelette to walk away with the top spot. Many fans still have not recovered from the win of Saleisha Stowers last cycle. Will Tyra Banks and the other judges please or provoke the viewers with their pick this Cycle? Tune in tomorrow to find out.

- Leslie Seaton, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
(Image courtesy of CW)