So what went wrong?

Here’s a beautiful pre-ANTM shot of Anya:

If this isn’t a model, i don’t know what is.

So they brought out Saleshia during the Covergirl shoot, and Fatima says, “there’s someone there that i can really look up to.” But i’d say the only way Fatima could look up to Saleshia would be if Saleshia was standing on a chair.

So why did Whitney win? Let’s do a postmortem, shall we: It’s clear (at least to me) that Anya should have won. She consistently had better pictures, and i’d say her runway walk was better than Whitney’s. At the fashion show, as Paulina said, “there was one budding high-fashion model and one ham.” She was clearly swing’in the booty too much. Anya looked like the short cuts that they showed of the professional models (and i don’t mean Saleshia). Anya worked it, and her pose at the end of the runway in the brown dress was flawless.

BTW, anybody else notice that this was the least extravagant final runway show EVER? Come-on CW give the show some money already. Chad thinks that ANTM was affected by a loss of revenue from the writers’ strike, and i seriously hope that was the case. The show seemed to me to be nothing more than ads for Sprint, 7-up, and of course Covergirl. Let’s hope that since Gossip Girl was a surprise hit, there’ll be enough money for the next cycle, maybe they’ll even have REAL go-sees next cycle.

Ann Shoket is probably so pissed right now, after all Anya, “Oozes glamor.” It was pretty obvious that she wanted Anya to win. Full-figured probably doesn’t sell a lot of magazines.

At first i thought that Tyra figured that Whitney was the first +size model that had any chance of winning, and hence gave it to her because it would be unlikely that there would be another believable full figured model.

Here’s where the conspiracy comes in. Take a look at these two shots of Whitney before this season of top model (it’s more clear if you click on the pictures to see them at full size) :

Does she look full-figured to you? She sure doesn’t to me.

Here’s what some unknown person who went to school with Whitney (from fourfour):

[he] says he went to high school with Whitney. The claim is that Whitney did not try out for top model but was approached on a plane by someone from the show. She was already doing modeling as a size 2 or 4 but because she was closer to a 4 she was a little too big for the show as a regular model. They told her that if she went and gained 10-20 pounds they would definitely put her on the show as “the plus-size model”. She’s about a 6 or 8 on the show. He even showed us this picture of her when she was smaller which was from a year ago.

Being the fair person that i am (cough cough), i’ll also post WhitWhit’s rebuttal from The LA Times website no less:

I saw some pictures on a Web site of you modeling pre-ANTM where you didn’t look full-figured. What’s the story with that?
I’ve only ever modeled locally in Jacksonville, Florida. I didn’t do any big campaigns. Those are from Jacksonville Magazine. I had a great photographer who does some great airbrushing too, but I’m not small in those pictures. I’m about maybe a size 6 or an 8, because those are from high school.

I wasn’t sure if you had to gain weight for Top Model or anything like that.
Oh, no. I went on the show, and I’m the one who said “I’m a plus-sized model.” Which is so funny because when I was when I was there, all the other girls there that were my size were like “Oh, you know, I’m a size … 10.” And I was like “Pfft. I’m a size 10! Yeah!” I think that’s why they took me out to L.A. I didn’t expect to make it that far. People always told me, “You should be on that show!” And I was like, “Please, I would never get on that show.” And look at me now! Never say never. [via ONTD]

Airbrushing? Bullshit!! She clearly used to be much smaller than she is now. I guess i won’t make a final judgment, but it was big enough for dlisted to pick it up.

The real question: Did Whitney win because she was +size? The answer is an unequivical “YES.” Whether or not her appearance on the show and her assent to the top were skill, luck, or a predetermined plot is yet to be seen. And just like the floor mat in my car when i dropped a lit cigarette on it: where there’s smoke, there’s fire. I’ll let you decide who’s telling the truth here.

And that concludes this cycle’s commentary. Hopefully it’s been funny, insightful, or at least mean.