After last week’s penultimate episode of ANTM, I wondered if there was any way Molly could lose and not look as though she’d been robbed. Turns out, there was. Not only did Molly seem to self-destruct in the final moments of the cycle, but Brittani excelled under much more difficult circumstances.
I think Brittani won the season, hands down, and the judges made the right choice. Did Molly deliver outstanding photos throughout the course of the season? Yes, definitely. Even I can admit that, and I find the girl insufferable. But Brittani took stunning photos as well, photos I’d argue were just as strong as Molly’s. And I think she had more going for her – a better walk, a better attitude, a more unique look. Looking over all of Molly’s photos, she looks mad in almost all of them. Brittani shows a much broader range of emotion. Furthermore, Brittani can be both high fashion and commercial while I think Molly looks too typical for high fashion, but too hard for commercial.
We started things off, natch, with both girls explaining why they wanted to win SO BADLY and why they had struggled so far to get there. It was adoption vs. trailer park, rehab vs. anxiety issues. Brittani won the emotional issues battle by far when Molly’s loving, charming, supportive parents showed up and Brittani had no one. Her mother has an anxiety disorder and had just had back surgery. There was just no way. I think Brittani deserves a lot of credit for how she handled the situation. Leading up to the visit from her parents, Molly had been in a foul mood. Brittani had to face the fact that while Molly was getting physical, present love and support from her parents, she was not. And instead of feeling sorry for herself, Brittani stayed positive. She knew her mom would have come if she could. She relished her video chat with her. She stayed strong. Do you think Molly would have had such a good attitude had the roles been reversed?
This wasn’t the only situation where Brittani’s positive disposition was highlights. She rocked her interview with Ivan Bart. She was a joy to work with on set for the CoverGirl commercial, delivering her best take after she started to panic a little when she was told she was rushing it. Meanwhile, Molly remained cold and moody. Her CoverGirl commercial came off as mean, she whined about being cold at the Vogue Italia photo shoot and complained that her lunch was missing chicken. Suck it up, princess! You’re a model. Many girls everywhere envy your situation. No complaining.
It seemed a given that Brittani would win just based on the edit alone – just look at her disastrous fall during the final runway. That was a FALL. Like a smash-into-the-wall, sprain-your-ankle, scrape-your-arm type fall. And Brittani still managed to do her final walk with a smile on her face. Again, how do you think that would have gone if the roles had been reversed?
And the fact was, Brittani needed this more. She needed to win to get out of her living situation. Not everyone is afforded the luxury of being able to move to New York, knowing your parents will chip in for rent if things don’t go your way. But beyond that, I felt like Brittani delivered better work. Her commercial was infinitely more charming than Molly’s. Her CoverGirl beauty shot was out of this world gorgeous. Her walk is fiercer. And when the girls showed up for the final panel with their new makeovers, I thought Brittani exuded even more confidence with hers. Holy crap, can that girl rock a pixie cut, or what?
At the final panel, it seemed like Molly knew she’d lost. Or maybe she was just really, really terrified at the thought of losing, and afraid that she’d run out of curse words to use when the occasion occurred. She was crying before Tyra even announced the winner. And the winner was, of course, Brittani. Yay! They did a good job of keeping me guessing this season. A couple weeks ago, I said Brittani was getting the winning edit, what with her sob story and her prolific apologies for her one outburst. I didn’t think Molly could win with that terrible disposition. But she got so many first photos, I started to wonder if her victory was inevitable. Luckily it wasn’t, and I think Brittani was absolutely the right choice. What about you, were you happy to see our little trailer park girl win it all?
