America’s Next Top Model Cycle 21 Finale Recap: And the Winner Is…
Thank heavens Tyra Banks went to Harvard Business School. Otherwise, the groundbreaking new word “beautytainment” might not have entered the pop-culture lexicon during tonight’s America’s Next Top Model Cycle 21 finale.
Oh yes, you know Ty-Ty had to cross-promotionally synergize the bejeezus out of the two-hour installment. First, she brought back the season’s nine eliminated hopefuls, then had the four remaining finalists choose “teams” and shoot spots for various products in her new “Tyra” makeup line. (#IsThatARealThing?)
We didn’t immediately get to see the finished product, and instead jumped right ahead to a Guess? fashion shoot photographed by creative director Yu Tsai that seemed designed to bring out Lenox’s “but I don’t do sexy!” insecurities. Naturally, Tyra was hiding backstage with judges Miss J and Kelly Cutrone, picking “best shots” in real time, and when Lenox’s baffling black-and-white profile image — complete with disappearing chin — popped onto the screen, you knew she was Wonder-Bread-in-the-Broiler toast.
Adam, meanwhile, grabbed “Best Photo” for the second time in a row — thanks to a striking black-and-white image that would’ve stood out (in a good way) in any fashion mag — and suddenly, the Guy Formerly Known as “Alcohol Breath” looked like a potential threat to perceived front-runners Will and Keith.
A final one-two punch of Nylon magazine photo shoot and Lie Sang Bong runway show provided the final piece of the puzzle, and as much as I felt Will’s body of work over the entire season made him a shoo-in, his stiff movement and the “12 hours of Black Friday shopping” glaze in his eyes opened the door for an upset. (And anyway, if body of work was the deciding factor, where was Raelia in the Top 4?) As Tyra noted, Keith mugged just a little at the end of the catwalk — but never actually threatened the audience with a slop bucket of melted Kraft American Singles the way Adam did on his second pass. (Did he maybe have a martini in between his first and second turns on the catwalk?)
In a righteous turn of events, Adam placed third — an admirable rally for a frat bro/grad-school dropout who never had the benefit of getting edited to look like a champ.
And while Will’s more inviting energy and sweet smile made his Tyra cosmetics ad the clear choice over Keith’s stony-faced sexuality, it was painfully evident based on the carefully edited “overall body of work” review that the former football player would eke out the title over the tall gay glass of water.
Thus, the following prizes…
4th Place
Lenox
3rd Place
Adam
2nd Place
Will
Cycle 21 Champ
Keith
What did you think of the ANTM Cycle 21 finale? Grade it in our poll below, vote for who you think should have won, then hit the comments with your thoughts!
…this is still ON…?
Tyra took an executive education program at Harvard Business School. She makes it seem as though she applied and got accepted, when anyone can do this, I’m tired of her pretending she’s an actual Harvard Alum, because she isn’t. She did NOT get her MBA, she got a certificate saying she completed an exec ed program. HBS alums are the people that went there for 2-3 years, monday through friday, working their tails off and get their MBA. She is so deluded.
I’m smizing really hard at you right now.
Keith won because Tyra was thirsty for him. That’s the only reason that one-trick pony won Americas’ Next Top Model.
THIS
Yup.
I stopped watching this season weeks ago. Was he the one whose “manaconda” she was obsessing over? Yep. Called him the winner then.
Exactly. It was embarrassing to watch her hunger for him. Will IS a model from head to toe and should have won. Tyra lost the single thread of credibility she had with me after handing Keith a win he doesn’t deserve, I hope other agencies paid attention because Will is going to have an amazing career in the modeling field. In a year…it will be, Keith who?
I agree with y’all!! She favored him and was thirsty. It wasn’t really a competition.
Will is gorgeous. He should have been the winner.
Well, this was telegraphed for a while. Maybe even more than that inevitable Whitney “First Plus Sized” Top Model winner victory debacle years ago.
Yeah, when Whitney won Cycle 10, I knew it was rigged. They just wanted a plus sized model so so so bad. She was the guinea pig. She wasn’t even that good.
Anya definitely should have took the title that season.
I think keith deserved to win ATM.
Me too. He’s beautiful. I think Will still has a great career ahead though. Adam is gorgeous as well but as Michael said, his editing did him NO favors. And he was too short but still a cutie pie.
they are focusing too much on relationships and crushes on each other and not enough focus on the modeling. I like guys and girls editions but I don’t care if so and so thinks so and so is cute or not.
Agree about that part. Denzel & Marjiana make me want to projectile vomit. At least the last 3 had their priorities straight most of the time when it came to the flirting.
This show became a joke as soon as they let social media play a role in determining who wins. This is supposed to be a talent contest, not a popularity contest.
.
That said, I’m glad Keith won.
Social media votes are before the show airs, so they only actually have the body of modeling work to vote upon. Pretty sure popularity votes would have dumped Mirjiana much earlier…
Social media votes are completely unnecessary. The only people who should have a vote are the judges who are professionals in the business (ex-models, photographers, etc).
As soon as Lenox was cut, I was done. Permanently. I turned it off, and watched Shark Tank. Much better than watching another hour of predictable stupid “reality” tv.
Ummmm lenox should have been cut from the get go !! Yes I believe Will or Shy should have won !!!!!! Oh well !
Actually, I didn’t care who won as long as it wasn’t that bitch ice princess Lenox. I absolutely loathed her.
Chantelle?
I kind of liked Chantelle. She’s already got a good career going.
Haha I totally caught that.
I’m not Chantelle, honey, and that was a really stupid comment.
ha ha ha! Chantelle, stop trolling the inter web!
LOL!
Yeah, if not Shei, then Lenox should’ve won. You mean to tell me that all three of those boys, especially Adam, were better than Shei and Lenox?! Really?
They need to judge based on the overall body of work and when you have done that, then I think overwhelmingly that Lenox was the clear winner. She had the best photos. She didn’t do so good on the acting challenges, but they are there to model, not act.
Frat boy Adam, I can’t even fathom how he made it that far. I’m just truly and utterly mystified.
I’m even more mystified as to how Keith won. SMH…FAIL. This seasons’s result was a fail.
Shei was my favorite, even though she never got best photo and only won like one challenge. She seemed like the type that you root for in my opinion.
Lenox was really sweet in the beginning. She did start to get a little negative and complained a lot and jealous of others, but she still took EXCELLENT pictures.
Lenox should have won!!!!!!!!, followed by Will.
Keith and Adam should have been eliminated,I am so disappointed Tyra >:(
Seeing the photos Tyra chose for Lenox in the Guess shoot, it was pretty obvious she was setting her down to fail. If she had made the top three, she would have won, hands down: best body of work, her commercial shoot was highly praised and seemed like her final runway was fantastic. And even if they wanted a historic all-male top three – Will should have won. He may have had a weaker runway walk but his portfolio is wayyyyy stronger than Keith’s. He’s had some fugly photos. Seeing his photo reel at the end of the final was embarrassing.
Agree 100%.
Out of the four remaining contestants, the one I was most rooting for was Lenox but if not her, then I would have been satisfied with Adam or WIll as the winners. With the final results for this season I’m still scratching my head. Keith? But out of all the contestants my beloved Lenox comes in third; second spot goes to Kari; and my all-time favorite model, who I think was unjustly robbed, was Denzel
I agree about Lenox and Kari, but not Denzel. He’s a beautiful man, but he never took a good picture. And that horrible beard did him no favors.
I don’t think it is fair to use average challenge score as a factor for the overall winner. It does not award contestant learning, growing and improving.
I was so not expecting Keith, of all people, to win. He was not that good and Yu Tsai was constantly getting on to him about not performing well. How the heck did he win?! Lenox had stronger pictures than all of those boys! Adam shouldn’t have even made it to the finals. He should’ve been eliminated ages ago. If this is a serious competition and you have people like Adam or Keith making it to the finals over other people who were better models (Shei) then you’ve got to wonder, is this really a serious competition? I didn’t even watch the finale after I watched Shei get eliminated. She should’ve made it to the finale. Her being eliminated is, in essence, saying that Adam was a better model than her, which is ABSOLUTELY NOT the case…at all! Yeah, Adam did improve, but no way did he deserve to make it that far. He is not a model. Keith doesn’t even scream model to me either. He is a sports player, not a model.
Did I just enter the Twilight Zone?What was this result?! I’m just baffled. Looks like they just wanted to get a male winner.
Anyways, this is the worst batch of models to come out of this show. Last season was awful too, though I was happy Jourdan did win. She was the best of the worst.
If they really want to find America’s Next Top Model, they need to pick contestants that are already modeling and are really great at what they do, models who have already had some semblance of success.
It’s like the show Top Chef. When you watch that show, you KNOW that show is a serious competition. All the chefs are amazing at what they do, even the ones who get sent home early. That show is not for amateurs at all. Most of the contestants on that show already have their own restaurants, or they are Michelin star recipients, rising culinary stars, James Beard Award nominees, executive chefs, I mean, you name it. America’s Next Top Model needs to have Top Chef caliber of contestants, just for modeling, not cooking.
Top Model seems that it’s for amateurs. I used to enjoy this show a lot. Now, it sucks.
I want it to get better, but I don’t think it will. It’s already gone to the wolves and I don’t think there can be a rebound.
Shei should’ve won. I really liked her a lot.
Alright Top Model, you got your Male winner. GO BACK TO ALL GIRLS NOW!
i don’t mind that they are amateurs, that was the whole point of the competition in the beginning, of giving people a chance they otherwise wouldn’t get. BUT i haven’t enjoyed the show properly since the whole social media thing came into play. I liked listening to the judges actually discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the contestants and judging them not only on that weeks challenge and photo but also on their potential to grow and improve and how much they felt they really wanted it. I also miss the fact that they used to actually learn something from their challenges that they would have to incorporate into their photoshoot. it used to be a show about learning and growing and improving with a lot of catty drama thrown in xd, but now everything feels staged
But do you really think that amateurs can learn that much in only a few weeks?
Yes, Adam did improve, but by no means is he a good model. He doesn’t know all the technical stuff that goes into that profession. All he did was move a certain way and hope that it looked right on film. That’s not knowledge, that’s just responding to feedback. If there were to be no feedback during his photoshoots, I’m pretty sure that he would be doing the same thing that he did in the beginning, which was act like a drunk, party animal.
I guess it just irks me that he made it to top 3 over Lenox, who had the best pictures of all season.
I completely agree with u about last season and this season being the worst of top model history. I really want it to get better too and think it should go back to all girls now that they got their male model, but I honestly don’t think that will happen unfortunately. I really wanted Lenox to win and if a boy had to win I think it should have been Will or at least Adam who I felt was far stronger than Keith. All I want is to get back to awesome feeling of watching all the old cycles. I would say from the British invasion all the way back. Since then it just has gone way down. I hope they really care about the viewers and decide to fix the show.
Reblogged this on Meadow's Docket.
Ok yep done with this show Tyra had the hots for Keith so naturally he won. It should have been Lenox and Will for the win.
I’m torn-Keith was good looking and sometime a good model and has a good personility( he booked a lot of go sees)but more often than not YU Tsai wasn’t happy with him. Butvon the other hand I really wanted Lenox or Will too win,they both were overall stronger models than Keith.I think the final three shoukdve been Will,Lenox,Shei or Chantelle( who has a bad attitude but did good pics often).Im glad a guy soon though,otherwise what’s the point of having guys compete if the never win.?
Keith look too feminine, I think Keith or Adam should have won!
I meant to say will have too much a feminine look.
Denzel?
It was so obvious that ANTM wanted a male to win. Shei and Lennox didn’t have a chance. Even if they took great photos, Tyra would have picked a bad photo to show the judges and get them thrown out. Plus did you all notice those Marilyn Monroe wigs?? NO ONE could look good in those awful monstrosities.
I wanted Will to win, but I’m satisfied with Keith. Anyone but Adam.
OMG, you took the words right out of my mouth with those Marilyn Monroe wigs….I was like, what is that bird’s nest on their heads? Those wigs looked…AWFUL! They’re all in the fashion department, shouldn’t somebody have said something? Could they not have found a better Marilyn Monroe wig? The boys wigs didn’t look to hot either.
That whole shoot was a fail. It had a great concept, but the execution was an absolute fail with those wigs.
Keith was clearly the winner. I am happy he won.
They can make whomever they want win. Who says a ‘best shot’ really was their best shot?
And why show the 2 bad weeks Will had in the evaluation of their ‘body of work’?
It’s not about talent. It’s about editing and rates. Money. That’s why they’re focussing on the drama.
And don’t get me started on the hypocrisy.. Romeo gets kickes out for a drunken smack (rightly so). But Alcoholic Adam keeps boozing and they don’t make an example out of him? Even after his homophobic and violent past-confession?
Tyra wanted the manaconda to win. Easy as that. All that dude could do is glare.
I’m not watching again. It’s too predictable and edited. Too rigged. And besides: you never hear from previous winners again.
Ciaooo :)
Agreed. Will had amazing photos, but they chose his weakest. Adam and Keith have the same exact expressions in every picture. They aren’t models. Just sexy guys. It should have been Will and Lenox as the final two. Either of them have the potential to be super models. Keith is a failed football star who gave Tyra wet dreams. I’m done with this show after being a fan from the start.
I would love to see Lenox’s other pictures from the Guess photo shoot. The two pictures chosen were so infuriatingly bad. I don’t believe that those were the best two photos she took. She was the most photogenic by far.
I also hate how they now eliminate contestants, randomly rating the photos. I liked it much better when the judges would discuss which pictures were the worst.And then decide who should go home. The way they do things now it is a joke.
Me too! I loved when you’d hear their decision making process.
I was originally rooting for Lenox, Will, Adam, Keith (in that order). However it does make me happy that Keith won. The others I’m sure will have wonderful careers because they are undoubtedly amazing, but Keith needed the money. Not to “just have it” but to get his family out of an unfortunate situation and give his nephew a chance at a better future. I know that that is not the goal of ANTM but if anyone deserves the money it was him. Also, don’t hate on Adam and Lenox. The show’s purpose is to take ordinary and unexpected people and turn them into models. I’m glad “little miss dork” and “drunk frat boy” learned some lessons and got so far. Will is just amazing. Period. I’m so happy he came out and people support him.
Girl, you just took the words out of my mouth. I was rooting for Adam and Will but more Adam. Haters shouldn’t hate on Adam because at least he’s has many looks unlike Keith and he was the underdog and I always root for the underdog. And Lennox take take photos well. And Will is just beautiful and has improved so much as well as Adam. I wish them all great success in the industry
I am 51 and
Am a fan of Keith. Just a cery nice looking fella! Love his shoots and
Personality! Best wishes Keith May God continue to bless you in life!
Keith won because KELLY has the hots for him. Tyra judged him pretty fair throughout the competition, but EVERY SINGLE WEEK Kelly gave him a ridiculously high score and shot Will down because he doesn’t turn her on. She’s a terrible judge.
It pains me to admit that I’ve watched nearly every season of ANTM. It’s a show and I understand the need for drama. If it were all about modeling, Will, Lenox, and Raleia would have been the top 3 this season (oh, and Allison would have won All Stars!). Those 3 look like actual working models. The modeling world isn’t fair. If you aren’t tall, thin, and beautiful, no amount of smizing is going to help. Keith is a handsome guy. But he isn’t as tall as Will and his build is more football ready than runway. I really hope Tyra completely changes the show for next cycle. She needs to get rid of Kelly ASAP. Kelly had her favorites and they were the only ones to get good scores from her. Get rid of the social media score too or at least make it count less than it does.
Yeah, Shei was mistreated by Kelly. Kelly never said anything good about Shei, which was a shame. I thought Shei was one of the most physically stunning models there.
Kelly takes the judging to a personal level. She’s the outcast in high school getting back at the popular girls. And Tyra is the personal savior for every person of color with a ‘hardbeginnings’ story. The show has yet to have a winner who truly becomes successful because the best model rarely wins. Will and Lenox never stood a chance.
I thought it was pretty clear back when they had 6 people left that Keith was going to win. Clearly it’s what the producers wanted for this season, eventhough he was a 1 look baby Tyson Beckford. I thought Adam had a great look tho
The right person won…go Keith!!! Handsome hunk will do well in the industry!!!
Looking at the models poses right now which is after the show aired I see what I would have liked to have seen on Adams face. He looks too posed and a more natural expression would have helped him greatly!