America's Next Top Model: College Edition eliminated Leila Goldkuhl during The CW's broadcast of the nineteenth season's fifth episode Friday night.
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Leila, a 5' 11" unemployed 20-year-old student from Framingham, MA attending the University of Rhode Island, was ousted from the competition after she found herself in the bottom two based upon her total combined scores from the challenge, Top Model's three judges and home viewers' fan vote.
"You know, this is a shock to me. I saw the scores add up. I was like, 'She's going home?!'" Top Model creator and lead judge Tyra Banks told Leila following her ouster.
"That's crazy," said Leila, who was told she'd get to participate in most of the upcoming photo shoots against previously and future-eliminated girls in attempt to gain the highest social media score and earn a spot back in the competition.
"She was my favorite girl," fashion blogger BryanBoy told the panel all choked up.
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"I'm beyond, beyond, beyond surprised. I knew my photo shoot didn't go well, but I don't know. My world just collapsed a little bit," Leila said in tears.
"You know that you're still going to do every single photo shoot. You have strong social media scores. So you have to kick ass," Tyra told her.
"I worked so hard and I talked such a big game because I just felt so good about myself, and to be eliminated this early, I just feel like I disappointed everyone. I let them down and it sucks so much. I'm hoping that I'll come back and I know my fans are behind me, and I just hope they stay behind me, because I can be brought back. I'm gone but I can come back and I can win it all. It's so hard because I was so close!" added Leila.
Leila landed in the bottom two alongside Brittany Brown, a 5' 10" 18-year-old student from Gilbert, AZ attending Chandler-Gilbert Community College/Disney College Program, after the season's fifth official photo shoot, which had required the aspiring models to each act as a "sassy fashion cheerleader with a Top Model spin," according to Top Model creative consultant Johnny Wujek.
The girls were instructed to pose mid-air after being tossed up by a group of male cheerleaders for fashion photographer Sarah Silver. Choreographer Jonte helped give the models some direction on how to move their bodies.
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During the episode's challenge, the girls had to walk in a runway fashion show for Alicia Keys' "Keep a Child Alive" charity. Kiara Belen, Victoria Henley and Laura James all stood out during the show, but the girl who sold the most dresses ultimately won the challenge, and that person was Kiara.
For winning the challenge, Kiara was told she'd get to attend one of Alicia Keys' own concerts and pick a friend to go with her. Kiara opted to share her prize with Nastasia Scott. In addition, Kiara earned $10,000 in her bank worth of scholarship money -- an amount which could only be claimed if she was to actually win America's Next Top Model: College Edition. Her bank was up to $20,000, as she had also won the challenge the week prior.
America's Next Top Model: College Edition's judges gave Leila a total of 17 points for the photo shoot. She received four points from Kelly Cutrone, seven points from Rob Evans and six points from Tyra. Leila also earned six points for the challenge in addition to 6.01 points from the fans, making her overall score 29.
Brittany earned a total of 18 points from the judges after Kelly, Tyra and Rob each gave her six points. Added to her score of seven from the challenge and 4.49 from the fan vote, Brittany was revealed to be safe thanks to her overall score of 29.5. Tyra noted how incredibly close Leila and Brittany's total scores were, as they were only separated by half-a-point.
Nastasia, a 5' 8 1/4" 19-year-old student and sales associate from East Stroudsburg, PA attending East Stroudsburg University, received the first call-out in Tyra's line of best to the worst scores of the week. She had an overall score of 40.9, including a score of eight from Tyra, a nine from Kelly and a perfect 10 from Rob.
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Following Nastasia, Tyra then revealed the photos of Laura, Kristin Kagay, Kiara, Victoria, Yvonne Powless, and Allyssa Vuelma -- leaving Leila and Brittany in the bottom two.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski