Teyona Anderson, a 20-year-old loss prevention representative from Woodstown, NJ, was crowned America's Next Top Model's twelfth-season winner during Wednesday night's broadcast of The CW reality competition's finale.
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"You worked so hard," Tyra told Teyona as she congratulated her. "We felt your passion, we felt your drive, and you worked and did your thing and you should be proud."
"I'm America's Next Top Model! I've come from the little country streets from Woodstown, NJ. Growing up, playing in corn fields and in the woods with boys to now being America's Next Top Model! " a more composed Teyona added afterwards.
"I wanted to do this so long -- I just wanted to model, like that's what I want to do, that's my passion, I live for modeling. To win [means] my hard work actually paid off. It's just amazing. Oh my god, I'm so proud of myself, it's ridiculous, I just feel like 'Is this for real?' It freaking is!"
As Top Model's twelfth-season winner, Teyona won a management deal with Elite Model Management, a $100,000 contract with cosmetics company CoverGirl, and a cover story and six-page fashion spread in an issue of Seventeen magazine.
Teyona -- who had seemed to spend most of the season as one of the competition's front-runners -- defeated Allison Harvard, a 20-year-old artist from New Orleans, LA, and Aminat Ayinde, a 21-year-old student from Union, NJ, during last night's finale broadcast.
Allison finished as the competition's runner-up while Animat finished in third place.
"You should be proud of yourself too, this was so hard [a decision]," Tyra told Allison after she'd congratulated Teyona. "You have had a transformation. Like, when you look in the mirror it is not the 'weird girl' it's the 'weird, cool girl.' Yeah, I look different and it's special and it made me a finalist on Top Model."
"I wanted it, I wanted it badly," Allison said afterwards. "But I just think it's huge that I made it this far and just what I'm taking away from this is it means so much more than anything [it was] once in a lifetime. You know [I'm] super disappointed but at the same time I've gotten to do so much. I'm just really proud of myself, I'm just really proud that I made it this far."
About The Author: Steven Rogers
