The winner, similar to all of the cycles aired on The CW network, received representation by Elite Model Management, a cover & six-page spread within Seventeen magazine,[1] and a US$100,000 contract with CoverGirl cosmetics.
The winner was 20-year-old Jaslene Gonzalez from Chicago, Illinois, who notably had made it to the semi-finals of cycle 7, but was not cast.
Some memorable auditions included a girl named Micheline, who had at least 20 tattoos on her body, Natasha revealing that she was only 18 when she married a man in his forties, and Dionne calling her hair color "1B-30."
Only Jaslene, Felicia, Samantha, Cassandra, and Brittany pulled off good photos, while the rest failed to impress.
Kathleen was the first girl eliminated due to her inability to follow direction from photographer, Nigel Baker.
In Episode 2, the top twelve contestants were greeted by J. Alexander and a marching band at a high school before they were divided into teams.
Felicia and Diana impressed the judges, Natasha and Samantha struggled to fit into their characters, and they landed in the bottom two.
In Episode 3, the top eleven contestants traveled to a Beverly Hills salon for their makeovers.
Later, Jael received a devastating phone call, discovering that one of her close friends had died of a drug overdose.
The contestants participated in a challenge to test their ability to apply makeup, which Brittany won and shared her Seventeen photoshoot prize with Jael and Sarah.
At the end of the photo shoot, Jay Manuel commented that the judges would have a hard time deliberating during panel.
They felt Felicia produced the weakest photo in the bunch, resting on good critiques at previous panels.
[a] While Brittany and Jaslene again impressed Jay with their shots, the real shock of the day came from Natasha, who wowed everyone on set.
Not only did Natasha achieve a great photo, she also incorporated some ideas of her own, such as including grills from a gum wrapper and a toothpick.
The week’s photo shoot required the contestants to do their own hair and makeup, in order to show four sides of their personalities.
In Episode 7, the top seven contestants received a crash course in character acting from actress, Tia Mowry.
They were immediately thrown into an acting challenge with Efren Ramirez, who portrayed Pedro in the film, "Napoleon Dynamite."
Excitement rose when contestants from past cycles of America's Next Top Model showed up for their next photo shoot.
The current cycle girls were to portray memorable moments from past contestants' ANTM appearances.
However, the judges felt that Jael's portfolio was more impressive, Therefore, Whitney was eliminated in her third consecutive bottom-two appearance.
Upon landing, the contestsnts were met by Erika Heynatz and immediately tasked to interview the locals on American fashion faux pas, using as much Australian slang in Downtown Sydney as possible.
Brittany struggled to remember her lines because of her short-term memory loss (due to a car accident a few years ago).
In Episode 10, Renee and Dionne expressed their shock that Brittany used her short- term memory loss as a way to escape elimination.
Everyone inside the agency, including challenge administrator, Priscilla Leighton Clark, could hear Brittany expressing her displeasure with her disqualification.
She chose Dionne to accompany her to share a photo shoot on top of the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge with photographer, Nigel Barker.
Tyra revealed that she was shocked that none of the go-see designers wanted to hire Brittany, despite a stellar portfolio.(Ms.
Ultimately, Dionne's lackluster photos and Brittany's poor go-see performance landed them in the bottom two.
That night, Renee, Dionne, and Jaslene hit the town, while Natasha stayed home sick.
In Episode 12, the top three contestants were put to the test when they had to shoot a CoverGirl commercial and print ad.
Cycle 7 winner CariDee English joined Jaslene and Natasha in the runway show, themed "evolution" for Australian fashion label sass & bide.