ANTM = Danielle!

Well, apparently Danielle has what it takes. The 20-year-old 5’11” babysitter from Little Rock, Arkansas was named America’s Next Top Model last night over runner-up Joanie, the blue-eyed blonde who many had pegged to win. Personally, I would have been happy for either girl, because they were both GORGEOUS and had fantastic personalities. However, I do think Joanie deserved to win, considering Danielle’s significant speech impediment.

But hands down, the most exciting event of the evening was when the judges, including show creator Tyra Banks, sent third-runner-up Jade home. Although it was expected, Jade’s elimination still had all six of the Top Model fans who gathered in a friend’s apartment on our feet, cheering and clapping.

How Jade got into the final three, I will never understand. For one, she’s way too old to just be starting out in the modeling business, at an ancient 26. For another, she looks like a drag queen. And most importantly, her attitude SUCKS. This girl did not listen to a single thing she was told throughout the entire competition! She’s one of those people who are full of excuses – it’s never her fault. She was perpetually babbling about this or that in her nasty, raspy voice, even going so far as to rudely interrupt the judges. And I’ll tell you one thing right now: Whoever would interrupt noted fashion photographer Nigel Barker is seriously disturbed. **SWOON**

But without a doubt, Jade marches to the sound of her own drummer, which she proved as she left the house last night doing some weird kind of dance, snapping her fingers, and reciting spoken word poetry. I hope she got hit by a bus once she made it outside.

And then there were two. Both gorgeous, but drastically different. You can’t really compare a sophisticated, blonde, blue-eyed Pennsylvania girl with a ghetto/fabulous Southern gal. There’s just too great a contrast. Throughout the competition, both girls were asked to demonstrate both inner and outer beauty as they learned to master complicated catwalks, intense physical fitness, fashion photo shoots and perfect publicity skills, all under 24-hour-a-day surveillance of the America’s Top Model cameras that chronicle every move.

As the weeks passed, both girls did every single thing that was asked of them by the judges. They both had amazingly sweet personalities and came from bad backgrounds. Both improved as each new photo was taken. So who do you choose to win? In my opinion, Danielle and Joanie were neck in neck throughout the entire competition. Except for Danielle’s Southern drawl, which Tyra asked her to work on again and again. She didn’t. For me, that should have tipped the scales in Joanie’s favor. I mean, imagine Danielle talking about her “life as a cover girl” next season – can you really take her seriously unless she gets some voice lessons first?!

I must admit though, this crash course to fame did transform Danielle, an everyday young woman, into a potentially fierce supermodel. We’ll just have to see if Danielle had enough exposure to high-profile fashion-industry gurus to make it in the real world. It’s up for debate, seeing as the winners of cycles 1-5 are rarely seen in the fashion world thus far. My opinion? Without a doubt, both Joanie and Danielle will be successful models in the near future.

Oh, and let’s not forget the fabulous prizes, as Tyra reminds us EVERY week! The grand price for the sixth cycle of America’s Next Top Model includes a contract with Ford Models, a $100,000 contract with cosmetics giant CoverGirl, and a fashion spread in Elle magazine, shot by noted photographer Gilles Bensimon. Damn, too bad it’s not Nigel Barker.

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