‘America’s Next Top Model: British Invasion’ finale review: The winner is…

Wednesday night brought us an intense finale to “America’s Next Top Model’s” 19th cycle, and there was plenty of drama. For the first time ever, a hospital visit nearly derailed someone’s chances of even making it to the final panel — as Laura LaFrate suffered a complete and total emotional breakdown after shooting the Cover Girl commercial. For most of the episode, we also had a pretty distinct feeling that Sophie Summer was going to take this home. She dominated the early stages of the competition — especially the runway show, where she felt more like a symbol of high fashion than anyone else there.

However, this competition is prone to surprises — and we were pretty worried going in that Tyra Banks was going to allow an American to come out on top mostly because this is an American show — and we have seen two British contestants in a row already go home. In the final portion of the show, the editor for Vogue Italia loved Laura’s pictures, and said that they would book her in a split-second.

In the end, there was a surprise — Sophie still won! This season, the British came, saw, and conquered — and Sophie also now gets to head home not feeling like the Clay Aiken of “Top Model” after finishing in second back on her season back in Britain. It was a deserving win, and it was at least a happy ending to a season marred by low ratings and the news of Jay Manuel, J. Alexander, and Nigel Barker leaving.

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What do you think about the winner, and about this “British Invasion” season as a whole?

Photo: The CW