The final three are put to the test when they have to shoot a CoverGirl commercial for CoverGirl Wetslicks Fruit Spritzers. The girls get to choose from 12 fruity flavors to portray in their endorsement, as follows:

Chantal - Lemon
Jenah - Strawberry
Saleisha - Tangerine

All the girls struggled with their commercials at first, but all managed to pull off good takes in the end, although Jenah’s attitude comes off as slightly abrasive to Jay.

Before evaluation, the girls are asked to critique their competition. All the girls commended themselves as having the most potential, but Jenah’s laid-back attitude causes her to be deemed as having the least. At panel, Saleisha landed in the bottom two because the judges were still unsure whether she could pull off “high fashion”. Despite taking some of the best photos from the entire series, Jenah’s substandard commercial does her in, and she is is eliminated.

The final runway takes place near the Forbidden City, and Cycle 8 winner Jaslene Gonzalez starts off the show. Chantal has a slight accident when her dress trips a stilt performer, while Saleisha consistently showed a strong walk.

During the final panel, the judges praised both finalists’ personalities and pictures throughout the season. While it was decided that Chantal had a better look and body for high fashion, Saleisha had a better walk, and also more experienced. The girls are called back and Saleisha is declared the winner.

• Bottom Two: Jenah Doucette & Saleisha Stowers
• Eliminated: Jenah Doucette
• Final Two: Chantal Jones & Saleisha Stowers
• America’s Next Top Model: Saleisha Stowers
• Featured photographer: Jim De Yonker
• Featured director of commercial: Brent Poer
• Special guests: Qi Gang, Darren Duan, Ann Shoket, Jaslene Gonzalez, Stephen Danelian, Christian Marc

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The final four fly to Beijing, where they are introduced to traditional Chinese folklore. The next day, they participate in a challenge in which they must turn a traditional Chinese garment into their own style. During the task, Bianca purposefully gives Jenah bad advice, so when the latter is declared the winner, she instead chooses Chantal to share her prize of custom-made cheongsams.

The girls then travel to the Great Wall for a warrior-themed photo shoot that is photographed by Tyra herself. While Tyra is generally positive about the girls’ performances, she shows concern over Jenah’s identity crisis and Bianca’s stiff poses. The shoot concludes with a final group shot.

At panel, all the photos are greeted with positive reviews, and Tyra confesses that her opinions about the girls have changed after photographing them. Chantal’s ability to stand out in the group photo, and Saleisha’s creativity at the shoot advances them to the final three. Jenah explains that she was homesick but cared greatly about the competition, and Bianca argued that she had consistently improved. In the end, Bianca is eliminated for not demonstrating the same innate talent as the other finalists.

• Bottom two: Bianca Golden & Jenah Doucette
• Eliminated: Bianca Golden
• Featured photographer: Tyra Banks
• Special guests: Ann Shoket
• CoverGirl of the Week: Heather Kuzmich

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The remaining five girls are sent on go-sees. Heather has difficulty finding her way around town, and ends up only visiting one designer, and Jenah receives bad comments about her personality and walk. Bianca and Saleisha are the only two to make it back on time; Chantal, Jenah and Heather are all disqualified for their tardiness. Bianca wins the challenge; as her reward, her picture will be used in a campaign for the 2008 Olympics.

Later, the girls take part in a photo shoot with Nigel, where they have to stand out in a crowd of Chinese lions and dragons. Some of Jenah’s comments causes friction between her and Nigel, leaving Jenah to worry about her fate in the competition.

During panel, Tyra announces that the final four will go to Beijing, China for the remainder of the competition. Jenah’s communication skills are questioned, while Heather is criticized for not being able to handle pressure, although her picture receives praise.

Jenah and Heather ultimately land in the bottom two, both for their communication improprieties. While both are commended on their stellar portfolios, the judges felt they lacked something in their communication. With that, Jenah’s name is called and Heather is eliminated.

• Bottom two: Jenah Doucette & Heather Kuzmich
• Eliminated: Heather Kuzmich
• Featured photographer: Nigel Barker
• Special guests: Susan Yang, Lu Kun, Stephen Peng, Flora Zeta, Helen Lee, Fiona Vong, Sutan, Christian Marc
• CoverGirl of the Week: Heather Kuzmich

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The six remaining girls fly to Shanghai, China, and are brought to their suite. However, there are only five beds inside, and when Saleisha refuses to share her king-sized bed, Heather is left without one. Jenah and Bianca end up sharing the larger bed.

The girls learn basic martial arts poses. Their challenge is to showcase their poses in the air on high wires. At the challenge, Bianca refuses to pose in the air, disqualifying herself. Heather wins the challenge, and is rewarded with a shopping spree. She chooses Chantal to accompany her.

This week, the girls will shoot both a commercial and photo shoot for CoverGirl Queen collection, and are told to wear clothes that showcases their personality.

At panel, the judges felt all the girls struggled with either the commercial or photo shoot, but Heather and Lisa’s commercial takes are deemed the worst, and they land in the bottom two, despite strong photos. In the end, Lisa is eliminated, with her ability to handle criticism being questioned.

• Bottom two: Heather Kuzmich & Lisa
• Eliminated: Lisa
• Featured photographer: Jim Wade
• Featured commercial director: Jeffrey Chu
• Special guests: Louis Liu, Brent Poer
• CoverGirl of the Week: Heather Kuzmich

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The remaining seven girls are told that they will be going to the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising where they will be paired up with student fashion designers as their muses for a unique dress. On a runway, the girls must show off their outfits as well as explain their dress. Heather and Lisa both stumble on their performances and Saleisha is chosen as the challenge winner. The reward for the challenge is a photo shoot with Seventeen and Saleisha picks Bianca and Lisa to join her on the photo shoot.

For their photo shoot, the girls are driven to the desert where they will become a stranded model in the desert, posing with a burning car. During the photo shoot, Heather’s frustration with the challenge makes an impact on her pictures.

At the beginning of panel, Tyra tells the girls that they will be going to Shanghai, China for their international destination but only six will go. Most of the girls receive praise for their pictures. Heather is told that this is her weakest shoot to date, Ambreal is advised that she needs to work much harder and Lisa is told that she is fading away from the judges.

In the end, the bottom two are revealed to be Ambreal and Lisa. Tyra announces that Ambreal is eliminated because Lisa has a more model “feel”.

• Bottom two: Ambreal Williams and Lisa
• Eliminated: Ambreal Williams
• Featured photographer: Trevor O’Shana
• Special guests: Benny Ninja
• CoverGirl of the Week: Heather Kuzmich

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Tyra teaches the ladies how to model in front of a moving camera. Later, the contestants shoot a music video with Enrique Iglesias and the video turns into tragedy when Heather gets rushed to the emergency room. Chantal and Sarah find themselves in the bottom two, both fading away, and it was Sarah eliminated for losing her ‘plus sized’ figure, and losing herself in the competition.

• Bottom two: Chantal Jones & Sarah Hartshorne
• Eliminated: Sarah Hartshorne
• Featured photographer: N/A
• Special guests: Enrique Iglesias, Billy Parks, Jesse Terrero
• CoverGirl of the Week: Heather Kuzmich

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This is the recap episode of the season, reviewing the first six episodes of the cycle. It included some never-before-seen footage, including Bianca running into a glass door, Jenah visiting the dentist over a chipped tooth, Tyra discussing body image with the girls, and Bianca’s confrontations with Chantal and Ebony.

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Male model Tyson Beckford surprises the models at the house and gives them a lesson on being a spokesperson. Most pull off an impromptu sales pitch for their teacher, but a few have a hard time concentrating on their task. Later, the girls are split into groups and create a public service announcement for the charity Keep A Child Alive. Though the group consistng of Heather, Jenah and Ambreal struggle to put together their announcements, they win the challenge and receive gift baskets from Carol’s Daughter. In addition, Heather wins an extra prize; she gets to participate in a photo shoot for Carol’s Daughter, directed by singer Mary J. Blige. She uses the photo shoot as an opportunity to practice shooting face-front pictures.

Ebony and Ambreal struggle with their shoots, while Heather receives praise for not doing a single shot in profile. At panel, due to their poor performance in the photo shoot, Ebony and Ambreal land in the bottom two, both for the second time. Tyra calls Ebony to receive the last photo, but Ebony states that she no longer wishes to participate. She quits, after admonishment and permission from Tyra, and Ambreal is spared from elimination and given another chance to prove herself. Ebony became the second contestant to quit Top Model, with the first being Cassandra Whitehead from Cycle 5.

• Bottom two: Ambreal Williams & Ebony Morgan
• Eliminated: Ebony Morgan (quit)
• Featured photographer: Fredric Reshew
• Special guests: Tyson Beckford, Elizabeth Santiso, Lisa Price, Mary J. Blige, Matthew Rolston, Sutan, Christian Marc
• CoverGirl of the Week: Heather Kuzmich

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The week kicks off with a posing lesson with vogueing expert Benny Ninja who teaches the girls how to pose while in the air by jumping on a trampoline. Ambreal is praised for her natural ability to strike amazing poses, while Heather and Lisa struggle with their awkwardness.

Later, the remaining 10 girls use what they have learned from Benny when they have to pose in the air while being carried by ice-skaters in a rink for this week’s reward challenge. Lisa wins the challenge, but causes tension when some other girls feel that her win is not deserving.

For the week’s photo shoot, girls are to take high fashion photographs posing as gargoyles on the roof of a high rise building. Bianca and Ebony shocked Mr. Jay with their astounding progress, while Jenah, Heather, and Lisa all delivered once again. Sarah struggles to fit the character and Ambreal has to fight her fear of heights.

At panel, most of the girls receive praise from the judges. Though Heather delivered another strong photograph, she was advised that she needed to model her face forwards as well, and not just sideways. Sarah was criticized for not grasping the concept of the shoot, and Ebony is once again cautioned about her uptight in-person appearance, and is told to smile more.

The bottom two is revealed to be Janet and Ambreal. Tyra felt that both girls had striking features and great personalities, but just couldn’t transfer that into their photographs. However, Ambreal’s photographs are deemed to be just strong enough to keep her another week and Janet is eliminated.

• Bottom two: Ambreal Williams & Janet Mills
• Eliminated: Janet Mills
• Featured photographer: Mike Rosenthal
• Special guests: Benny Ninja, Ann Shoket, Danielle Evans, Byron Kirkland, Lloyd Eisler, Marc Baptiste
• CoverGirl of the Week: Heather Kuzmich

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Tyra gives the girls a sneak peak at their makeovers at the Ken Pavés salon, the most dramatic of which is Bianca having most of her hair shaved off due to extensive hair damage. However, she is given a honey blonde wig to wear during photo shoots.

While Jenah, Sarah,Lisa and Heather once again pull off strong shots, Bianca, Ebony and Janet are commended for their improvements, and Chantal, Saleisha and Victoria struggled with their shoots.

At panel, Chantal gets criticized about her need to listen more during photo shoots, and Saleisha’s lack of emotion in her picture doesn’t sit well with the judges. When evaluating Victoria’s cactus picture, Twiggy remarks that it was a fitting representation since she felt Victoria has a “prickly disposition”, a comment to which Victoria takes offense and rebuts her for the third week in a row. Victoria is sent home for not having enough “charm” to be a model.

• Bottom two: Saleisha & Victoria Marshman
• Eliminated: Victoria Marshman
• Featured photographer: Lionel Deluy
• Special guests: Ken Pavés, Dawn Patton, Brent Poer, Crissy Barker, Sutan, Christian Marc
• CoverGirl of the Week: Heather Kuzmich