The all-stars season of America’s Next Top Model ended Wednesday night in controversy with one contestant being disqualified. The final three -- Lisa D’Amato, Allison Harvard, and Angelea Preston – completed the Cover Girl commercials and runway show before host Tyra Banks revealed Preston had been disqualified and the final judging portion would continue with D’Amato and Harvard as the final two. The reason for Preston’s sudden departure was not revealed.
"We're back in Los Angeles on the Top Model set and we're here for a special finale that's being conducted under unusual circumstances," Banks said.
"It turns out, our production team and the network learned information from Angelea that disqualifies her from the competition. It means we're now going to do our final judging with the remaining two girls, and in the interest of fairness, the producers and the network thought it best to evaluate Allison and Lisa on their own, without the added competition of Angelea,” fashion photographer Nigel Barker explained.
After some deliberation between the judges, D’Amato was crowned the winner and Harvard the runner-up.
In a statement released Thursday, the CW addressed the controversy surrounding Preston’s disqualification. The network still did not reveal specifics of the situation, but did say some of the finale was re-shot after Preston was found ineligible.
"After production wrapped on the current cycle of America's Next Top Model, we learned information that made Angelea ineligible and she was subsequently disqualified from the competition. As a result, new scenes were filmed to address this for the audience during the finale,” the network said.
Preston has not commented.
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