So this week's "ANTM" was the biggie, the one for all the marbles (er, money and lipstick ads) ... and it's the week my TiVo chose to let me down. So forgive me if this recap doesn't chronicle every step of the craziness the way it normally would, and be sure to leave a comment telling me what you thought were the best/worst/most ridiculous parts.

For the first challenge, the three remaining models were sent to shoot a "my life" spot for Cover Girl, speaking spontaneously and without any lines written down ahead of time. Sounds like trouble for Natasha, huh? She tried to sneak in a script she'd written, but that was a no-no, and she ended up awkwardly ad-libbing. Renee, meanwhile, initially started talking about how six months ago she had a baby and thought her life was over. The coaches gently suggested that the ideal "easy, breezy" Cover Girl probably wouldn't be so negative. Jaslene landed the glamour-girl gig by shooting her commercial in a limo, which brought out "cha-cha" to the max. The judges complained that Natasha's ad was too awkward and Jaslene didn't look commercial enough, which you'd think would make Renee a sure bet for the final two. But no! Instead, they said she looked too old — and too squinty, thanks to the sun being in her eyes during the commercial shoot — and she was booted.

That left Jaslene and Natasha to fight to the death at a bizarre runway show, so to talk about the winner and see a gallery of photos from the episode, read more

So this runway show. First of all, the runway was this long, curvy thing made of tiny wooden slats, and all I could think of was poor Jenna Fischer breaking her back. Secondly, the girls were told that the theme of the show was evolution, which made me think they were going to have to first crawl, then ape-walk, then finally strut on the runway. Luckily, they actually just had to dance around looking baffled for the prehistoric parts. Natasha started out great — not surprisingly, she can pull off the "confused person who's never seen the world before" look quite well — but faded at the end, while Jaslene pulled out some serious model strutting action. Oh, and Natasha's skirt fell off, but she just kept workin' it like a trooper.

Back at the judging, Natasha and Jaslene said how happy they were that "girls with accents" had made it this far in the competition. We got a recap of their photos from the season — wow, they both made really good dudes — and a fairly brief deliberation before Tyra announced that Jaslene "cha cha" Gonzales would be America's Next Top Model. Cheers! Hugs! Crying! I was a little surprised Jaslene won, but I have to admit she looked the most "model-y" at the runway show. What do you think? Was Renee robbed?

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Photos courtesy of The CW

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