Australia's Next Top Model Winner

Next Tuesday will be the first in a while without our weekly date with Australia's Next Top Model. The finale has been and gone, the winner chosen (congrats again Monty!), and now all that's left to do is take a good hard look at the top three's final shoot. Simone, Liz and Montana flew to Dubai for two photographic assignments with Georges Antoni; the first requiring them to work winter threads in 40 degree heat and the second seeing them working some sophisticated looks atop a sand dune. Get your last dose of ANTM glamour until next season!

See the girls' last shoot . . .

We're a little bit obsessed with Montana Cox's first ever cover. The Australia's Next Top Model winner will be Harper's BAZAAR's December cover girl and already looks like a pro. We're loving her glossy berry pout, sultry yet subtle eye makeup and long, flowing locks — all perfect for party season which is just around the corner. Check out the products that were used to create Monty's beautiful cover look.

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Montana Cox has just been crowned Australia's Next Top Model! The 18-year-old school girl and competion favourite from Eltham in Victoria has won a modelling contract with Chic Management, a trip to New York to be represented by Next Agency, a Ford Fiesta Zetec and $20,000 cash courtesy of TRESemmé. Not only that, she'll also appear on the December cover of Harper's Bazaar magazine and be featured in an eight-page editorial spread! Congratulations Montana, there's no doubt we'll soon be seeing your name up in lights! See why she won by checking out her best shots from the season.

Australia's Next Top Model winner Amanda Ware can now add Bonds girl to her CV. We showed you all the pics from Amanda and Kelsey's Bonds Hipstar tour yesterday, now we're giving you the goss from Amanda on life post-ANTM. We got five minutes with this busy lady to talk her about her international modelling dreams, who she still hangs out with from the model house and what it's like to walk in Sarah Murdoch's footsteps.

We heard you just got back from NYC, how was it? It was an amazing experience. People were really nice, welcoming and happy to sign us. And I saw I saw Coco Rocha at Elite, she’s one of the best!

Are you keen to work overeseas? Yes, absolutely. I would love to go to Europe and the Asian continents. It would be an absolutely amazing experience. Obviously I would love to go anywhere the job takes me.

C'mon spill, what's the best bit about life post-ANTM? The best thing are these amazing opportunities and experiences, like going to New York and of course working with great brands like Bonds.

For more from Amanda

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You know how fond we are of Australia's Next Top Model finalists Amanda Ware and Kelsey Martinovich, so when we found out that they were the new faces (or should that be butts?) of the Bonds Hipster campaign we were punching the air a little. Following in the famed footsteps of ex-Bonds Hipster girls Miranda Kerr, Catherine McNeil and ANTM host herself, Sarah Murdoch, Amanda and Kelsey have embarked on a national tour with their all dancing, DJ-ing and acrobatic-ing Hipstar Troupe. They've hit up Sydney and Melbourne already, but you can catch them today at Brisbane's Pacific Fair at 12.30pm. We nabbed five minutes with winner Amanda mid tour for a chat — so stay tuned for our full interview tomorrow. Meanwhile, you can check out Kelsey and Amanda shake those hipsters in our exclusive runway gallery.

Keep reading . . .

Now that the dust is beginning to settle on the whole Australia’s Next Top Model live finale fiasco, Foxtel and the producers of ANTM have said that they don’t blame host Sarah Murdoch for what happened. In a media release, Foxtel Executive Director of Television Brian Walsh said:

“In live television, mistakes can happen and we accept that fact. Sarah was simply not given the correct information at that stage of the proceedings. Foxtel is not blaming any individual, and certainly not Sarah Murdoch, as some reports have suggested. That is not true. Sarah dealt with a very difficult situation with grace, dignity and professionalism.”

Walsh went on to acknowledge how much interest and buzz surrounded the event, but that he hoped “the focus will shift to the new careers of Amanda Ware, Kelsey Martinovich and all the girls who have made this series of Australia’s Next Top Model our most successful ever.”

It definitely seems like everyone has emerged as winners out of this. Amanda won the competition; Kelsey scored kudos for graciously accepting she actually hadn’t won (plus her runners-up prize isn’t too shabby—a trip to New York, $25,000 cash and her own Harper’s BAZAAR cover!); Sarah further endeared herself as Australia’s sweetheart after her ACA interview; and the finale made international headlines—more publicity than they could have ever expected. See, success all ’round!

Photo supplied by FOXTEL

The Australia's Next Top Model saga continues as Sarah Murdoch appeared on A Current Affair last night to explain her side of the story. The gist of the stuff up? The last piece of information Sarah was given was that Kelsey was in the lead ("Kelsey, one") and Amanda was behind ("Amanda, two"), moments before the winner's announcement was to be made. Relying solely on her ear piece, Sarah waited for the final confirmation to be fed through to her, only to be left hanging with silence. Instead of calling for technical help or waiting until the feed came through, Sarah assumed that Kelsey was still in the lead and announced her as the winner. This, it seems, is why the term "miscommunication" has been thrown around by Sarah and Foxtel to explain the mishap. As much as I'm on Team Sarah, I do question her instincts on this one. Announcing the winner is the sole reason for the live finale, so why did she leave it to chance to announce who she thought was the right girl? Wouldn't you double, even triple check (a la Gretel Killeen on Big Brother)? And if the ear piece did go blank at the crucial moment, shouldn't she have made the crew aware of the problem? I hate to say it, but it seems a little like a bad judgement call to me. What do you think? Let us know in the comments section below!