Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Search
Episode 6
Who Did America Vote For?
Recap by Evan D. Baltz
February 10, 2005
And then there were two. The finale begins with the ubiquitous recap of the show thus far. It catches us up to the elimination of last week. We see the girls getting hugs and congratulations from the judges on Bora Bora.
Back at SI offices, we see the top editors of the magazine going over the photo shoot and commenting about the girls. They think the final two, Alicia and Shannon, are both excellent.
We next visit Alicia in her home town of Las Vegas, where she is visiting her old "hood" with her half sister Jamie. They visit an apartment building where they used to live. They talk about the old times there and how it wasn't a good neighborhood and how they were poor. Alicia used her sob story quite a bit throughout the show I believe to get extra sympathy. Not that she was lying or anything, as we find out her home life must have been pretty messed up. She has step sisters and step parents and parents all over the place, including a trailer park. But she is a smart girl and knows that the voting public likes a good sob story.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the tracks, in upscale Dallas, Texas, we visit with Shannon and her fiancé Kyle. We also see Shannon at home with her family around the dinner table. She tells us that she and Kyle will be married June 11, 2005.
Back in L.A., the girls are scheduled for a shoot with Lycra. The Lycra people have a special look and mind, and their first impression is that Shannon is the one with that look. She is "girl next door with sexy." Her photo shoot goes very well, and they are quite pleased. Alicia's shoot doesn't start off well, but by the end of it, the company thinks she has what it takes as well.
The show winds up in a studio with an audience. It seems about 90% of the audience is related to one of the girls. The previously eliminated girls are also there, and Rushumba briefly interviews some of them. The whole studio portion of the show seems to be highly edited and chopped up. You can tell that most of the interviews were cut short. They probably originally had intended to fill an entire hour with the studio portion of the show, but realized there wasn't enough there to make the cut.
The worst part of the show was being subjected to Stacey from Minnesota's accent one last time. And what did she do to her eyebrows? It looked like they had spawned caterpillars.
Next we saw montages of their Bora Bora photo shoots. Then Rushumba asked each of the previously eliminated girls whom they wanted to see win. It was a landslide victory for Shannon, 8-2. They liked her personality better and thought she had the better body.
Then the moment came. Who did America vote for? After a pause, the TV monitor showed a picture of Alicia. Alicia won the $1 million contract. Her family, all branches of it, jumped up and down in the audience, and she sobbed. Look for pictures of her at a newsstand near you in the next couple of weeks.
Of course, just like these other voting shows, we were never told how close the vote was or what the vote totals were. Does this bug anyone else? Why can't the networks just tell us what the final vote was? Why is it such a mystery?
It will be interesting to see in the years to come, if either one of these girls can make it big and appear in further swimsuit issues. I'll be sure to buy copies, just to check.
Evan is a Web Designer and Corporate Training Specialist by day, and a Reality TV junky, author, and movie reviewer by night.
You can write to Evan at RealEvan@RealityTVCalendar.com
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