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PH’s Stephanie Retuya is Runner Up in Asia’s Next Top Model

Despite hitting bottom two a record 5 times before making it to the final three, Stephanie Retuya of the Philippines finished strong and almost won the first ever "Asia's Next Top Model" title.

AsiaStephanie

On the final episode of “Asia’s Next Top Model,” Stephanie Retuya stood out in the commercial-for-a-digicam-brand challenge. She nailed the final runway show (2nd to Thailand’s Jessica who owned the challenge) but fumbled in her photo shoot for Harper’s Bazaar Singapore.

During the judges’ deliberation, somehow it was made clear that the title was between Stephanie of the Philippines and Jessica from Thailand and that Kate from Taiwan is a lock for 3rd.

Host Nadya Hutagalung remarked about the beauty of the Filipina’s face. Tyra Banks, on the other hand, compared Jessica for being a model verb, and Stephanie for being a model noun. Banks also defended Stephanie from negative remarks by judge Todd Anthony and felt like she’s rooting for the Pinay model to win by questioning Jessica’s age (27) as a bit late in starting her modelling career.

However, Jessica performed consistently throughout the competition. In fact, she was the only contestant in this season to have never been in the bottom two, that’s why Jessica was named the first ever “Asia’s Next Top Model” winner.

Nevertheless, it’s almost a sweet victory for Stephanie Retuya considering the fact that she made the Top Model franchise record for being the finalist who have hit bottom two the most (5 times). She reminds me of Janine Tugonon who had the best Q&A in Miss Universe 2012 but ended up 1st runner up because her gown was deemed worst.

Here’s Stephanie’s TVC for Canon:

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