  Rebecca Hardy reacts after the announcement that she has become Canada's Next Top Model. (Stan Behal/Sun Media)
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Tears were flowing before final judging even began.
Vancouver-born Rebecca Hardy, 22, who grew up in Mannheim, a town of about 1,200 near Waterloo, couldn't hold her emotions last night as she and fellow semi-finalist Sinead Brady, 18, of Chatham, offered some final words to judges.
When host Jay Manuel announced Hardy as Canada's Next Top Model victor on the reality show made here, her eyes gushed and her slender body shook with emotion.
"I'm finally where I know I want to be," she said in a voice-over at the end of this season's hit show on CITY-TV.
Hardy, a 'blender' at Schneider Meats in Kitchener, wants to go to New York to continue modeling and travel, she said in an interview.
"This is my dream."
Starting in May with 20 contestants, aged 18 to 25, only four of the 10 finalists remained yesterday: Tara-Marie Winspur, 20, of Calgary, Tia Ayrton-Hill, 19, of Montreal, Brady and Hardy.
Living together here, they had makeovers, learned dancing, how to strut on runways and were coached on the fashion industry to determine if they could survive in the often cutthroat world.
They learned new things, but in an interview, Hardy said stripping for intimate photos with naked guy models, was "a little bit different."
She now gets contracts worth over $100,000 and a feature in Fashion magazine.
"I won't let you down, I promise," Hardy said while hugging Manuel and judges, photographer Paul Alexander, media fashion commentator Jeanne Beker and supermodel Yasmin Warsame.
The producers increased their efforts this year, since "the series has had trouble in the past gaining credibility in the fashion industry, Beker said at a reception. "Rebecca Hardy ... has what it takes."
Creative director Nole Marin called the contestants "really strong, modern beauties who had the potential for modeling," but admitted Hardy was "one of my favourites from the beginning."
Reports of tension, backstabbing and tears were mostly exaggerated, Hardy said, including outcast Corrine "Cori" Mackinnon, 18, of Val Caron, Ont., nearly showing the redhead's boyfriend photos of her smooching with a visiting hockey player.
