India Gants emerged victorious as the winner of cycle 23 of America’s Next Top Model — but who is she and what’s her story?
The 20-year-old, from Seattle, Washington, fought off competition from Cory Anne Roberts and Tatiana Price in the final to claim the ultimate crown — judged by Tyra Banks, Rita Ora, Ashley Graham, Law Roach and Drew Elliott.
The violet-haired beauty was working in marketing and promotions for a local radio station in Seattle before she decided to take part in ANTM.
The victory sees her win a $100,000 deal with Rimmel London, a one-year talent contract with VH1, and a fashion spread in Paper magazine.
She also used to work as a bridal consultant at a bridal salon. On her Instagram — which thanks to ANTM now sees her with more than 105,000 followers — she describes herself as a “Model. Marksman. Music Enthusiast.” She has also added the slogan: “In front of the lens, behind the sights.”
India is also pretty active on Twitter, where she has more than 7,000 followers.
Many fans have said she shares a striking resemblance to Gigi Hadid, and India says she has looked up for inspiration. She told People: “This is cheesy because everyone says we look alike, but I really do admire Gigi Hadid’s career path because she can do the commercial stuff, she can do the high fashion stuff. And initially, she broke into the industry as someone who’s not typical model skinny.”
But Gigi Hadid isn’t the only person that India would be able to impersonate — she also did an uncanny Katy Perry effort while appearing on ANTM.
And after appearing on the show she’s now no stranger to hanging out with A-listers, after spending lots of time with Rita Ora and also posing with Jason Derulo on a private jet on one of the episodes.
India started modelling when she was 16 after a friend told her she had the right looks, and says she never really considered it before after wearing “dorky” glasses when she was a kid.
She went to Newport High School in Bellevue, Washington, and on ANTM also revealed that attending a private Catholic school had left her nervous about posing without her clothes on.
She said: “I always said I would never pose nude.” But she added: “I was covered in pearls, so technically I wasn’t nude mom!”
And she’s also still a bit of a kid at heart — as was evidenced by her excitement as she and Courtney visited Universal Orlando earlier in the season.
She says her body shape always meant she thought she would never be able to properly make it. But before she was on ANTM she had already started making some headway in her her career, modelling for the Seattle Models Guild (SMG) and Major Model Management in Milan, Italy, among other agencies, as well as in Greece, Turkey, Singapore and Los Angeles.
And bad news, guys! She told People she already has a boyfriend — who’s a businessman — back home in Seattle.
India now plans to spend a lot more time in New York City and really get into modelling to push her career as far as it will go.
One things for certain — you’re going to be seeing a lot more of her!