Nicole is first to have her one-on-one connection. Tyra asks how it feels to get this far. Nicole says that it's amazing, being 5'7", to be given a chance. Tyra notes that Nicole has a very quirky, different personality, and asks Nicole about being different in school. I actually feel that multiple seasons of The Tyra Banks Show have made Tyra a worse interviewer. Go figure. Anyhoo, Nicole says that she feels very awkward and isolated. She'll meet new people and want to be friends, but has no idea what to say. Nicole then says the saddest thing, which is that she has sat in a bathroom stall to eat her lunch so nobody would see her eating alone. That can't be sanitary. We get a glimpse of video of Nicole surrounded by her artwork, and there are some pretty good self-portraits. I hope she uses that Cover Girl money to go to art school. Tyra asks Nicole if she's ready to work it. Nicole is ready to work it, model H2T, and smize with her eyes. That last bit is redundant, like saying, "Smile with your eyes with your eyes." Or maybe smizing defies the laws of grammar. Nicole interviews that she has led a pretty sheltered life, and felt like she was losing herself when she first left her family. But she's learned a lot, and wants to keep going.

Then it's Laura's turn on the couch with Tyra. Tyra asks her what it means for her to get this far. Laura says that she's from a small town, and has heard her whole life that people from small towns aren't models. She says, "I guess they think [models] come from outer space or something." Tyra laughs a bit too hard and sends an emergency signal to her home planet. Laura has been constantly told that she's too short to model, but being in this competition makes it all feel more real to her. And being in the top two makes it feel really real. Tyra notes that Grandma Wanda Sue, who makes a lot of Laura's more hideous clothes, has a lot to do with Laura getting this far in the competition. Tyra asks what Grandma Wanda Sue would think about all this. Laura starts to cry and says she got a letter from Grandma Wanda Sue saying that she was so proud of Laura for making it farther than anybody in her family. Again with the sadness! I feel like Laura lives in an actual 1920's dustbowl. Life has been difficult for Laura with her dyslexia, and even teachers told her she was stupid. They would pass her just because they thought she was a hopeless cause. But to be in college and to be on America's Next Top Model is huge. Laura says that her grandma has always supported her, and is her best friend. Tyra tells Laura that her smile lights up a room, and that she's equally beautiful on the inside and the outside. Laura interviews that it's very important for her to win the competition, because she has a lot riding on it. Her siblings rely on her a lot, and Laura hopes and prays that she can pull it out.