Nicole Linkletter (born February 27, 1985) is the winner of Cycle 5. Linkletter is one of the most successful winners to come out of America's Next Top Model along with fellow models Dani Evans and Jaslene Gonzalez.
Early life
Linkletter graduated from Grand Forks Red River High School in 2003, and attended the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks and St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minnesota as a marketing major. She had previously worked at Victoria's Secret and Target Corporation stores.
America's Next Top Model
Linkletter appeared in Cycle 5 of the show after auditioning for the show at the Mall of America. She became close to fellow contestants Ebony Taylor and Kim Stoltz. During the finale fashion runway show for Gharani Strok, Linkletter's strong runway walk demonstrated how much she had improved throughout the competition. In the final judging, the judges selected Linkletter over the runner-up Nik Pace due to high fashion appeal. Nicole's win made her the youngest winner in the history of the show at the age of 19 years and 9 months. She had one first call-out but won no challenge.
Modeling career
In August 2006, Linkletter left her original agency FORD models, and signed with Elite Model Management. She also signed with the international model scouting company ModelScouts.com who then signed Nicole to Diva Models in Singapore, Dream Models in Hong Kong and Agence Presse in Tokyo.
She has appeared in ELLE Magazine (April 2006) for a couture spread shot in Paris. This spread was ELLE's spring 2006 couture spread for which Linkletter was selected by photographer Gilles Bensimon. In addition to this, she has appeared on the covers of ELLEgirl Magazine (February 2006), Women's Health and Fitness Magazine (Mar 2006), Lemonade Magazine (April 2006), LeMonDe Magazine (Apr 2006) and Vanidades Magazine (July 2006).
Linkletter has modeled for CoverGirl cosmetics and eyewear, Ford Fusion, Secret Deodorant, Vigoss jeans, Yank Clothing , Sele Clothing, Milk Boutique, Trovata,ELLE Magazine, ELLEgirl Magazine, People Magazine, Stella McCartney, Adidas, Jewel magazine, V Magazine, US Weekly Magazine, Lemonade Magazine, Women's Health and Fitness Magazine, Zink Magazine, Girlfriend Magazine, Celebrity Living Magazine, Golf For Women Magazine,Cosmopolitan magazine, Grand Forks Herald, In Touch Weekly Magazine and Vanidades Magazine.
Her runway shows include: Gharani Strok Fashion show , Alice and Olivia (Fall 2006), Fashion for Life Benefit Show 2006, The Society of Young Philanthropists Gala/Fashion Show 2006, Bebe (Spring 2007), Rozae Nichols Spring 07, Juan Carlos Obando Spring 07, and Italian Trade Commission Spring 2007 for Grimaldi Giardina Spring 2007.
Television appearances
Linkletter was a finals judge at the Miss USA 2006 pageant. Linkletter's television credits also includes numerous appearances on The Tyra Banks Show. Linkletter was a guest on the internet talk show Covergirl's Talk Model and had weekly "My Life as a Covergirl" segments which ran during cycle 6 of America's Next Top Model. She has also hosted a series of segments for VH1, in which she reported on Fashion Week. Linkletter has also modeled for the E! Pre-Oscar show and has appeared on E! news modeling summer shorts from Alice & Olivia. She has even starred in a commercial for Play Station Portable.