Doe Deere Blogazine

My sister writes about her experience auditioning for America’s Next Top Model.

by Kat

“All women want to be beautiful,” reveals designer Valentino. Females in all stages of their lives and careers want to be thought attractive by other people, and the ultimate test to that is becoming a model. Girls want to be recognized for their breath-taking, unique, impossible beauty – in fact, modeling & acting might just be the single most popular dream careers (32% of girls dream of modeling, 29% of acting, according to this study).

TV shows like America’s Next Top Model give us that opportunity. When I heard they were casting girls under 5’7” for it’s 13th Cycle, I decided to audition immediately. Being 4’11″ and photogenic, I thought I would be a great candidate. I figured my height would make me stand out and I could represent all the cute “shorties” out there.

Try-outs were held at the Park Central Hotel in Manhattan. ANTM 13 may have attracted more hopefuls than any other reality show yet – it felt like half the Tri-State area of the appropriate age congregated in one place! I arrived at 10:30 am, to find the line wrapping around all 4 sides of the block. The sidewalk was packed with girls of all heights, wearing outrageous outfits, crazy make-up and hair, and even a few boys! I heard one girl telling the cameras she’d been camping out by the hotel entrance for the past 2 nights; another woman (of the towering 6’0” height) drove for 8 hours from Virginia to be here. Girls you’d expect to make it were clutching their portfolio books, shivering in light coats and complaining of foot pain from high heels. At one point, the sheer concentration of gorgeous people was almost too painful for one’s eyes to handle.

And yet the line was moving excruciatingly slowly. I gave up around 2 pm (auditions were officially ending at 3 and there was no way I was getting in), but many girls stayed – if only to be seen and immediately rejected by the rigid audition which only selects 12 contestants nation-wide. I later found out from the news that the crowd became desperate, began to push and run every time the guards would let a small group inside. A bomb scare caused a riot to break out; three people were arrested and six injured. The auditions had to be shut down by the police and all hopefuls were sent home disappointed.

Knowing all this, something drove me to wake up at 6 in the morning last Saturday and go to the second audition. Expecting a similar turnout as in the first, I was pleasantly surprised by the infinitely improved organization, many more cops, and a number of new rules in place (no camping out over night, no cutting in line, only women 18-27 allowed in the area). The girls were smarter this time – dressed warm, in flats, with heels in their purses and fresh faces. The line was not even half a block long – due to the ungodly hour or because only the very dedicated made it out this time.

I didn’t make it to the first round. Neither did anyone under 5’5” for that matter (at least not in my group). ANTM was most likely looking for the tallest among the under 5’7” range, looking for girls still suitable for runway. Devon Aoki and Kate Moss are the shortest known top models – 5’5” and 5’6” respectively. Perhaps ANTM was not ready to push the boundaries just yet.

What would I have done if I got in? Being on the show would have required some serious life (read: work) changes. Although I was slightly disappointed, I was much more relieved I didn’t get in in the end.

Deerlings: if you were offered a major modeling contract, would you drop everything to take it?