America’s Next Top Model Excusive Interview- Mikaela

Experience Did Not Help

By Belinda Trotter-James

Mikaela is the 8^th girl to leave the competition unwillingly.  This 21 year old, 5’9” beauty from Boca Raton, Florida was living her life chasing the dream of becoming a model and doing amateur modeling stuff before auditioning for Top Model.  “I was with Wilhelmina”, starts Mikaela.  “I did a lot of print, runway and editorial work.  Then I cancelled my contract with Wilhelmina to go out on my own.”

Note to Readers:  Wait a cotton pickin’ minute.  No one leaves Wilhelmina modeling agency to go out on your own.  They are one of the top agencies for models.  She probably left because they were not getting her enough work.  Maybe her experience was not on the level the agency needed it to be.  Even Tyra said that probably the reason she auditioned for Top Model was because things were not happening like she thought.  Okay…. Let’s continue…

If you follow Top Model you know that there are some crazy photo shoot challenges that are very artistic.  This allows the models to show a range of emotions and body poses.  Mikaela did not seem to know what to do.  “A lot of the shoots were not challenging”, explains Mikaela.  I was getting very good feedback from Mr. Jay.  I was giving it my all every week but, at panel the photos were not good.”  The judges kept telling Mikaela that her eyes were not intense enough.  “I kept hearing that comment from week to week and that was so frustrating to me,” says Mikaela.  “I don’t know what I was doing wrong.  I was never able to cross that bridge.”

The nail on the coffin was when Mikaela had to pretend to be a crazy person obsessed over sales.  What woman can’t relate to that?  It’s why we live and breathe.  “I kept trying to find something tangible to do.  I didn’t know if I should go through the bags… I don’t know what happened.  The set was so overwhelming,” remembers Mikaela.   Overwhelming?!  She’s an experienced model. (Well, that’s what she told us.)  Now I don’t understand.  Mikaela explained, “It was pretty upsetting being in the bottom two.  I thought I was giving it my all; it was so much to deal with”.  Hmmm...  I still don’t get how an experience model was overwhelmed by the set, people, lights, the girls, stress, too many instructions…. AAAuuuuuggghhhhh!  Yup, we know how you feel.

I recommended that maybe a few acting lesson will help with trying to get into character on a photo shoot and she said… “I’ve had drama classes, done commercials and I’m a film director.  The most frustrating thing I had to do on the show was the coffee commercial.  I thought I was doing good.  Mr. Jay said I did good, but at panel the commercial was not so good.

Hmmm… Let me get this straight. She’s a film director who has done commercials and taken drama classes but she is now the 7^th girl eliminated from Top Model… Really?!  Okay, let’s move on to another subject…

In the house it seems as though everybody hates Alexandria.  Why?  “I don’t participate in drama”, confessed Mikaela.  “I wanted to learn and to work; not be involved in drama.  Every time they would start, I would just leave.  I’m not going to be in the same room with them.”

This cycle was the year of the long hair.  Mikaela never had a weave before and loved her new look.  “I had a weave in the beginning of the show and towards the end it disappeared. I don’t know if you noticed,” reveals Mikaela. “I had to have it removed because I got a rash. It was not a good thing having the weave.”  Sheesh!  This is the first cycle where more than one girl experienced a bad weave.  They must have found those stylists at Weaves R Us discount center.  I would hope after 16 cycles that Top Model has a big enough budget to hire the best hair weavers.  Unbeweavable!

Miss Jay did not teach them much about walking.  The girls only had a session with Ms. Jay the day of the runway challenge. Mikaela said they had to pretty much learn on their own.  This competition is supposed to be about diamonds in the rough.  How do you turn a girl into a diamond/super model if you don’t spend time showing them exactly what to do or how to do it?  Whatever “it” is.

Mikaela will continue to pursue a modeling career and will be moving to New York in the summer.  “I got a lot of offers because of the show”, began Mikaela.  “So, I’m going through them to see which ones I will take.”    Let’s hope she does better for the clients than she did on the show.  Her advice to the next group of girls is to have thick skin.  “You’ve got to be able to take the criticism.  Doors will close in your face, but don’t take what people say too seriously.  This has been a great experience.”
 

 Photos courtesy of the CW11