Michelle, a student from Anaheim, CA, was the ninth girl eliminated during the seventh cycle of The CW′s hit dramality series AMERICA′S NEXT TOP MODEL last Wednesday, reducing the pool from 5 girls to 4.
Tyra surprised the girls with an intimate talk about the harsh realities of the modeling industry, noting it to be one of the most difficult industries because it is very difficult to improve on your product. Tyra expressed why the judges were tough on them, explaining that after the competition was over, she wanted the girls to be strong enough to handle anything and everything that came their way.
The next day, the girls met with Pancho Saula, the agency director of Elite Barcelona, who arranged 10 designers to meet them at "Go Sees." The girls were given a strict deadline to complete their "Go Sees" in which they were evaluated on a point system based on their personal appearance, runway walk, overall personality and portfolio. "I′ve never had this dream of always wanting to be a model," Michelle said. "I want it, but I don′t know if I have it." Later, Michelle was disqualified from the challenge for not arriving back in time.
The following day, Jay Manuel met with the girls at Monumental, one of the last remaining active bull fighting arenas in Spain for a photo shoot with Nigel Barker, in which they were to pose with a live bull. Michelle impressed both Nigel and Jay by being very natural and using her fear to look like a model. Once again, Michelle′s pessimism was a problem. "I never ever in my life envisioned myself being this close to becoming AMERICA′S NEXT TOP MODEL," she said. "I want it, but don′t know if I have it."
During the judging, each girl was asked to tell the judges, one at a time, who has the most potential and who has the least potential to become AMERICA′S NEXT TOP MODEL. While most of the girls chose themselves as the one with the most potential, Michelle noted that she was sometimes the weakest because she doesn't know exactly what she wants and she doesn't have the same energy and passion as the other girls. The judges agreed that while Michelle has the natural talent, she didn′t have the passion. "In this competition, passion is way more important than beautiful pictures," Tyra said before eliminating her from the race to become AMERICA′S NEXT TOP MODEL.
In addition to a $100,000 contract with cosmetics giant CoverGirl, this year′s prize package for the winner of The CW′s AMERICA′S NEXT TOP MODEL will include a contract with Elite Model Management and a cover and six-page fashion spread in Seventeen magazine.
