This week’s episode of ANTM shocked the nation with a dreaded double elimination. There were cries of outrage on the Facebook page — “100% disagree with these two being eliminated. What. the. hell?” wrote one disgruntled viewer, while another questioned whether the judges were on crack this season.
We caught up with April who broke both her wrists snowboarding, and Brooke who waxed lyrical on missing her spouse.
APRIL
What we the most challenging part of the ANTM experience for you?
Being away from friends and family, and being chucked in a house full of all of these girls from really different places. They all knew everything about fashion, and they were all very girly, whereas I come from the southern end of the Gold Coast where it’s all about boardies and thongs. I barely even knew how to use make-up.
Who do you think will win?
When I left I thought maybe Maddie had a really good chance of winning. She’s just got such a gorgeous look, and she’s got the high fashion and commercial side. She’s just such a beautiful person inside and out. Shanali also has just about everything down pat as well.
Who was your favourite judge?
Didier was my favourite judge because, a few times behind-the-scenes, when I was struggling he talked me through my problems. Obviously he’s been on a TV show before so he knows how tough it is. He would say, “April, you’ve got this,” and he was just really supportive. He’s a really cool guy. He’s the one that you feel comfortable in going up to talk to whereas the others are ‘the famous people’.
What about your least favourite judge?
Alex would probably be my least favourite judge. He’s very, very tough. But I mean you’ve got to have a really tough judge so he plays his part well. He’s just very hard to please.
What have you learnt from the experience — either about yourself, other people, or the industry?
The industry is really tough and I’ve always known that, but about myself I never realised how shy I was until I was put on a reality TV show. I’m quite outgoing around my friends and family, but when you’re chucked into a room of really outgoing girls you just realise how quiet you actually are, so that was a big surprise. I thought I was one of the louder ones until it came to air! It just made me realise how different modeling is when you’re put under such circumstances.
And what about doing interviews like this — it must be a new thing too, maybe a little daunting?
I recently did a radio interview in Perth which was really fun, and just the interviews for the show. I think about what I say too much, and I think I talk quite slowly.
That’s only a good thing, though.
Thanks.
Who in the house had the most annoying habits?
I don’t know about habits, but at times it was a bit difficult to live in the same room as Ashley. She’s very… it’s her way all the time. If everything isn’t her way all the time you’ll know about it, so I guess that was interesting.
Do you think you could ever live in a massive share house again with so many other people?
Oh, yeah, definitely. It was a huge house so we did actually have a lot of room to ourselves but it was just when someone wanted to sleep and the other ones didn’t… That was kind of difficult when you’ve got a shoot at 5am in the morning. It’s kind of like, “come on, guys, I really want to sleep.”
Who is your dream designer to work with?
Well, it’s not really a designer, but David Jones. It’s every girls dream to do something for them. That would be the ultimate — everyone wants a campaign with them.
What plans do you have now that the competition’s over?
I’m going to come back to Sydney soon and see all the agencies so that I can really use the advantage that I’ve gotten to expand my modeling. Right now I’m kind of stuck [April holds up both of her arms which are in casts].
You poor thing! What happened?
I went snowboarding and broke both my wrists because I’m so clever.
That must’ve hurt a lot.
Yeah, the left one hurt a lot because it’s weaker and I fell on both of them but in a couple of days they’ll be off and I’ll be back into my normal routine of excercising and doing things.
BROOKE
What did you find most challenging about being on ANTM?
The fact that you can’t see or speak to your family whenever you want. There’s certain days and times when you can call your family, just to say hi, but even then it’s not personal because there’s cameras there watching you. That was the most difficult part; not being able to speak to your loved ones.
Who do you think will win the competition?
It’s so hard to say because it changes every week, but right from the start — and I’ve said this throughout the whole thing — I think Abbie has great potential. She’s got the body of a model, and such an amazing personality to go with it. A massive part of being a model is having a personality that people can relate to and connect with, so I think she has a good chance of winning.
That’s the thing about the modeling industry now. It’s no longer just about beautiful photos, it’s also about a whole persona, and the model’s personality has turned into a marketable commodity.
Exactly. You have to be a likable, genuine person. The girl who is bitchy or hard to work with will not get booked over the person who is down-to-earth and has a happy and bubbly personality.
Who was your favourite judge?
Didier. I find him really relatable. Everything that he said is because has gone through himself. Obviously he’s a big time model now, but he’s been in our position and has had to work hard to get to where he is now so I really listened to what he had to say.
What about your least favourite?
I don’t have a least favourite… Alex Perry is frightening, though. Every week you want to impress all the judges, but I think for me, I really wanted to impress Alex Perry. He’s so big on high fashion editorial models, and my challenge throughout the whole season was that I was commercial so I really wanted to impress him and for him to see me as more than a commercial model.
Now after the show do you want to pursue modeling?
Obviously I was eliminated, but I’ve been working. I was doing commercial stuff before the show and I just flew in from Cairns yesterday so I’ve already started working again so I hope to continue and really push it. I want to branch out from commercial work and see if I can get some high fashion editorial stuff too.
What’s the biggest thing that you’ve learnt from the ANTM experience?
You learn a lot. You’re so far away from anything that is remotely comfortable. You’re in a house with 14 girls that you don’t know, going to places that you’ve never been. I think I learnt that you’ve really just got to be yourself. I went into the competition with an attitude that I wasn’t going to pretend to be something that I’m not, that I didn’t want to be portrayed as a bad person or a bitch so I was just completely myself. I left the competition happy that I was being exactly that.
Which have the models have the most annoying habits when you were all living together?
I don’t like bitching! I don’t like these questions!
Okay, okay, fine! Who did you get on particularly well with then?
I think with such a big group of girls there’s going to be people that you get along with more than others. My best friend in the house, and also my ‘wife’, was Dajana. We clicked literally from the moment we first saw each other at boot camp. So right from day one we were best friends. We were just so, so close. She was that one person in the house that I could always rely on, and even though I’d just met her, she’d make me feel like home again when I missed my family. We were just really, really close. Abbie, Taylor, Duckie… I got along with them all really well. Even though I’m a little bit older than all the girls I really connected with a few of them really well and made some close friends which is also a really good outcome from being on the show.
Cute. Who is your dream designer to model for?
I think every girls dream is to work for Chanel or Versace or something like that, so I’m going to say Chanel.
Pour one out for their fallen homies Taylor, Chanique and Rhiannon here, here and here.
Australia’s Next Top Model airs exclusively on Fox8 at 7:30pm on Tuesdays.
