Good girl gone brat on 'America's Next Top Model'
TELEVISION | Spring Grove's 'Top Model' hopeful earns 'modzilla' label through scandals and scheming
Now that "America's Next Top Model" is in its 13th cycle, there are only so many ways to keep the concept fresh. Making the girls pose as circus animals? Done. Including a transgendered beauty named Isis? Done. Shaving the models' heads? Done to death.
So this time around, Tyra Banks lowered her standards. Literally. Only candidates 5-foot-7 and shorter were allowed to audition, whereas most runway models are 5-foot-10 or statuesque-er. It gave 5-foot-6 Erin Wagner of Spring Grove the chance to try for a career as a petite model. And now that the competition is down to just four girls, Erin is emerging as the closest thing to a villain the producers can come up with.
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Erin Wagner on 'America's Top Model'
"I know I came off as bratty, but it's reality TV so I've accepted my edit," Erin says. "Everyone watching should just keep in mind, what you see is not necessarily what you get."
The accused "modzilla" clarifies some of her more scandalous moments.
"The pushing was entirely accidental," Erin says via e-mail. "All of us girls were running around that corner, full speed, and I ended up almost falling over, so on instinct I grabbed for the closest thing to me to avoid falling -- the closest thing ended up being Sundai." Sundai was the tiniest model. "I apologized to her immediately afterwards," Erin says. "As long as Sundai and I are on good terms, I could care less who makes a big deal about the situation."
"I would definitely keep Ashley's picture again, because that was strategy, and not malicious at all," Erin says.
When Erin won a challenge, she ended up not with thousands of dollars' worth of jewels or couture -- she got a helicopter ride. "A helicopter ride did not relate at all to the competition and did not give me a leg up in the modeling world," Erin says. "I think I was justified in feeling that way but should not have voiced my thoughts to the other girls."
Erin, 18, had never lived on her own before. But give her credit for letting Tyra bleach her eyebrows into oblivion without crying and for mastering Tyra's favorite technique: "smizing." (It means "smiling with your eyes.") She doubts that there are any real applications for smizing in real life, not even getting out of a parking ticket. "Even if I was smiling with my eyes, I would still be crying with the rest of my face," she reasons.
No one is smizing when they're voted out of the competition. But Erin is undaunted, either way.
"On the off chance I don't win, I will still pursue modeling," Erin says. "I think it would be easier for me than some of the other girls, since I live so close to Chicago and the city has a stable modeling industry." She also plans to major in liberal arts in college.
Will that acceptance have to be deferred? Find out at 7 tonight on WGN-Channel 9 whether Erin will continue on in the hopes of becoming America's ... Next ... Top Model.
But be forewarned: "I'm not one to take rejection lying down," she says.