When Canada’s Next Top Model host Jay Manuel greeted 20 women in Toronto on the show’s third season premiere last night, the model wannabes knew there must be more people present than positions on the show.
Manuel called nine women to stand beside him, causing those remaining to quiver. But they were really being duped. The women he called were already real models — his joking way of welcoming the competitors while still inciting a little bit of fear.
It was also when the fun and games stopped.
The new batch of models-in-training were thrown right into their first competition — a photo shoot with photographer Nigel Barker, also a judge on America’s Next Top Model. The girls posed in wild 1980s fashions alongside complementing wild animals. But the shoot was too savage for Penticton, B.C.,’s Alexandra McCallum, who dropped out early due to sustained hip pain from a recent auto accident.
The shoot’s fierce flavour was also an unlucky introduction for 23-yeard-old Tiffany MacDonald of Toronto, criticized by the judges for her shyness and lack of projected confidence. Unable to deliver the demeanour sought by the judges, she was the first to be sent home.
“Obviously you don’t want to be the first one kicked off,” said MacDonald. “I felt maybe the judges misunderstood my presence there — that they questioned how bad I wanted it … I definitely wanted it bad enough.”
MacDonald said she was surprised a judging even took place that week, given McCallum’s premature departure. And given a free pass to stick around, she said she would have conformed to the criticism she received. “I know I would have rocked the next photo shoot. I’ve never had any type of modeling experience before, so I would have taken all criticism and just rolled with it.”
One point of contention she couldn’t control was her then eight-month-old son she left at home to pursue the Top Model title, which judge Jeanne Beker raised as a concern.
“Yes, I’m a mom. So what?” MacDonald said. “I don’t think it was a fair judgment to hold against me.”
But MacDonald holds no grudges. She’ll continue to pursue modeling, she said, and left the show regret-free. “I definitely took away friendship, criticism that I could definitely apply in my daily life and an experience of a lifetime — something I will never regret, no matter how it panned out for me.”
