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Thursday, March 28, 2024

'Next Top Model' tryouts to come to Gainesville for the first time

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America's Next Top Model, the popular modeling reality show hosted by Tyra Banks, is searching for up-and-coming models for its next round of competition.

Since 2003, ANTM has been turning ordinary women into cover girls and runway stars. This is the 11th cycle, or season, for the show.

Gainesville is the second stop in the casting-call tour, which started Wednesday in Maumee, Ohio, and ends March 29 in Los Angeles, Calif. ANTM has never held a casting call in Gainesville until this year.

"This year is special for us," said Chuck Ellis, promotion director for the Gainesville CW, the network that airs the show.

The network held open casting calls for another popular show, "Beauty and the Geek," last semester.

The open call is a chance for local models to have a package, containing professional pictures and video, sent to the show's casting directors in Los Angeles.

He said he expects about 100 girls to show up at Jay's Prom for the casting call, held between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Only the first 75 girls will be selected.

Many of the show's contestants and some winners have been from small towns, including cycle seven winner CariDee English from Fargo, N.D., and cycle nine contestant Kimberly Leemans from Ocala.

Ellis said though ANTM is not specifically looking for small-town girls, these casting calls give models a chance to show off their "it" factor just like the girls from the big cities.

"You either have it or you don't," he said.

Leemans, whose cycle began airing in September, said the show has gotten her noticed, but not by the people important to her career.

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"The whole reason I went on the show was to get my name out there," she said. "But a lot of agencies think the show is crap."

She described the casting process as a long series of auditions with hundreds of girls in mini-skirts and bikinis lining up, performing runway walks in groups and slowly being eliminated.

"It's a lot of whittling and 'don't call us we'll call you,'" she said.

She now lives in New York and is searching for a modeling contract.

Though she doesn't regret doing the show, she said she wouldn't do it again.

All this information has not distracted Madison-native Jessica Nixon from traveling to Gainesville and missing two days of work in order to attend the casting call.

"I've always had a longing to do it," Nixon said.

Each model is required to complete an extensive application, which includes basic questions about height and weight but also questions about family relations and personality.

"A lot of the show happens when they're not on the runway," she said. "We're also trying to present an entertaining show."

Nixon and Leemans both understand this.

Nixon said the different personalities make the house more dynamic.

"They want to focus on the drama," Leemans said.

Still, Nixon thinks her humility and colorful personality will help her stand out in a crowd of girls.

"You have to be grounded," she said. "Nobody wants somebody who's really pompous."

Though apprehensive about what to wear and how to fix her hair, Nixon said she's very excited about attending the casting call and will be at Jay's Prom "bright and early."

Still, Leemans offers her best advice for girls in a similar position as the one she was in not too long ago.

"Make sure you know what you're getting yourself into," she said.

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