"Kat"-ty Top Model Reject Calls the Competition "Clueless"

Tyra Banks cut Katarzyna Dolinska from America's Next Top Model (Wednesdays at 8 pm/ET, the CW) because she wasn't Miss Personality. And when TVGuide.com caught up with the 22-year-old New Yorker…well, she wasn't quite as vivacious as she is photogenic. But she did seem bright and pleasant enough. And her candid comments about her rivals definitely made the call worth the quarter.

TVGuide.com: Did Miss Tyra ever learn the correct pronunciation of your name?
Katarzyna Dolinska: [Laughs] I don't remember, which means if she did, it was very rare. It's alright. It's an unusual name to remember how to say. But I guess after that number of times, you would hope that they'd get it!

TVGuide.com: Were you surprised when the panel kept plus-sized Whitney instead of you?
Katarzyna: Sort of. Whitney had been in the bottom two a few times before, which means [she'd been among] the worst every single week. You think they would figure out that if that person is the worst every single week, they would get cut eventually! That was my first time in the bottom two, so I should have had another chance since Whitney had already had so many chances to get out of the bottom two.

TVguide.com: As you were exiting, you said you didn't feel like the judges ever got to know your personality. So tell me something that makes you stand out from the crowd.
Katarzyna: I have a lot of fun with my friends. For example, during the show, Marvita and I became close friends. Sometimes we'd sleep together! But they never show that on the show. In the post-show interviews, many of the girls said that I was funny or that they really liked me, but on the show, you didn't get to see any of that.

TVGuide.com: There doesn't seem to be much room for humor in front of the firing squad.
Katarzyna: No kidding! No humor during panel! It's not so funny when they're making fun of you and they are criticizing you.

TVGuide.com: It's got to be hard when Paulina Porizkova is saying, "No, do your eyes like this!"
Katarzyna: I was just happy that I got rid of [what she called] my "Eastern European tackiness." That was very exciting.

TVGuide.com: Did she make you sorry that you weren't on during a Twiggy season?
Katarzyna: Yeah, she did. [Laughs] I'm not afraid of criticism. If it's constructive, it's good. But sometimes, Paulina would say things to me that were a little mean about Poland. One time, Dominique wore something that Paulina didn't like, and she said, "You look like you're strolling around at a shopping mall in Warsaw." She just made negative remarks like that that I didn't think were necessary.

TVGuide.com: And you didn't crack at all?
Katarzyna: I guess that they wanted to see me crack, because I didn't really show a lot of responsiveness. I think that's where the whole no-personality thing came in.

TVGuide.com: Is personality important in a model?
Katarzyna: Yes and no. I feel like America never gets to hear a model speak, except in a commercial, and then it's scripted. So I feel like you never really know what a model is like. But designers, when they hire girls, they look for girls that do have something special.

TVGuide.com: Do you think Dominique really has a shot at the title?
Katarzyna: When you see Dominique do her poses, she's actually pretty good. She's much better than Fatima, who is clueless! And better than Whitney as well. Dominique knows what she's doing. She has talent. She just doesn't necessarily have the youthful look that's big with models right now.

TVGuide.com: Is there a girl that you're rooting for?
Katarzyna: Anya, definitely. Dominique has her moments of being kind of into herself, but I think she has a good heart. But Whitney and Fatima are very mean-spirited. But Anya is sincerely a sweetheart. I don't think there's any double face.

TVGuide.com: What are you doing now? Are you back at your desk working in finance and thinking about heading to New York?
Katarzyna: No. I thought about doing that, but after the show and being exposed to so much creativity, I just couldn't see myself doing anything that wasn't like that. I'm young, and I want to make something of this experience! I'm going to try and model and see what happens — see what doors this might open.

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