Hell's Kitchen Chef Serves Up Some New Year's "Evil"
ben.katner
Top Model's Fatima Not Such a Haughty Hottie After All
I went into my interview with America's Next Top Model second runner-up Fatima Siad expecting to dislike her. A lot. Correct me if I'm wrong (and I know you will), but she came off beautiful on the outside, snotty as hell on the inside. It was as if she could only see her housemates at all if she was looking down on them. But lo and behold, when I spoke with her, she didn't seem nearly so obnoxious. Outspoken, yes, but I like that. She was waaaay more articulate than your average ANTM contestant, and what she had to say made a lot of sense. So, while she isn't necessarily ever going to be a candidate for Miss Congeniality, she also isn't quite the snob she seemed to be. Read on — you're in for a surprise. Maybe two or three of 'em. TVGuide.com: Since Tyra and the judges bent over backwards to keep you even after you weren't able to participate in a photo shoot, were you s
Top Model Runner-Up to Scandalized Parents: Chillax!
Cynical as I am about America's Next Top Model, I have to admit that after speaking with this cycle's runner-up, Anya Kop, I think the show deserves props for casting her as the sweetheart. As far as I can tell, she's the real deal. She may be well-coached on what to say and what not to, but underneath her practiced replies, there seems to be a nice girl — dizzy, endearing and oddly huggable. But as always, you don't have to take my word for it. Below, you can judge for yourself as TVGuide.com grills her on everything from getting naked for "noted fashion photographer" Nigel Barker to losing the title to her bosom buddy. TVGuide.com: I know you and Whitney were very close, but do you really think she deserved to win over you? Anya Kop: Definitely. I think she's an amazing person, and if I was going to see someone other than myself win, it would be Whitney. She's a beautiful model, and sh
Plus-Size Top Model Winner Dishes out Food for Thought
Are we at last at the end of the era of stick figures on the catwalk? If America's Next Top Model winner Whitney Thompson has anything to say about it — and does she ever! — the answer is a resounding yes. But before the 20-year-old Floridian takes off to change the world, TVGuide.com rang her up to discuss what's really important: her bitchy housemates, Tyra Banks' mind games and that questionable Anna Nicole Smith makeover. So pour yourself a diet soda — no, a regular soda — and enjoy! TVGuide.com: After being in the bottom two four times, how shocked were you when you won this thing?Whitney Thompson: [Laughs] Did you see my face? Pretty shocked! I never really thought that I would make it as far as I did. You tell yourself every week that you’re going to, and then when it actually happens, you think, “What? Are you sure?” It’s s
Xanadu Muse Brings "Magic" to Disney Classics
Any way you slice it, today is a big day for Kerry Butler. By the time you read this, she should already know that she's been nominated for her overdue first Tony, for her starmaking turn in the stage adaptation of the ‘80s bomb Xanadu. (If she doesn't get the nod, then there is simply no justice in the world.) But, perhaps to ward off the jitters, the onetime Belle in Beauty and the Beast prefers to focus on the fact that May 13 also marks the release of Faith, Trust & Pixie Dust, her album of Disney cover songs. "It's hard not to get caught up in [Tony fever]," she admits to TVGuide.com. "But I don't think I'll even watch the nominations. "Back when there was a lot of talk that I'd get one for Hairspray, I watched them, and right after I found out I didn't get it, I had to go to a rehearsal and wound up fighting back tears the whole time," she continues. "Even recently, I found myself getting stressed out during Xanadu becaus
Top Model's Dominique Accepts the "Tranny" Label
They gave her what was probably the worst hairdo since Saleisha's Tootie cut. They picked on her clothes so mercilessly, a lesser woman might've taken a match to her closet. And, in the end, they decided she was too transvestite-looking to win America's Next Top Model (Wednesdays at 8 pm/ET, the CW). But no matter what Tyra Banks and her fellow judges said or did, indefatigable Dominique Reighard just kept plugging away, defying the odds and taking kickass pictures. She's so chill about the whole thing that we can't even hold it against her that she went weeks referring to herself in third person. Read on and see if you don't decide to let that go, too. TVGuide.com: I think the judges gave you a much harder time than anyone else this season.Dominique Reighard: I hate to say I agree, but I do! [Laughs] It's OK, though. When you sign up to be on a reality show or in this industry,
"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 th
Top Model's Lauren Stumbles Off Into the Sunset
Let's review, shall we? Pretty as she is, she posed like an action figure. She walked like she was wearing cement shoes. And she was about as likely to be chosen as a faux-perky CoverGirl as Courtney Love is to be cast as Pollyanna. Yet week after week, self-proclaimed "punk girl" Lauren Utter remained in the running on America's Next Top Model (Wednesdays at 8 pm/ET, the CW). How did she do it? Why did she do it? In the wake of the New York artist's elimination, TVGuide.com rang her up to find out. TVGuide.com: Given that the judges were basically on you every week, were you surprised when you finally were eliminated?Lauren Utter: I'm kind of hardcore, if you can't tell. [But their judgments were] completely different for me, because I'm not used to all the attention being on my looks. That was weird. But I had a feeling I wo
Top Model's Stacy-Ann Calls Elimination "Unfair!"
Being cut from America's Next Top Model (Wednesdays at 8 pm/ET, CW) hurts. But being cut so that the show can keep a contestant who didn't even participate in the photo challenge? That's off-the-charts painful! That's exactly what happened last week to perky Stacy-Ann Fequiere. Snottier-than-thou Fatima took a day off to get her travel papers in order and missed the jet-set shoot. But it was still Stacy-Ann who got the boot. What gives? To find out, TVGuide.com rang up the 22-year-old student at home in Miami.TVGuide.com: How did it feel to be beaten by "the invisible woman," Fatima?Stacy-Ann Fequiere: I was pissed and devastated at the same time. It was freezing cold, so I was really struggling, and Fatima didn't have to do it! Since she didn't have her paperwork, of course we had been sympathizing with her. But then she had to take time out to do her own thing, and that s
Top Model Castoff Claire: Don't Blame Me, I Was Drunk!
For weeks, I'd thought of America's Next Top Model (Wednesday at 8 pm/ET, the CW) knockout Claire Unabia not only as the one to beat, but also as a pretty hip chick, a poised earth-mother type who even managed to rock a Susan Powter hairdon't. And since she kept winning CoverGirl of the Week, it seemed that you guys were right there with me. But then came her out-of-nowhere refusal to let shy Aimee shower in private, followed by her tit-for-tat retaliation against obnoxious Dominique. What the...!? Needless to say, when TVGuide.com rang up the 24-year-old, that was exactly the question we couldn't wait to ask! TVGuide.com: Given the fact that you hadn't taken a bad picture, were you surprised that the judges instead kept Lauren?Claire Unabia: I wasn't because she'd had such good pictures, and the panel really loves her. Though the possibility
Top Model Good Girl Wright: I Would've Stripped!
It happens every cycle. An innocent girl signs up for America's Next Top Model as if she's never seen the show and has no idea she'll be asked to pose in the buff, much less share a bathroom with a dozen catty girls. This go-round, that naïf was 18-year-old Aimee Wright. Or was it? Turns out the former Mormon from Washington isn't as clueless as she may have seemed. Read on and decide for yourself as she reveals how far she was willing to go to win the title.TVGuide.com: How shocked were you to be eliminated?Aimee Wright: I was definitely surprised. I didn't think my picture was bad enough to get me eliminated! Possibly the bottom two, but I didn't think I was going home!TVGuide.com: Do you think they gave you the R&B photo to really challenge the white Mormon girl?Aimee: [Laughs] I'm not Mormon anymore! I think it was sort
Top Model Marvita: The Competition Is "Evil"
You just have to love the judges on America's Next Top Model(Wednesdays at 8 pm/ET, CW). And by "love," I mean "despise." They told Marvita Washington to give them a greater variety of expression. When she did exactly that, pulling off a portrait of vulnerability and sadness that was especially impressive given her tough exterior, they dissed and dismissed her. At least, given her background (Little Orphan Annie had it easier than the 23-year-old Californian), we can be sure that Tyra Banks' rejection isn't going to break her. In fact, when TVGuide.com caught up with her last week, she sounded more determined to go the distance than she did even in her final panel. Read on and see for yourself. TVGuide.com: I’m sorry to be talking to you so soon. I was rooting for you!Marvita Washington: Oh, thank you so much! TVGuide.com: I couldn't believe that not on
America's Next Top Model: We Pick the Early Favorites
Although I don't always agree with the judges on America's Next Top Model (Nicole? Jaslene? Seriously?), after watching the show for nine cycles, I can certainly predict with some degree of accuracy the contestants they'll be fawning over this season (Wednesdays at 8 pm/ET, CW). Mind you, this go-round, we have a wild card in Twiggy's successor, straight-shooting Dancing with the Stars alum Paulina Porizkova. But it's still safe to say that perennials Tyra Banks, "noted fashion photographer" Nigel Barker and Miss J Alexander are going to keep the following five girls around for the long haul. One of them — mark my words — is probably even the winner. Fatima For her: As if her resemblance to Iman wasn't enough to make her a serious threat, she has the kind of heartbreaking life story that Tyra eats up.Against her: Fatima calls herself a perfect
Was Almost-Top Model Chantal "Born" to Lose?
As many times as America's Next Top Model runner-up Chantal Jones declared that she was born to pose, you couldn't help but worry about her emotional state in the wake of her loss last week. But when TVGuide.com caught up with the 19-year-old Texan, she seemed as confident and upbeat as ever. Is she for real? Read on and draw your own conclusion.TVGuide.com: First things first — what went through your mind when, during the final runway challenge, you realized you'd taken down the extra on stilts?Chantal Jones: [Laughs] Oh, my god! It was pretty crazy. I was, like, in my zone — or trying to be. I was full of nerves as it was, and all of a sudden, I feel something tugging on my dress, and I look back and the guy is on the ground. I can't describe the feeling. I was embarrassed, and concerned for the guy who fell, and scared like, "This is all I need!" I was just, like,
Is Saleisha Qualified to Be America's Next Top Role Model?
I've got no beef with the CW's America's Next Top Model for choosing Saleisha Stowers as this cycle's winner. She's pretty, personable and even managed to rock a botched Katie Holmes haircut. But when she declares that she wants to be not just America's Next Top Model but America's Next Top Role Model, I have to say, "Hmm." Isn't she the same contestant who delighted in Heather's shower-time torment, backstabbed buddy Bianca and helped seal Jenah's fate by misrepresenting her as aloof? She is, as a matter of fact, one and the same. So before I give the 21-year-old secretary my stamp of approval and bask in the knowledge that I'll never again have to hear about Nicole or Jaslene's grating lives as CoverGirls, on TVGuide.com and your behalf, I have a few questions for her.TVGuide.com: Have you gotten tired of bein
Top Model Ends Bianca's Reign of Terror
Apparently the last to hear that karma is a rhymes-with-witch, even to its own kind, trash-talker Bianca Golden finally was given her walking papers last week on America's Next Top Model (Wednesdays at 8 pm/ET, CW). But despite the fact that she delighted in tormenting Heather, stabbed Jenah in the back, and picked fights with Saleisha, Lisa, and more or less anything else that moved, she still maintains that she's not bad — she was just edited that way. Are you buying it? Maybe TVGuide.com's Q&A with the wanna-been will help you make up your mind. TVGuide.com: I was shocked that the show cut Heather, then you. I was sure the producers were going to make you the final two standing to play up your hatred of her.Bianca Golden: So did I! [Laughs] But I didn't hate Heather. That's so not the case. We're good friends.TVGuide.com: Come on.Bianca: They made it se
Top Model Sours on America's Sweetheart
Shock. Disappointment. Horror. Relief. Those were just a few of the reactions folks had to last week's elimination of front-runner Heather Kuzmich from America's Next Top Model (Wednesdays, 8 pm/ET, CW) — that last feeling, of course, being catty Bianca's. Although we were reminded every third second that the Indiana 20-year-old has Asperger's syndrome (cue Tyra Banks' voiceover explanation of the condition for the last time), she still took rockin' photos, enticed Enrique Iglesias into giving her a featured part in his music video and was voted viewers' favorite week after week (after week after week…). So, while the plucky and personable poser tells TVGuide.com that she emerged with no regrets, I have a hunch that CoverGirl can't say the same: The catwalking competition just ran off the makeup empire's most appealing potential spokesperson since… um… ever!TVGuide.co
Top Model Strips Off Its Exotic Dancer
I hate to say it, but for once, America's Next Top Model brat Bianca was right: This cycle's winner is not going to be a stripper. Although Lisa Jackson took to-die-for pictures that exuded class — no hoochie criticism for her! — she choked during last week's CoverGirl commercial challenge, giving Tyra Banks just the excuse she needed to drop her from the squeaky-clean talent search without mentioning her checkered past. At least I think that's what happened. Does the 20-year-old Jersey girl agree? Let's ring her up and find out. TVGuide.com: So you freaked during your commercial taping. But everybody gets stage fright — don't you think you deserved a second chance?Lisa Jackson: Well, I set myself up to expect [to be eliminated]. That way, if it did happen, I wasn't completely crushed. But at the same time, I had been trying very hard and hoped that [the judges] had noticed
Top Model's Twice-cut Ambreal: Hoochie, My Ass!
Poor Ambreal Williams. She's definitely going down in America's Next Top Model history — but only as the first contestant to be eliminated twice. First Tyra Banks told her to hit the road, but the voluntary departure of Ebony Morgan saved her butt. Then, a couple of weeks later, the judges sent her packing again, and no way was hungry, photogenic Lisa about to give up her shot at the title. At least, besides mixed feelings and a minor makeover, she got this Q&A with TVGuide.com as a consolation prize. TVGuide.com: After being eliminated and then reinstated, did you feel like a dead model walking?Ambreal Williams: After that happened, I actually started to relax and not take the competition quite so seriously. I enjoyed my time there because I could tell it was limited. I was there by luck and the grace of god and Ebony, so I decided to sit back and relax. I wasn't going to tak
Top Model's Sarah Weighs In on Her Ouster
By the time America's Next Top Model eliminated Sarah Hartshorne last week, I hoped the poor kid had saved the straitjacket Ms. J dressed her in for that early runway tutorial. First she was told she was plus-size, meaning her chances of winning were slim. Then she was told she'd slimmed down, meaning her chances of winning were even worse. It made me crazy just watching, so I had to assume it did a heck of a number on her as well. But when TVGuide.com called the 20-year-old co-ed, she proved to be as levelheaded as she is good-humored, giving off the kind of beauty no scale has any business measuring. TVGuide.com: If I had gone through what they put you through on the show, I would've gone home and eaten, like, 207 doughnuts.Sarah Hartshorne: [Laughs] Don't get me wrong, [getting cut] was a disappointment, absolutely, but I was just so tired! You know when you'
A Top Model First: Ebony Catwalks Away
Think it takes guts to audition for America's Next Top Model? Don't make me laugh. That's child's play compared to the nerve it takes to remove oneself from the competition. And that's exactly what 20-year-old Ebony Morgan did in last week's episode — a series first that left Tyra Banks spitting mad. "There's nothing less attractive than a quitter," she hissed. But if you ask me, there are few things more inspiring than a young woman with the strength of character to not only realize that what she thought she wanted isn't what she wanted, but to stand up and say, "No offense, but this just isn't for me." Here, TVGuide.com lets Morgan explain herself at lengths that her bullying benefactor seemed wholly disinclined to. TVGuide.com: How did you reach the decision to remove yourself from the competition?Ebony Morgan:&nb
Not-Quite-Top Model Janet "Waxes" Nostalgic
You'd think that giving a mock bikini wax to Tyra Banks would buy a girl some love from the head judge on America's Next Top Model. But Lady T showed carrot-top-turned-Liza Minnelli look-alike Janet Mills no mercy last week, kicking the 22-year-old aesthetician to the curb with some of the weakest words of encouragement we've yet to hear. How's Janet handling being, er, ripped from the lineup? And scarier still, how does she imagine her slovenly housemates faring without her around to play den mother? To find out, in anticipation of tonight's episode (8 pm/ET on the CW), we put in a call to the Georgia peach. TVGuide.com: Sorry to be speaking to you under these circumstances.Janet Mills: Did you love me or what? You didn't even watch! TVGuide.com: I did
