Cattiest Top Model Is Declawed

For a reality-show castoff who's more natty than catty, check out our Q&A with The Apprentice: Martha Stewart's Leslie.

When America's Next Top Model's Jayla Rubinelli says, "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful," her plea comes with a caveat: "Or because I'm a stark raving bitch." Over the course of the competition, the 20-year-old head-turner found herself unable to say anything nice about... well, pretty much anybody! So when TVGuide.com phoned her before tonight's season finale (8 pm/ET on UPN), we knew there was every chance she'd use us as a scratching post. Oh, the things we do for you people....

TVGuide.com: I've got to admit I'm kind of scared to do this interview.
Jayla Rubinelli: Why's that?

TVGuide.com: I just know you're going to talk smack about me as soon as we hang up.
Jayla: Please! That's not me.

TVGuide.com: It sure looked like you when I was watching the show.
Jayla: No! The only times I talked about people was in the confessionals. I tried my best not to talk about people with other people in the house.

TVGuide.com: Hmm... I don't know if that's an important distinction, but it is a distinction, at least.
Jayla: The confessional booth was the only way to get rid of my anger and frustration with things that happened in the house. I felt it was better to say it to the camera than to say it to another girl [because] that could possibly make it worse.

TVGuide.com: Was there anyone in the house who you actually didn't despise?
Jayla: Bre.

TVGuide.com: The house psycho?!
Jayla: She's actually a total sweetheart; my boyfriend has met her, and he thinks the same. She's just such a nice, sweet girl. Completely misunderstood! She actually wants nothing more than to make everyone around her, whom she likes and is on good terms with, very happy.

TVGuide.com: That's kind of a small group. But enough about her. You said you were frustrated and angry in the house. Um, why?
Jayla: I was getting shunned in the beginning by pretty much everyone. No one wanted to talk to me or have anything to do with me, so I was doing my best to try to fit in and talk to everyone, but it pretty much just wound up kicking me in the ass in the end. So I finally just decided to keep to myself and be in my own little world. That's when Bre came to me and said, "Everyone else has something to say about you except for me." She said, "I have nothing negative to say about you. You've never done anything to harm me, therefore I'm not going to talk like everyone else does."

TVGuide.com: She's a saint. Why do you think you were ostracized?
Jayla: I think it's because I'm not used to being around girls my own age. I don't talk about the same silly little things that most girls my age do. Nik and Diane, being two of the oldest girls in the house, decided I was too young to share in their conversations, and they were my roommates. So I spent a lot of my time sleeping, once I decided that it was better for me to try to lay low [rather] than to try to fit in.

TVGuide.com: Huh. Well, if you never hang around girls your own age, who do you hang around with?
Jayla: Mostly my family and mainly older women. My friends and family are anywhere from five to 17 years older than me. These are the people I'm used to going out to dinner or the movies with. I'm eating pizza like a normal teenage girl but with older women, so I'm not used to the drama. Back home, if someone has a problem with someone else, they talk it out because they're mature enough to do that instead of talking about the person behind their back. I always just figured that was the way the world was. Obviously, it isn't!

TVGuide.com: How old are you? Never mind. Can you solve the season's big mystery for us: Who really ate the granola bar that started the Red Bull War of 2005 between Nicole and Bre?
Jayla: No one knows! I was asleep when the whole thing happened, so I didn't take it. I never even saw the food come into the room! We think it was either the ghost of the hotel or someone other than one of the girls.

TVGuide.com: Damn cameramen! Speaking of whom, are you worried that the unedited footage of your topless pole dance is going to wind up on the Internet?
Jayla: Um... no. I trust the people who work for me, that they've got my back and aren't going to let anything like that get out there!

TVGuide.com: Seeing as you hated everyone you lived with and are so much more "mature" than they are, what possessed you to even do that?
Jayla: Lisa came into the room to get [what they were calling "my stripper shoes"] and said, "Come on," but I said, "Just take the shoes and go!" She finally convinced me it would be funny, so I thought, "You know what? If I can get people to stop being so mean to me, what the hell?"