‘America’s Next Top Model’: postmortem with Aimee

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What are you doing now?
Not a whole lot, just been working. I work at a restaurant as a hostess, saving up some money for school. I’m applying to Western Washington University, close to the Canadian border. I might want to study psychology, biology and literature.

Are you not pursuing modeling right now?
I’m definitely going to do modeling, for sure. I’m going to do that for a little while and see where that takes me and if it goes well. I still really want to go to school though, that’s important to me.

You mentioned in last night’s episode that you didn’t want to pose nude for any shoots. Did the producers bring this up to you during casting?

I kind of knew going into the show that there would be photo shoots where I might have to be nude: they had already made that very clear that that could be a possibility. I was a little uncomfortable with it just because it was a totally new situation, but at the same time I had thought about it before going onto the show, that way I knew what I was going to do if that situation came up. If I ended up doing any type of nude photo shoots, I do look at it as more of a form of art, advertising a product, not my body. It’s not pornographic in any way. That’s other thing too, the situation with Anya and her photo shoot, that might have been a little uncomfortable for me but it’s mostly just because I haven’t been in that kind of situation before.

Did they ask you to talk about your Mormon upbringing, do you think, to paint you in a certain light?
I think it was just important just to see my personality, because a lot of the people on the show were saying that I tend to be a very sweet and easygoing person. I’m not a controversial person at all, and I think part of that is because of my upbringing. I think it is understandable that they wanted to know why I am a modest person and why I do get along with a lot of people.

Was the fighting in the house as bad as it looked?
There were a lot of other arguments too even though they weren’t shown. They can’t show everything that happens. There wasn’t always fighting, there were times that everybody wanted to make dinner together, everyone was getting along, we were all laughing, telling stories and playing games. It’s not all drama.

With which of the girls were you closest?
I really want to keep in touch with Anya and get to know Atalya a little better, just because she wasn’t there for that long and it would be really cool to get to know her. I got along with Claire and Whitney. I really liked all the girls, there were just a select few that I didn’t get along with.

Which photo shoot was your favorite?
I really liked the paint photo shoot, just because it wasn’t overcomplicated with posing -- it was simple yet high fashion as well, and it was really fun.

Who was your favorite judge?
I really liked Paulina -- despite the comment she made about my shot was a little harsh. But everybody has their opinions and Paulina’s very blunt and if she feels one way she’s not afraid to tell you. She called Dominique a transvestite, she said I was a Vegas something that needed to be thrown out in the trash. I think I did better than what she said, but I don’t know. I’m gonna face some harsh critique in the modeling world and I kind of have to expect that. You can’t blame her for trying to be an honest person. She is really a sweet person.

I read yesterday that Tyra barely interacted with the models at all this cycle. Did you sense that she worked with you less than the girls on other cycles?
A little bit just because I had seen in other cycles that she had sit-down time with the other girls one on one. But she’s a celebrity: She’s got a lot on her plate and she did do the runway teach so she did as much as she could with the time that she had. I learned a lot from her, especially how she really goes for it. She’s not afraid of what other people think of her. That’s something I definitely need to learn myself because I kind of hold myself back because I’m afraid of what other people will think. I just really need to get out there and let go.

But you still were asked to scream every time she came in the room?
They didn’t tell us, ‘Go scream,’ but they really wanted excitement out of us. We were excited to see her as well, and there was so much energy and excitement and tension, so it was sort of a release.

Photo courtesy The CW