“I Was So Worried, I Forgot to Present Myself” – An Interview With America’s Next Top Model 11’s Marjorie

Okay, let me tell you first what I liked about Marjorie this season. I loved that she had a look we have never seen on the show before. There’s no argument when it comes to her photos – they rocked, and Marjorie was probably one of the most high-fashion girls this show has ever seen. The downside? Her nerves. Marjorie had zero confidence in herself, and it wasn’t just an issue for her but for everyone else as well, because it did become a bit annoying after a while. When I spoke with her about her time on the show, Marjorie came off so intelligent and well-spoken that I wish we had seen more of it on the show. Anyway, Marjorie and I touched on many different subjects, so read on to see.

RealityNewsOnline: Hey, Marjorie. Thanks for taking time out of your day to chat with me today. Had you watched previous seasons of the show, and what factored into your decision to apply?

Marjorie: I did watch previous seasons, especially the first one, but after that, I didn’t catch every episode. Funny thing is that I didn’t even apply, I was recruited at the university bookstore. Someone came up to me with a camera, took a photo, and told me to say hello to Tyra. I had no modeling experience before the show, but it sounded interesting, so I gave it a try.

RNO: Looking back at your experience on the show and the way you are coming across, do you feel that you used European as a crutch in the competition when things weren’t going your way?

Marjorie: Well, I do think that I got a lot of overexposure as being real nervous and being European as a crutch – that’s for sure. It’s funny, though, since our argument that you got to see was something that took place over the span of three days, and it couldn’t really be summed up in the two minutes you go to see of it. It really didn’t do the whole thing much justice and it didn’t explain Elina and I’s approach to the whole thing. What I wanted to say was that it wasn’t a crutch, but seeing things from an American and a European point of view gives you two different perspectives. We just seemed less prone of being so sure of everything, which is how the other girls were.

RNO: What was your strategy going into the competition, and did you expect your nerves to play such a vital role in the way you were perceived by the judges and the other girls?

Marjorie: I didn’t expect to be portrayed as such a nervous persona. I’m much more like the composed side of me that you got to see at my last panel, which was criticized for being boring. I’m not boring, I’m just calm and controlled, and that’s how I was during that photo shoot, which I thought would be a good thing. I guess I just overemphasized.

RNO: Since the beginning of the competition, you came off as one of the strongest girls when it came to photographs. Didn’t that help give you the confidence needed to stop doubting yourself?

Marjorie: See, the thing is that there is so much that factors into the judges’ decision on who is going home. If it was based solely off of photos, I would have been fine the whole time. However, at panel, they stress so much about personality. It was such a big issue that it would make me nervous. I was confident with my photographs, but I never wanted to take anything for granted – I was happy to be there. Everything the public sees were my moments of decompression.

RNO: Were you surprised at all at how many of the other girls complained about your personality when alone with the camera?

Marjorie: I mean, I had my own allies. I was pretty well-liked by Analeigh, of course. Then there was Elina, Isis, and Hannah – they all liked me, and they are all girls I’ll talk to for a very long time. I think most of the other girls had this really big competitive wall up, so they are naturally going to be inclined to talk about me. I was taking good photos, so that was probably pretty intimidating.

RNO: It was pretty clear that you had become close with Analeigh, but had it come down to the two of you, would you have still wanted to win?

Marjorie: Yes, I would have still wanted to win, but I would have been happy for Analeigh if she were to win as well. We both wanted it to be the both of us in the final two, and either way, we would have been happy for the other at that point.

RNO: Elina and yourself commented on how Europeans have trouble expressing themselves, yet in Europe, it seemed you still didn’t do so well on the go-sees, which were ran by Europeans. Why is that?

Marjorie: Here’s the thing about go-sees: I was so worried, I forgot to present myself. The other girls, except for Sam, all had experience with go-sees. I think that sort of psyched me out. I don’t drive and take public transportation everywhere. I don’t have a good sense of direction and I had a pretty good idea that taking the canal would be pretty slow. I was happy that I made it to the go-see so I wasn’t put together and was in a big rush. That had nothing to do with being European, it was about being composed when the pressure was on… and I just wasn’t.