“I Totally Overreacted” – An Interview with America’s Next Top Model 8’s Brittany

Before this season of America’s Next Top Model began, I had Brittany pegged to be one of the first three out. Boy, was I wrong! Brittany, even though she didn’t have any modeling experience going into the show, blew the judges away with her flawless photos during the first few weeks. It wasn’t until she messed up on the Cover Girl commercial and royally screwed up on the go-sees that the judges gave her walking papers. But did she deserve them? What did she think of how the other girls viewed her, and why the judges eliminated her? Well, here’s what she had to say!

RealityNewsOnline: Hey, Brittany, thanks for taking time out of your schedule to talk with me today. Had you watched previous seasons of the show, and what factored into your decision to apply?

Brittany: I never watched the show at all, and the reason I applied was because my friend said she’d never talk to me again unless I tried out for the show and gave modeling a shot. My mom actually took me to New York when I was younger to try modeling, but I was 14 and was being stubborn, so I never committed to it.

RNO: I have to get this question out of the way as soon as possible. Dionne said you rocked the acting challenge, yet blamed your short-term memory for the commercial shoot. What was going on there?

Brittany: I think Dionne made a very uninformed statement. Short-term and long-term memory are different. Long-term memory is when you commit to memorizing something. Short-term memory is when you only have two to five minutes to remember something, and then be able to say it. I think that by using the cue cards during the commercial, I messed myself up because I couldn’t look at them, remember them, and then say the line. We had two hours to memorize the acting script, so it was a lot easier. I actually went first for the commercial shoot, so I was only able to read the lines during hair and makeup. I was nervous, and using the cue cards made it even worse!

RNO: Did you feel like you were offering up too many excuses, and did you realize the other girls saw you that way?

Brittany: To be honest, I don’t think I was offering up any excuses! I’m a very matter-of-fact kind of girl, and I normally just say things right when they enter my mind. It wasn’t me complaining, I’m just that way! I think all the girls had their catty comments. I was the nice girl in the confessionals that didn’t say anything bad about the other girls, and that’s probably why you never saw me in there! I was too nice for reality TV!

RNO: You did so well at the beginning of the competition, photo-wise, so did you feel like being eliminated based on personality was fair? After all, they are looking for a model, right?

Brittany: I think my elimination was fair. Tyra wants to create a model from scratch – someone that will be her protégé, and that’s fine. I understand that I signed up for a reality TV show. I heard from people that girls that do well at the beginning of the competition usually get eliminated in the middle because Tyra realizes that she won’t have the opportunity to mold them from scratch. I’m fine with that.

RNO: Let’s talk a little bit about your weave gone wrong. Were you even excited when you were told about your makeover?

Brittany: I was actually really excited when I found out about the long hair. I had long hair back when I was in high school, so I was pumped. You never saw, but they dyed my hair seven or eight times to get the color close to the weave, and it ended up making my scalp blister! When they sewed the hair in, they broke the blisters and there was so much scabbing and bleeding underneath that Jael told me that had I not told the judges about it at panel, she would cut it out herself when I was sleeping!

RNO: Do you think the girls were a bit hard on you when you would complain about the weave, or looking back, do you think that you might have made too much of a big deal about it?

Brittany: I would say that I downplayed it! I went three weeks with the scalp bleeding and didn’t say anything about it. I didn’t want to say anything about it, and when I did, it was taken out of context. As far as the other girls, I just think they were bitter because I was doing so well, and if you notice, it was really only three girls that complained about me and the weave – Diana, Renee and Whitney.

RNO: Jael wrote in a letter to you that she would have sacrificed herself for you had you been sent home when it was the two of you in the bottom two. She also said that to me in my interview with her. Do you believe it?

Brittany: I really do. Jael is fantastic. She’s so sweet and even told me in the holding room that if it was me sent home, she’d sacrifice herself. That’s just the way she is, though. She’s so bubbly and full of life that people either love her to death or look at her and think, “What’s wrong with her?” I love that she takes every day and lives it to the fullest.