In Boston and Knoxville this week, hundreds of women over 5'7" lined up hoping to make it to Cycle 9 of
America's Next Top Model. In Boston, more than a thousand showed up to audition for the next season of the show, which will only choose 13 hopefuls in the end from both the open casting calls and the audition tapes mailed in.
The CW's Boston marketing director, Ross Kramer, said he couldn't predict how many would be chosen to go to the second round. The casting directors don't have a set quota they'll choose, so it "all depends on what Tyra Banks is looking for, and no one knows what Tyra's looking for," Kramer said.
The aspiring models had to wait for hours in a line outside the audition halls, and once inside had more line-ups to wait through. The application (which you can check out on the CW website) asks dozens of questions about their personal lives, and requires the contestants to hand in a video of themselves on the runway. If they make it through the first round, they're asked to return the next day for even more interviews.
After that, they're hoping to be invited for "a face-to-face with whatever producer is on hand," said Bourke Floyd, an actor (who played Officer Whitlock on
One Tree Hill) who attended the Boston casting call with his girlfriend, an America's Next Top Model hopeful.
While Kramer said they were surprised at how many potential models showed up, the contestants were overall "well-behaved, orderly and in good spirits."
Liliana Jimenez, a Northeastern nursing student, said she was interested in auditioning for America's Next Top Model in order to avoid paying agency fees. "You shouldn't have to pay just to be hired to be a model," Jimenez said.
The next casting calls for the show will be held in Dallas, Texas on April 14 and in Los Angeles, California on April 21.
-Mel Harris, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Sources: Northeastern News, Daily Free Press
Photo by Lauren Herberg, Boston University Daily Free Press