America's Next Top Model

Last night on America's Next Top Model, Felicia Provost became the fourth girl eliminated from the competition.  Although she dominated the "posing" battle and gracefully finessed her way through the maze of lasers, Felicia failed to impress the judges with her crime scene victim photos, which ultimately got her sent her home.  Felicia was kind enough to chat with us at BuddyTV today to talk about her time on the show, how shocked she was to be sent home, and what she really thinks about some of the other girls.

Check out the full interview transcript or listen to the audio after the jump.

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BuddyTV: What inspired you to try out for the show?

Felicia: Friends and family. They were like, “You better try out this time or we are going to get you!” So I’m like, “Ok.” (laughs) Because I was supposed to try out for Cycle 7 but I didn’t get around to it, so I was like, ok, I’m going to do Cycle 8…I promise.

I know you have a background in dance. Did you also have experience with modeling prior to going on the show?

The only experience I had was one fashion show that I did, and that was it. So basically I’m still a rookie.

You did really well on the laser maze challenge. Did you think you were going to win the challenge, and how did you feel when Benny chose Whitney as the winner?

Actually, I thought I was going to win because I thought that I did really, really good. And seeing the other girls, I don’t know, I was really confident and I thought I had a good chance of winning, I know nothing is 100%. But when he told Whitney, I wasn’t upset. I was actually proud of her because I know she owes her parents money and to win a $40,000 bracelet, that is something. And she read us a scripture that she read, she was reading in the bible and then…something about 7, the number 7, and she picked up the number 7 key, which was the winning key. So I was like, this girl, she is winning challenges and giving us bible lessons. I was like, “You go ahead Whitney!” (laughs) I think that she deserved it.

How challenging was the crime scene photo shoot for you?

Actually, I was really comfortable doing the “dead shoots” I guess you can call it. The whole makeup thing, I was getting along with Jay really well that day…not that I don’t get along with him, it’s just half the time I thought he didn’t like me. So, I don’t know, my whole photo shoot went smoothly, he gave me good critiques. I had not one bad thing said about me from Jay from that photo shoot. So I got to panel, and it was just a mess because I seriously thought I did good.

From last night's episode, the way that the show was edited, it made it seem like you were pretty confident going into the elimination room. Was that, in fact, the case?

I was confident. I mean I wasn’t 100% sure because you never know what the judges are going to say, but I wasn’t freaking out about it. I wasn’t like, oh my God, I think I’m going to be in the bottom two, bottom three…that wasn’t the case. I mean, I had no thoughts of that at all. Like I was really thinking, well Jay told me that I did really good. He told that I turned into a model in two days…and they didn’t show that which I’m mad that they didn’t show that but I guess it would conflict with the judges' thoughts on it. I was like, since Jay himself said good things, I’m thinking ok, that will play a big part and I know they listen to Jay and so I’m thinking, ok, I have nothing to worry about. But it turns out it didn’t happen that way, which was crazy.

So how shocked were you? What were some of your thoughts when they announced that you’d be going home?

I was beyond shocked. I was like, are you kidding me? This has to be Punk’d or something. Like it seriously felt like I was being Punk’d, like Ashton Kutcher was going to jump out at any moment. Like, I don’t know…it was crazy. Like me out of all people? My pictures were gorgeous from the get-go, and not to sound cocky, that’s just my opinion. And I don’t know how other people feel about it, but I thought that my pictures were very, very good. And like this one picture that was bad, sent me home. And I’m thinking, some of the other girls don’t even have a perfect picture yet, and they’re still there. So I was hoping, as soon as I got to the bottom two, I was hoping that my pictures that I took before to keep me there but, it wasn’t.

So you definitely didn’t agree with the feedback that Tyra and the judges gave you then?

No, not at all. Total opposite.

What did you think of Renee? Was she really that difficult to get along with in the house or do you think that she was given a bad edit to make her out to be worse than she really is?

Both. They gave ya’ll a snippet of how Renee was. Renee did act like that, but it was so much worse in person. Like to deal with it, it’s like oh my God, get this girl away from me! But to watch it on TV, it’s just like, dang she is horrible. But I think it’s a wall she puts up, because I’ve seen her sweet side. She can be nice. I think it’s a wall she puts up, I don’t know if it’s because of the stuff she’s been through, her past situation, how people used to treat her…I don’t know. But I think she feels like she has to act like that towards people so she doesn’t get hurt, so I’m thinking that she tries to stop something before it happens. So she’s going to hurt your feelings before you get a chance to hurt hers. I think that that’s how she acts.

Which girls have you stayed friends with since the show?

Um, I am still friends with Dionne. I’m still friends with Cassandra, Kathleen, um. I just got a text from Natasha; she text me not too long ago. Who else? Kathleen, Whitney, I haven’t had a chance to talk to Samantha, I don’t have her number. Actually, to tell you the truth, I talk to Renee. I talk to Renee. I called her and she wasn’t there, she called me back. And we were just talking and she was just telling me how her flight was back home and we only talked once, and you know…she’s okay. She just has trouble communicating with people how she wants to. Like she comes off harsh, and people take that the wrong way, and she just needs to work on that. I talked to Jaslene once, she says she’s doing good. We only talked once, and I think that’s the last time I’m going to talk to her willingly right now because seeing how she acted on the show it’s like, that’s not cool. But most of the girls are ok. I mean, we’re really, really cool. I only got into it with those two, so I don’t really have a problem with anybody else.

Sounds like you really had an opportunity to connect with a lot of the girls then.

I did. And I loved it. Because I had so many inside jokes with each of them…well most of them. Oh, and to add that, Brittany and Jael...I can’t believe I forgot Jael! Ooh, don’t tell her I forgot her, she’ll kill me. I had so many inside jokes with all of them and it’s like, to leave, it was so emotional, because I’m like, oh, these are like my girls and it’s like we grew up together, it was so crazy. I feel like I’ve known them forever.

So what are you plans now? Are you continue to model?

I want to continue to model. Seeing as though my show has just ended last night, under contract restrictions, we’re not able to do anything until the shows completely over. But after that, I definitely want to go ahead and keep modeling. That’s a big goal for me.

Do you have any final thoughts about last night or the show in general?

Seeing the show again brought a lot of emotional thoughts back to me. I guess I can just say that I really hope that something big comes from the show. Like I don’t know what, but I just really hope that it helps me to be successful, because I know that it is a big deal just to make it on the show, even if…Kathleen, the first person eliminated, she might go so far and be so successful…so it doesn’t matter when I got eliminated I don’t think. I just really hope that it pays off. That’s what I’m thinking right now.

(Interview conducted by Royce Yuen)

(Photo courtesy of CW)