Anamaria becomes the first girl cut from 'America's Next Top Model'

Anamaria, an unemployed 19-year-old from Queens, NY, became the first girl eliminated from America's Next Top Model's fifteenth season during Wednesday night's broadcast on The CW.


Anamaria was eliminated after America's Next Top Model's judges determined her bony appearance was uncomfortably unhealthy and could send the wrong message to young girls.

"I don't want you to lose work because somebody says you're too skinny.  And you might be the healthiest girl in the world -- you might be able to race me down the block and leave me panting behind you," Top Model host and lead judge Tyra Banks told Anamaria after her elimination.

"But it might not hurt to eat some avocado and a little bit of bread with some butter on it so that you can book jobs and project an image that doesn't feel like you're hurting your body, do you understand?"

While Anamaria told Tyra she understood her concerns, the 5'10", 110-pound girl seemed to dismiss them afterwards.


"They said that I was too skinny [but] I like my body personally.  If I get told by multiple agencies that I'm too thin then we can do something about it, but hopefully I can make it on my own," she said.  "I am shocked, I was not expecting it.  I was the first one called at casting and I'm the last one called here."

Anamaria was eliminated after Top Model's 14 fifteenth-season finalists had moved into a beach house in Venice, CA and participated in their first photo shoot.  A swimsuit shoot, it required each contestant to pose in confident poses while their body was covered with copies of a derogatory term they had been called in high school.

"Today, we're actually going to focus on teen bullying [because] bullying is actually one of the leading causes of teen suicide," Top Model photo shoot director Jay Manuel told the girls about the shoot.

Anamaria's emaciated appearance had emerged as a concern for Jay during the shoot.

"My big concern with Anamaria is her body.  I didn't see a tall, slender body -- I saw bones," he said afterwards.


Jay attempted to express his feelings to Anamaria during the shoot but she wasn't very receptive to them.

"I think you should be aware that you need to pose in a way that makes it look softer and more feminine," he told her.

"I've been trying so hard to get lean, but it's not working," Anamaria said.

"You're trying to get lean?  You don't need to get lean," Jay replied.

Anamaria was also dismissive of Jay's comments afterwards.


"I don't give a sh-t  about what you think, what you have to say, I know how I feel.  I know in the mirror what I'm looking back at and that's all the matters to me," she said in an interview afterwards.

Tyra had initially warned Anamaria about her concerns about her weight when the judges reviewed each girl's photo prior to deciding who would be eliminated at the season's first elimination panel.

"Your body doesn't look healthy, and it made me very uncomfortable," she told Anamaria.

"Maybe you see it, but I don't," Anamaria replied.

"Do you think you have to be as thin as you are to be a model?" Tyra asked.


"No, I like my body, honestly.  I like looking in the mirror and seeing my abs," Anamaria said.

"But there's a point where even a designer or an editor of a magazine, where they say, 'This is too much,'" Tyra cautioned.

"And also, I say as the president of the [Council of Fashion Designers of America], beauty is health.  And if you're not healthy you lose your beauty," guest judge Diane Von Furstenberg added.

Top Model judges Nigel Barker and Andre Leon Talley also both expressed their concerns about Anamaria's weight during the judges' subsequent deliberations.

"Beauty is about health, and she does not project healthiness," Andre said.


"There's a big difference [between] being sort of naturally slim and very, very tall and someone who is staring at themselves in the mirror and saying 'I want to see my ribs, I want to see my muscles' and making themselves that thin," Nigel added.

After completing their deliberations, the judges reconvened with the girls and Tyra revealed they had decided that Ann, a 19-year-old student from Dallas, TX, had taken the best photo during shoot. 

She then proceeded to reveal that Kayla, Chelsey, Kendal, Kacey, Liz, Jane, Esther, Chris, Rhianna, Kacey, and Sara had also advanced to the competition's next round -- leaving Anamaria and Terra, an unemployed 24-year-old from Arlington, TX who had broken down in tears during the shoot, in the bottom two.

"Terra... [you're] a absolutely a beautiful girl [with] luscious lips.  [But] although your posing is strong, it still lacks focus and tends to err towards the obvious," Tyra told the two women prior to revealing Anamaria's elimination. 

"Anamaria, [you're] a gorgeous beautiful girl, but the judges are concerned about the message that your body type might send to young girls.  Because the fashion industry has a lot of skinny girls already, but these fashion experts feel like your body is even thinner than the thinnest."

Anamaria had been confident she was going to win Top Model's fourteenth season prior to her elimination.


"All the girls here to me, don't really have the potential to like continue this to the next level.  So I don't need to worry about these girls, they're nobody to me," she had boasted after sizing up her competition.

"I mean they're pretty girls but they're just like small-town American girls.  I wouldn't look twice walking down the street.  I'm like not trying to be mean, it's just the truth."

In addition, she had also brushed off some of the girls' worries that she seemed to be too thin.

"My mom is like, 'You have got to gain some weight.' [But] I don't like how I look thicker, I like being thin," she told them.  "I weighed like 135 [once]."

America's Next Top Model's next fifteenth-season episode will air Wednesday, September 22 at 8PM ET/PT on The CW.






About The Author: Steven Rogers