Exclusive: Sara Blackamore talks about 'America's Next Top Model'

Sara Blackamore's America's Next Top Model experience came to an abrupt end when the show's judges eliminated her at the fifteenth season's second elimination panel.


On Friday, the 21-year-old young mother from Menifee, CA talked to Reality TV World about her brief time on Top Model -- including whether she still feels guilty about leaving her son to appear on the show, what she really thought of the makeover the show gave her, and why she feels she struggled in the competition.

Reality TV World: So how's your son Kaden doing, did you end up recognizing you when you returned home with your new hair?

Sara Blackamore: Yeah. (laughs)

He recognized me.  I think at first he thought I was my sister because I have a twin sister that has dark hair, but after I started to talk he realized it was me.


Reality TV World: After you were eliminated, you said you feeling overwhelmed with guilt for leaving your son "for something that didn't happen" -- do you still feel that way or do you feel differently now?

Sara Blackamore: Yeah, I definitely did say that because of all the emotions that I had.  But I really don't feel guilty because I know it was the right thing for me to do and it was the best thing for me to do.  And he was fine.

Reality TV World: You also said you trusted [Top Model host Tyra Banks'] makeover advice and were going to keep the new hairstyle -- have you done so?

Sara Blackamore: Definitely no. (laughs)

I just said it because I didn't want to sound ungrateful or anything.  But the makeover was absolutely horrid... I have eyebrows now.


Reality TV World: So has far as hair color, are you back to where you were before?

Sara Blackamore: No, I don't think it could go back to that blonde.  I like the dark hair, so that was a good thing.  I just dyed it darker and did my eyebrows.  But I'm definitely going to grow it back long again.

Reality TV World: Having your hair cut or dyed is one thing, but shaving your teeth down is a more permanent change -- were you surprised Chelsey agreed to let Tyra make her gap bigger?

Sara Blackamore: No, I wasn't because that was something that when she was always out modeling, that's what they noticed.  Like it was a big part of her, so she was actually really excited for it.  She thought that they were going to do it a lot bigger.

Reality TV World: Do you think you would have agreed to something like that?


Sara Blackamore: You know it's funny because maybe watching on TV it looks different, but really it was so little taken off that in person we didn't even notice that there was any difference.  She couldn't even tell.

Reality TV World: The Jays didn't seem to be too impressed with you during the photo shoot you did after the makeover -- Jay Manuel said he felt you weren't "taking on the makeover" and Miss J. called you "lost.  Were you aware of that at all at the time or did you only learn about it afterwards?

Sara Blackamore: Yeah, after.  I think I was the last one to finish my makeover and the dudes got into a fight over my makeover because Mr. Jay said he didn't like it at all -- like the eyebrows and everything -- and then Miss J. liked it and so they had to send Tyra a picture to see if they should change it back.

And I was just sitting through it all and I completely accepted the makeover and I actually liked it at the time.  And so for them to say I wasn't taking it on, I was kind of caught off guard.  Because I felt like I totally liked it, so...

Reality TV World: What was your reaction to the announcement that someone was going home -- were you surprised or had you suspected it at all?


Sara Blackamore: I was completely caught off guard.  We all went there with all this excitement and then [it was] a total mood change.  I don't think anyone expected someone to go home.

Reality TV World: There were a couple of different times during the show where you talked about how you're "not the average white girl" and expressed frustration that people see you as a "beach girl" -- can you elaborate on that a little bit?

Sara Blackamore: Well, everyone kind of tried to act like I was like a common pretty girl.  That was like one of the most annoying parts while I was on the show, which was part of the reason I was losing so much confidence. 

Because the whole time I was on the show, all I heard was negative things about "oh, you're too pretty," "you're too California," "you're too this."

I mean it was a high-fashion cycle, but they did pick me knowing I looked tan and I had blonde hair.  It's not like I looked like something else when they picked me.


Reality TV World: Yeah, that kind of goes into another similar issue that's come up this season: Anamaria.  She was already really thin, or so it seemed, during the casting episode when the judges put her on the show, so did that seem a little strange to you that they put her on the show and then suddenly at the first elimination decided she was too thin to be on the show?

Sara Blackamore: Right.  I didn't know that much [difference] -- I thought she looked the same throughout the whole time.  I think it really had to do with people saying stuff and then Tyra finding out what people were saying behind her back.

I mean she ate food, it was clearly obvious that she ate.  She just ate healthier than a lot of us.

Reality TV World: When you say "people," do you mean the other girls?

Sara Blackamore: Yeah, other girls in the house.

Reality TV World: So you didn't personally feel there was a big difference between how Anamaria had looked at the casting and later when the season started?


Sara Blackamore: I never even really took -- I mean I noticed that she was thin, because she was thin when I first saw her.  So I didn't pay much attention to any difference.  But they said that she looked different, so I'm sure they would know.

Reality TV World: Anamarie, Terra and yourself were the bottom three girls called out at the first panel and Terra and yourself both followed right behind Anamarie and were eliminated this week.  Do you think that’s just coincidence or do you think the judges had already kind of pre-determined that you two were going to be the next ones to go? 

Sara Blackamore: Yeah, I kind of feel they had their mind made up before that elimination even came forth.  I think that they pretty much knew that we were going home in that order. (laughs)

Reality TV World: Based on what they showed on this week’s episode, it looked like it was pretty clear that Anne Menke wasn't too impressed with your angel photo shoot.  Was that clear to you at the shoot or did you leave there thinking it had gone pretty good for you?

Sara Blackamore: Well, I went into the photo shoot with not the greatest attitude because every time I felt like I was in front of Mr. Jay I didn't feel like he liked me.  So I was kind of losing my confidence because I was only hearing negative, negative, negative -- not positive whatsoever.

And so I didn't go in there with an attitude that I knew I was going to do the best or anything like that, which I should have.  So I expected to be in the bottom two.


But from what you guys see, you only see the negative that they say but there was positive.  They said I couldn't ever portray the words that I had or whatever, but at one point the photographer said I was doing good -- it's not like I was only doing bad.

Like, when I was doing the ballerina -- when I was going poses it didn't look like that but then the photographer was like "do this" and she was telling me "that looks good, that looks good."  But they only show the negative.

Reality TV World: We also saw Nigel give you a hard time about your comment that you had done the easiest pose at the angel photo shoot -- what was your reaction to that?

Sara Blackamore: Yeah, that was a mistake on my part.  I totally put it into the wrong wording, because I'm obviously not trying to take the easy route.  I mean because it was so hard for us to maneuver ourselves.

Because you guys don't see, but I was like the second girl to go and the first couple of girls that did go they were much higher on the harness -- up higher in the air than the rest of the girls. So we couldn't really interact with our models because we were so high we could barely even move ourselves to touch them. 

And then later in the day you could tell that the girls got a lot lower and their poses were the ones that were closer to the ground they could really flip their bodies.


Reality TV World: So was that something where Anne changed the way she wanted to do the shoot?

Sara Blackamore: Yes, because they decided it wasn't really working.  So they lowered the girls so they could be closer to the ground.

Reality TV World: What was your reaction to the news that you were competing for Italian Vogue this season?

Sara Blackamore: I was completely ecstatic.  I mean, hearing that just proved whoever does win the show, if they really work hard, have a huge career ahead of them.

Reality TV World: So your a believer in the idea that the prize is going to make a big difference in the winner's chances of success?

Sara Blackamore: Yeah, I mean the winner obviously still has to really want it and work hard to make the most of it.  But being on the cover of Italian Vogue, that's huge.  That's their starting point right there, so it could only get better. (laughs)


Reality TV World: Do you think it had any impact in how the girls approached the competition?

Sara Blackamore: Yeah, I think you can tell there definitely wasn't as much drama in the house, obviously.  Because I think the girls realized the stakes were higher and they were there more for modeling than girl fights.

Reality TV World: Yeah, obviously it's only been a couple of episodes, but we haven't seen a lot of house drama so far. 

Sara Blackamore: Yeah, what you have seen on the show, that's all the fighting there really was.  Everyone really actually got along this cycle [during] the short time I was there.  I think a lot more concentration went into modeling rather than fighting. (laughs)






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