Deemed to have a personality too outrageous for a professional model (is such a thing really possible?), Lisa, a 24-year-old assistant wardrobe stylist from Los Angeles, became the eighth girl eliminated from the fifth edition of America's Next Top Model during last night's UPN broadcast.
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While packing, the girls received a surprise visit from Jenny Shimizu, a tattooed 5' 7" gay minority model who had been discovered by Calvin Klein. Jenny shared her feelings about the differences in modelling with the girls. The conversation empowered Kim. "Jenny's former struggle is a lot what I'm going through now... [it] gives me hope that I can get farther," the openly gay 21-year-old student explained.
The producers must have felt that that girls needed a real long time to pack, because the next day the girls -- still in Los Angeles -- met with Entertainment Tonight correspondent Kevin Frazier, who taught them about the importance of portraying a model-like image while in public. After showing them a series of unflattering photos taken during the downtime between their previous photo shoots, Kevin provided the girls with tips on how to handle themselves amongst the ever-present paparazzi photographers. Lisa seemed grateful for the advice. "I appreciate it a lot because I'm really uninhibited, so I'd probably get in a lot of trouble," she said.
After finally flying to London, the girls met with J. Alexander who took them on a double-decker bus tour around the city. As the girls approached their hotel, they found themselves surrounded by a group of fake paparazzi who began furiously snapping their photographs. While many of the girls tried to practice the tips they had recently learned, Lisa seemed to have a hard time dealing with the intensity of the crowd and trudged toward the hotel with her head completely covered.
Jay Manuel greeted the girls the next morning at the scene of their photo shoot, where all six girls were crammed into a phone booth covered by not much more than a tabloid paper. Lisa felt that although she enjoyed being the center of attention, she would do equally well sharing the spotlight.
During the week's elimination ceremony, the judges viewed each girl's worst photograph from their surprise paparazzi ambush and their photo booth shot. Although Lisa's photographs were amazing and her desire to become a model was apparent, some of the judges were put off by her outrageous personality, feeling it was becoming "cocky." "Lisa is the spunky girl, the girl with so much energy, the girl with so much fire. It's great, but it's too much," said Tyra explained to Lisa before eliminating her from the competition.
