Anyone who’s paid any attention whatsoever knows by now that “America’s Next Top Model” is one of my favorite shows. And I know I’m not alone. Tyra Banks’ search for the next cover girl has gotten bigger and better ratings each year since it started and is now one of UPN’s crown jewels.
I caught up with Naima Mora, winner of last season’s contest, at the UPN stars party Thursday night.
The 21-year-old former waitress is living in New York, sharing an apartment with her sister, Ife, who is a singer, and hanging out often with “Top Model” runner-up and best friend, Kahlen Rondot.
Some modeling work as been coming around, Mora said, but she’s hoping it will pick up soon. She brushed off the notion that the show hasn’t really worked wonders for past winners.
“A lot of that is how the girls manage their careers themselves,” Mora said. “As the show becomes more and more popular — the ratings this season were the highest they’ve ever been — with that comes more work.”
For now, Mora is looking to line up more gigs and eagerly anticipating her scripted TV debut, playing a journalism teacher in the first episode of the new season of UPN’s “Veronica Mars.”
Her famous mohawk hairdo was absent Thursday night.
“It’s growing right now,” she said. “It’s kind of like in the in between phase where you don’t really know what to do with it — it’s too short and too long. I just pinned it up and I called it a day.”
I couldn’t help but ask Mora’s thoughts on Banks’ now-famous tirade on Tiffany, one of last season’s finalists who was on the receiving end of the supermodel’s fury after it became clear that she had given up on herself.
“It just shows how much she cares and how much emotion and, like, compassion she has for the girls that she chooses for the show,” Mora said of Banks. “She looks up to them and looks out for them. She really cared about (Tiffany), and when Tiffany gave up on herself, in that moment, I’d be hurt, too.
“I’m not sure if she deserved someone screaming at her, or not, but…”
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