Well, as fans of "America's Next Top Model" probably already know, Heather was the latest person ousted from the show last Wednesday. Which is unfortunate for me, because not only was she a Chicago-area contestant, but also she was one of the few that I would feel good about seeing her win. Maybe that'll change in the homestretch, but somehow I'm doubting it. 

I assume Saleisha is now the Anointed One. But she and Bianca irked me at how much they made fun of Heather, even if Heather doesn't seem to have minded.

Jenah is being given the "She can't succeed because her personality is too disrespectful" edit.

I'm not sure I could come up with much to describe Chantal's personality, but maybe that's a function of the other girls getting more screen time.

Here's the highlights of a conference call with Heather last week:

On being the Cover Girl of the Week most weeks:

I was very surprised how much support and reaction I got from the public. I was going on the show not really expecting to really make much of a dent.

On why she hoped to be 'ANTM':

I wanted to be a role model to girls who weren't told they were beautiful at first and do have a little bit more problems than the girls who have a bit more confidence and do want to do modeling.

I do still want to pursue modeling. I had a fine time when I was on the show.

On her favorite shoot:

My favorite one was the rock climbing. I had so much fun scaling a wall in silver high heels. It was so much fun.

On the hardest things for her:

Convincing myself I could do it. That was the hardest. I'm my hardest critic, by far. The panel was nothing compared to my critiques. I'm usually very nitpicky when it comes to my art and stuff. It was, with no exception, I would do a constant critiquing of myself. "I could have done it better." ... The biggest adjustment was not being able to talk to my family and to not be able to have any communication outside the house. That was the biggest adjustment. That and living with 14 other girls plus camera crew. I made friends with the girls, I was civil to the camera crew and I tried not to make their job any harder. The situation was stressful enough. I didn't want to add any stress to it.

On allegations of favoritism toward her:

I don't pay too much attention to that because I don't believe that's actually true. I believe I was treated just the same way as all the other girls and the fact that they think I did get treated differently, it's a little bit weird hearing that because I really never heard anything like that from their end.

On her Cover Girl commercial:

I didn't want to be seen as having an advantage over the rest of the girls. I really wanted to be treated like everybody else. That was the last thing I wanted to do. It was very embarrassing for me that he had to feed me lines but I still messed up. ...I actually prepared my lines and memorized them. I just choked.

On the difference between watching and living "ANTM":

When you're actually watching the show, it's like, "Huh. That's really odd." Like it's only a quarter of what happened. When you're actually behind the show, you see what's behind the scenes, what the girls are really like instead of the edited versions of themselves.

I considered that they were focusing their energy to pay attention to me was flattering enough. I mean, if a personality doesn't matter, you don't pay much attention, do you? If you feel strong emotion, like friendship or something like that, you're going to give a person attention. ... They may have said stuff behind my back but the fact is if they really had a problem with me they would have said it to my face.

On her go-see difficulties:

The problem was I couldn't read Chinese. I terribly underestimated Chinese traffic. [The time where Heather was wandering around] That was actually pretty accurate. I got pretty lost.  ... I think if I was supposed to be eliminated, that's the best possible way for me to be eliminated. Instead of me not being able to do my picture or perform properly, it was because I was late. That is probably the best way. It's a big bummer that I am eliminated, but you couldn't ask for a better way to be eliminated.

On self-assurance:

I was confident but I made sure I kept myself pretty humble. My friend sat me down and showed me seasons before. One thing: the girls who were extremely confident and saying things like, "I've got it in the bag" and stuff like that are normally not the girls who do actually win. So I kept true to myself and kept humble.

On the best feedback from the judges:

They told me I didn't look awkward when I was in my pictures, that I looked like a model when I was taking my pictures. It kind of showed a different side of me.

On being in China:

We were pretty much kept under wraps for a long time. We didn't really go sight-seeing other than the places we went to go for photo shoots and challenges. ... The martial-arts challenge, I really loved that challenge. Good grief, I was ready to take Bianca's turn. ... China is a gorgeous place. There were moments when I felt really sorry for the inhabitants there because we did go through the poorest sites of China. It was a very beautiful place. It was a rainy place, though.

On what she got from being on the show:

I got a lot more confidence trusting myself a lot more instead of being so harsh on myself. I've become much stronger under stressful situations.

On her preparation:

Well there was a lot of coffee, a lot of praying, and a lot of candy. ... I did practice posing. I practiced posing with Bianca. We would go off on our own, we'd go into the closet and we'd practice our faces. And we'd bounce off each other and help each other out. I wish they actually showed that in the show, because me and Bianca actually did get along in the house.

On what she said in her farewell note:

I probably left with a better prize than a contract with Cover Girl and Elite, and that was the experience with the girls and being on the show. I also thanked all the girls for being there for me when I was at my lowest ebb and at my highest. I thanked Saleisha personally for being there for me spiritually, Bianca for being there and being my big mound of tough love, Chantal for being so sweet to me all the time and Jenah for being such a character around me.

On advice for "ANTM" wannabes:

Be honest. Don't try to be anyone else. Try not to have too much stress with the other girls or view it as a competition. Try to make friends. It's a lot easier if you do that.

- posted by Raoul