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Yesterday, I listened to a conference call with Janet Mills, a 22 year-old aesthetician from Bainbridge, Georgia. After being told in panel her body was too muscular and athletic and needing too much coaching during photo-shoots, she became the fourth contestant eliminated from America’s Next Top Model. While Janet didn’t create any drama on the show, she was full of personality and didn't hold back giving her take on her time spent on the show, including what a role model should and shouldn’t be, and her relationship with Mollie Sue. (I was joined into the conference call about five minutes after if started, so I missed the first past, but I picked up where I came in.)
Janet: I have a certain reputation within the modeling industry after the show is over, and I want them to know I’m serious about it, and that it’s very important to me, and that I want to work, and I want to get things done, and I want to do well. So, I didn’t cause a lot of drama. I didn’t cause a lot of extra in the house, so I think that helps. I imagine that helps you stay on the show even if you don’t take the best pictures. I mean, example, Bianca [laughs]. But, if maybe I was a little more dramatic or stirred up a little more trouble in the house, then they would have kept me around for a bit longer. But, I mean, everybody’s got to go at some point, except one. There is only one winner. So, I’m happy with where I ended up.
Q: Who do you think should have gone before you?
Janet: It’s hard to say because everyone performs differently day-to-day, but as far as photo-shoots—my elimination photo-shoots—I feel like Ambreal, Sarah, Bianca, and my pictures were all on the same level. So, anyone of us should have gone. I don’t like the character that Bianca portrays, and especially as a role model for girls, and young girls definitely watch America’s Next Top Model. That was proven to me because my boyfriend’s little boy—I live with them—and he turned 10 years-old on Monday, and I baked cupcakes and brought it to his classroom, and all the little girls went crazy, and they are 9 years-old. So, it’s not only girls our age that watch it. She’s one way in front of the panel, and then she’s another way, and she’s constantly trying to bring people down. Maybe she will progress and maybe she does a great job, but by way of all-around Cover Girl, yeah, America’s Next Top Model, I wish Bianca was the next to go.
Q: So, do you feel the same way about Lisa being a stripper?
Janet: Well, you know it’s funny because I feel like Lisa is a very real person, and she never tries to be two-faced on the show. She genuinely cares about the industry and has potential as a model. As an all around—I love Lisa to death—but as an all around role-model for girls, maybe the dancer part of her background isn’t the best. But, from what she says, she dances at a night club in a bikini, so more-or-less she is a go-go dancer. She is now coined an exotic dancer, and I’m sure Bianca uses that in her defense to make herself seem more valid or more worthy of the title. There is a lot more honorable things you could do, but I know that Lisa has endured a lot of hardships and a lot of things in her life. If this is what she had to do to support herself until she gets here then, yeah, to each his own. Lisa is not obviously with that ideal girl as a winner, but I think Lisa has a lot of potential as a winner.
Q: If you could turn the tables and give one of the judges a piece of advice, who would it be and what would it be?
Janet: Oh my gosh! [laughs] Maybe I could give them some advice about skin care or a Brazilian waxing, but a lot of these people have a lot more background in the modeling industry and a lot more experience. Twiggy has been there for a long time. Twiggy says that she doesn’t really see me as a model, but in her day a lot of people didn’t see her as one. It’s everyone’s opinion, but I think all of them have their specialties in the industry, and I think they all know what they are speaking of, so if they want to come with me for a skin consultation, then bring it on, but other than that, nothing.
Q: Can you give us a house secret? Tell us about something that we weren’t shown.
Janet: Gosh, I didn’t even think about this! There’s a handful of things that don’t make it into the hour because so much happens.
Q: Something juicy.
Janet: Something juicy?! As you saw, every time there was drama in the house, I was nowhere to be found. I was taking a nap, or practicing on the runway, or trying to better myself in the competition. So, I kept my nose out of that. I don’t think I have any for you, but for the girls that follow, I’m sure they’ll fill that void for you there.
Janet: I never realized how country I sound until I saw myself on national television. Oh my gosh! It’s hilarious. I looked at my boyfriend, and said, “I sound so country on television.” He looked at me and said, “You sound like that every day.”
Q: What did you learn about yourself from this experience?
Janet: What did I learn about myself? I actually learned that even though I was surrounded by a 12 million-dollar house and all these lavish things that I really love family and the reality of my life so much because I was so homesick for my boyfriend that was deployed. We’ve been together for two years, and his son has become a big part of my life. My family, I definitely second-guessed myself or stopped myself from doing a handful of things on the account of “would my family be proud of me” or as my father and mother watch this, will they be honored by what I do? So, I became a lot more selfless and just tried to help the girls and help them have a more relaxing experience there—kind of the house mom. Also, this whole experience is so much more than me. It’s about everyone that’s involved with me.
Q: It was definitely easy to see that when they labeled you the mom of the house. I thought that was really cute, but I think there needs to be some kind of order in that house because it was a little crazy.
Janet: It was disgusting! There was like yogurt that was coming down the side of the cabinet onto the floor. Yeah, that was milk that had like congealed into something else. You know, I’ve been at a point in my life where I didn’t respect or didn’t acknowledge the wonderful things that were blessed upon me. As I look back I realize, and I’m the oldest girl in the house there. I mean 22 is not old, but I’ve experienced a lot of things in my life and been very fortunate, but there’s a level you should respect other things and other people, and we were 13 girls in one house. When everybody eats one meal and throws their dishes in the sink as they were throwing, it’s just an overwhelming experience, but I wanted everybody to respect themselves and other people. I mean, that house isn’t ours, and it’s not The CW’s, either. We were just really, really blessed to have been put in a place like that. It’s okay. I can be the house-mom. That’s okay.
Q: So, with that said, are you probably not going to continue in the modeling industry, or will you keep going?
Janet: Oh, sure! Yeah, I’ll definitely. Just because I was the house-mom there doesn’t mean I can’t be a little teeny bopper somewhere else. I’d definitely love to model. I learned a bit there and got my feet wet, and there are just so many opportunities that are going to come up with this experience for me. I’d also love to look into acting and check out the whole entertainment industry. I started dancing when I was three years old and wended I was eighteen. I love performing. I love all of those aspects. Yeah, modeling is definitely going to be something I’m going to try out, and we’ll see how it goes!
Q: You mentioned you knew Mollie Sue from a previous cycle. How did you know her, and what sort of advice did she give you to prepare you for the show? Finally, what is she up to now?
Janet: Mollie Sue lives in Tampa, and I say that I’m from South Georgia on the show because that is my hometown, but I’ve lived in Tampa as well for the past two years. Her husband—it was her fiancé on the show, but now it’s her husband—and my boyfriend work together. He’s not in the military but at a bar in the city. So, they work together there on the weekends as a little side job, so that is how I knew her. She is now doing great. She signed with Elite in New York, and she just got done doing a handful of shows at New York Fashion Week. She just got back from London and Milan, and she was in Italian Vogue. Mollie Sue is definitely living out the dream and what can become of you if you are America’s Next Top Model. I didn’t really get to speak to her a whole bunch during the process of me making the first cut until I got into the house, because she was out of the country. She just said, “Do the best you can and obviously no mater whether you win or lose, the opportunities are endless for you.” And, she’s shown that.
Q: What sorts of things would you have done differently knowing what you know now?
Janet: You know, it’s hard to say what I would have done differently. I definitely wouldn’t have been more dramatic or caused more drama in the house because I’m happy with the maturity level that I portrayed there. It showed that I’m serious about what I want to do, and I’ll be easily worked with. I don’t know. Maybe, if I could have just gotten out of my mind the sadness of not being able to see my boyfriend for so long and then knowing that he was coming home while I was gone. Kind of put that in the back of my mind and given it a little more of who I was and given it everything, then maybe I would have gone a bit further. But, really, I went into this knowing nothing about the modeling industry—never doing any of it, and the fact that I did well and improved and learned while filming a show for national television, I’m pretty happy with that. I don’t know of anything I would change. I’m just going to take everything I know now and go forth. Become very successful.
Q: What was the highlight of the show for you?
Janet: The highlight of the show for me has to be when I simulated the Brazilian wax for Tyra on the cruise ship. [laughs] I was the number one downloaded video the next day for AOL, and so I thought that was pretty cool. No matter what you get downloaded for, you get recognition. It was awesome because very few people know about what goes on in an aesthetician’s life, and it’s not just for Brazilian waxing. It’s for everything—skincare, and makeup artistry, and a whole bunch of things. It’s fun to add a bit of humor to what you do, and it was great that Tyra put herself out there and climbed up there and interacted with me and put herself on my level, even though she is so much more advanced and so much more successful at her age, you know. Yeah, that’s probably my favorite moment when I gave Tyra what she calls her kitty cat wax.
Q: Do you still keep in touch with any of the girls from the show?
Janet: Sure! Yeah. It hasn’t been long since we saw each other, but Kim lives in Ocala, and she is pretty close to me. That’s only an hour away from here. She came over for a play one night, and her dad took pictures of us, and we hung out and had some dinner. We E-mail, of course. Since we have so many ways of communication, I do keep in touch with them, and I do talk to Lisa, just randomly. But, I know everyone else is just as busy as I am with trying to pursue what they want to do and also fitting that in to their normal life, so, yeah, we keep in touch.
Q: What do you think of being likened to Liza Minelli?
Janet: I don’t know why the Liza Minnelli. I’ve never gotten Liza Minnelli in my life. I’ve gotten Wynona Ryder. I’ve gotten Julia Roberts from the mouth down. It depends on what color hair I have and what I am. I’m kind of a chameleon, and I can change—and I have changed hair and looks a hundred times, so the makeover really didn’t scare me. I mean, of course, I guess I have a little bit more predominant nose, and my hair was dark and cut off like hers. I don’t really think we look a lot alike, but like I said before, I danced the majority of my life, and maybe the performance aspect of us is the most comparable. I don’t love it, but if I’m as successful as Liza Minnelli is, then hey, I’ll take it.
Q: Which of the girls do you think is most likely to win?
Janet: I don’t know! They love Heather, so there’s that, I guess. I don’t know how she’ll be as a spokesperson for Cover Girl since her social skills aren’t as good as another person, but that’s just her and that’s okay. That’s great. Heather has done an amazing job for who she is and what she has to battle with. Chantal, she’s just got that high-fashion kind of girl look. She is tall, skinny, and she loves it, and she wants it. She’s practiced it for a long time. Then, I love Lisa, as well, because I just think she is such a real person, and she is very genuine, and I’d love to see her achieve that, too. I mean, any girl that is born 6’2” is made for it, so, I hope that she is successful, as well. But, I don’t know. We’ll see.
Q: How did your experience compare and contrast to how you thought it would be?
Janet: Oh, my gosh! It was totally different. My experience was definitely totally different, and people ask me all the time, you know, when they see me on the street, or my family members ask would I’d do it again. I would do it again but with different expectations. It’s hard to say. When you watch it forever, you expect certain things out of it, but I feel like I learned more watching other episodes and it being condensed into that, than when I was on it. Just a lot of how you get separated from reality a bunch. I expected it to be a little bit more lax, but we really were escorted to and from the bathroom. I mean, it’s a big deal, but they are responsible for us. The confidentiality of the show is so big because everyone is dying to know a) who makes the season and then each week who gets eliminated, so if any of that leaks then it’s ended for them, so I completely understand that they err of the side of caution. But, it was definitely different than I thought it would be. But, I mean, not bad. Not better or worse, but just different.
Q: You mentioned that you changed your hair a lot. Does that mean you’ve changed since you got your makeover on the show?
Janet: I’m growing my hair a little bit, actually. That’s impossible for a girl who cuts her hair all the time for real, but it’s the same color, basically. It’s a little bit lighter now—like a dark brown. I’m going to grow is just so if I do go out and get an agency, they’ll have a bit more versatility. I have my first situation that I’m possibly going to model in next weekend. It’s for a hair show for Aveda in Miami, so no telling what they will do to my hair, then, but they’re paying me for it, so I’m okay with that! I’ve had my hair everywhere. I’ve shaved my head myself. I’ve been pink. I’ve been long, short, extensions, so the one thing about hair is that it always grows back. [laughs]
Q: What was it like for you getting to work with figure skater, Lloyd Eisler?
Janet: That was cool. I love any kind of athletics or anything that is kind of outdoorsy. I love it. I play tennis, and I dance. I love anything that is active, so I’ve ice skated a number of times in my life. So, that was pretty easy for me, but it was freezin’ in there. It was really fun.
Q: It was an ice skating rink. Of course it was cold!
Janet: I know, right?! Well, when you stand in there to film for an hour in a tank-top, and then you try to go out there and get flipped over some little dude’s shoulder, but it was fun! The little guys were like totally intimidated by all of us, and they were half our height. It was great. It was great to interact with someone outside of just the girls, so I always love that.
Q: Finally, what would you like to say to everyone who was a fan and supporter of you while you were on the show?
Janet: Oooooh! I would say thank you so much! It was a lot of hard work, and you wonder—you always wonder—if it was worth it or if it was something you should have done. When someone randomly comes up to you and asks for you to take your picture or whatever, it’s such a wonderful compliment, and I want to say “thank you” and keep your eyes peeled ‘cause you’ll be seeing me.
Q: I realize that they made a lot of changes this time around as far as the nonsmoking, and the environment, and just being more conscious of the roles that you portray, and that seems to be a huge concern for you. Is there anything, any other changes you see the show can make that would be more of a better role-model for those younger kids that are watching?
Janet: Sure, yeah! I think it’s great they have been really proactive about being green, and I think this is wonderful because the next generations need to be aware of that to make sure we keep this place a beautiful place for them. I think it’s great that they stopped smoking because I stopped smoking probably six months or a year before that, so it was great to have that. That helped to not fall back into it when all the girls were out there smoking, and you’re all stressed out. I think the biggest change that Top Model could do is to focus less on the drama of the girls and more on the actual aspect of modeling, and the work that goes into it, and the things that you should learn. Just the whole process—the whole process of becoming a better model and each girl’s progress. I think that the show would be a little more successful because I feel like The CW network thinks that the most important thing or the ratings come from the drama. While some of them may, the reason I watch it and all my friends watch it is to see what the next photo-shoot is going to be. See what the next makeover is. See how this girl interprets her character. So for the main reasons it’s being watched as that, and I think if The CW network followed each girl and really stayed true to the industry, instead of catching all the crap in between, I think it would be a better look for The CW, and it would be better for all the younger viewers, and it would be just as successful.
Q: Now, you mentioned that you felt that you had at least three strikes against you with being short, and curvy, and a little bit more mature than the other girls. Did you feel you had to over-compensate, and if so, what did you do to just kind of stand out from the other girls.
Janet: Well, short is like I don’t know who is short or not. 5”8” is not short in a regular day, and on most other seasons, a lot of girls were 5’7” to 5’10”, so it would’ve have been right there with them, but we just had an unusually tall season. I mean, at least half of the girls were six-foot tall or above. So, it was me being a bit shorter this season, and if you ask anybody that sees me or knows me very well, they’d be like, “Janet is as big as a, you know, teeny-tiny little pencil straw.” But, I do have some hips. I have a butt; it runs in my family, but I’m proud of that. There is so much right now going on about how girls are too thin, and the modeling industry is expecting girls to be too small, so, hopefully, that will all get sorted out, and they realize that smaller girls are great, and, like, my size, that not to ever do it. I would definitely fall right in the “go zone” for modeling, I guess. But, I am 22. Mollie Sue is 26 years-old, and she is handling her career so well, and it’s just totally taken off. The girls that are 18 years-old, yeah, they may look young, and they may photograph really well, but will they be responsible enough, or will they have enough self-discipline to handle all the calls or all of the responsibilities that they’ll have to encounter as a model and all the things they’ll have to do? I think I will be able to. I don’t know. I think 22 is a little bit old to start modeling, but I have many years to go, so no problem.
Q: You guys were exposed to so many topnotch professionals. Is there anyone in particular that stands out and any lesson in particular that you learned from them?
Janet: Oh, we worked with a ton of great people. That’s for sure. I don’t know! Mr. Jay’s brutal honesty was really helpful a lot. He just told you what he saw or what he felt. Sometimes, it hurt your feelings, but it was honest, and it was constructive criticism. If at that time it seemed like he was picking on you, it was just because you were an emotional wreck from all the stress that goes into making the show and trying to do your best. I guess when you take in a lot of things that he said, not one particular thing, but at panel there are a lot of things that you learn when you’re there, and I think last night I was really concerned about having my underwear hang out on national television, and I didn’t know if it was appropriate. Well, I had a shoot for that to happen, and I learned last night that for an editorial or high-fashion, you just get the shot—no matter what, and they’ll go back and edit, but in catalog, you have to make sure that you are all put together. Your bra straps are away, and your underwear are away, and you’re not hanging out. So, that was cool. Just little bits and pieces of information through the time that we were there definitely help you understand the industry better, then you can be a bit more successful than another girl.
Q: Finally, what would you consider to be the most memorable part of this experience for you?
Janet: It’s crazy. The whole thing was like a big blur. I mean, the time passed by so quickly, but, yet, some days seems like they lasted forever. I guess the most memorable moment had to have been when I spanked Tyra. [laughs] Not very many people can say that they’ve done that, so I think that’s pretty awesome. [laughs]
Many thanks to THE CW and Janet for this interview opportunity!
Photo credit: THE CW
Originally Posted by Wiest;2619937; 
She was pretty talkative, sounds like she has a lot to look forward to in the future. Her take on Bianca was pretty interesting, too.
