by Mike Bandy

 

Last night on America's Next Top Model, Esther, the 18-year-old student from Boston, Massachusetts, was the eighth girl to be eliminated. Esther had great photos, but struggled in her commercial for H2T Water, and the judges did not feel she'd brought out enough of her personality to stay in the competition. We spoke to Esther about her time in the house, her thoughts on being eliminated, and what's coming up next for her.

 

Q. Mike, RealityWanted: You are an Orthodox Jew; in casting, you said that you keep the sabbath, and on last week's episode, you talked a bit about keeping kosher in the Top Model house. How did your religion play into your time on ANTM, and did it cause any difficulties for you?
A. Esther: It didn't really cause any difficulties in the sense that it was something I had to deal with. On top model, it was definitely something to be worked around that the other girls didn't have, but that I had to. The Top model house is very stressful, so it was just another thing to focus on, but I did it.

 

Q. Mike, RealityWanted: The judges seemed to have an issue with your personality and said that you weren't bringing it out. What do you think was holding you back from showing your personality in the competition?
A. Esther: I think in the competition what was holding me back was thinking that back home, some people weren't really too thrilled with me being on Top Model, so I think part of it was that I had them in the back of my mind, wondering if they would be okay with it, and thinking that some people would probably be pissed off. That's fine, it was my decision to go on the show, and some people have been upset about it, but the judges not seeing my personality didn't change [those people's] opinion. I had it in the back of my mind that my sister, my principal, my 8th grade science teacher is going to see this, so I was worried about what people would think. It terrified me that people wouldn't be happy with me when I got home.

 

Q. Mike, RealityWanted: Which girls do you keep in contact with?
A. Esther: That's the first time anyone's asked that! I keep in touch with Lexie, Rihanna, and Jane. We have a little Facebook thread going...I haven't really been that good about keeping in touch, because every time I go on Facebook, it's like an attack of people, and it's overwhelming.

 

Q. Mike, RealityWanted: Give us some behind the scenes info: What was the funniest thing that happened in the house that wasn't shown on camera?
A. Esther: Drunk Liz was the funniest thing!  I can't think of anything...mostly just random moments. There was a hilariously awkward moment at the barbecue [with the male models], and on photo shoot days girls would mess around, [but] I can't think of anything off the top of my head specifically.

Q. Mike, RealityWanted: Which photo shoot was your favorite, and why?
A. Esther: There were a couple photo shoots that were great; the Matthew Rolston one I loved, I think all of us loved that one. The concept was great, and everything came together really well. I really loved my picture from that shot. I loved the Patrick Demarchelier one, because of working with him, and also because it was so natural, just walking down the street. In my group, I felt in control. Tyra wasn't really giving me any advice on that shoot, so that was an excellent sign to me. I [also] felt really good at the makeover photo shoot, because it was the first time I felt like a model.

 

Q. Mike, RealityWanted: Upon your elimination, you seemed very positive about continuing to model and being on the cover of Italian Vogue all on your own. Were you shocked about being eliminated, or did you have a feeling that you were going home?
A. Esther: In the deliberation room, I was telling Jane that I was going home. After panel, I knew it was coming, and Jane said that it wasn't true, that people did worse than me. I was fine with it, I had a good run. I really wish I could have done the rest of the photo shoots [in the competition], but ultimately I'm happy with the experience. I [wanted to] go down with pride and with dignity; there are ways to do everything in life, and I wanted to end it well, and knowing that I did something incredible.

 

Q. Mike, RealityWanted: What's coming up next for you?
A. Esther: I really want to continue with modeling, I don't know how, where, or what, but I definitely want to do it. There might be more opportunities open overseas than in the states that might work out, and I want to see where this career takes me.

 

America's Next Top Model airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on the CW.

 

(Image courtesy of the CW)

 

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