by Kylene Hamulak

America's Next Top Model: College Edition is down to just four girls, and the most recent eliminee was the beautiful (and sometimes bitchy!) Kristin Kagay. Kristin's honest opinions didn't always make her the most popular girl in the house, but her natural beauty made her a fan favorite on social media pretty early on. Reality Wanted caught up with Kristin in an exclusive interview where she shared told us about what audiences didn't see, which of the girls she's kept in touch with, and why we shouldn't call her a "mean girl" anymore!

Q. Kylene, Reality Wanted: How did Top Model become your path into modeling?
A. Kristin: Honestly, I was just sitting around and wondering if I could make it on the show so I looked online and I searched and waited for auditions to come around. I went to Tallahassee, which is just three hours from where I'm at now, and I did the cattle call. I got called back to New York, and then I got my callback to LA. It all happened so quickly, it was just really crazy that I was actually out there.

Q. Kylene, Reality Wanted: Had you tried pursuing modeling in the past at all?
A. Kristin: This was pretty much my first-ever modeling experience. I've been told I should do it, but I'd never really taken it seriously or been interested. I literally one day was like, "I wonder what I could do with this," and I tried out and I made it!

Q. Kylene, Reality Wanted: Throughout the cycle, your "pretty face" seemed to be more of a liability than an asset, as the judges at times seemed to hold it against you and expect that much more. Did you find that frustrating or more motivation to make it as a model post show?
A. Kristin: I kind of thought it was frustrating in the beginning, and I didn't quite understand what they were saying and it didn't make sense to me. I kind of figured it out as the weeks went on. Before I came out, like I said, having no modeling experience, I had always watched the show, and it always focused on the face. Completely just the face. I didn't even realize that you actually have to do stuff with your body when you're modeling until I got out there. So I think they took me as only knowing how to work my face as just relying on my looks, so after a couple weeks and after some instruction, I think I kind of started to get what they were saying about "You can't just depend on your looks, and you actually have to model." So I can see where they're coming from a little bit there.

Q. Kylene, Reality Wanted: You took on the role of "Mean Girl" from day one and consistently played that part. Is that the real Kristin, or was it "Reality TV Kristin" in an attempt to make yourself stand out on the show?
A. Kristin: Everyone keeps saying "Mean Girl", I don't think that I was ever mean! I was definitely just honest and myself the whole time. I think that I was a victim of editing; I don't think my whole personality was shown. I think everyone gets angry, everyone gets stressed out, and everyone obviously talks trash. You're thrown into a house with 12 random girls you don't know, and you're forced to be around each other for 24/7 with no computer, no tv, barely any phone - I mean, you're gonna have a show. You're gonna have drama, and you're gonna have a show. I don't think the show aired anybody else's negatively as much as they aired mine, and I don't think they aired any positive for me, so.... What you see on TV is, in fact, how I am, but there's much more to me than just what you see on TV. Sometimes I just want to be like, "Everyone needs to just calm down a little bit, I don't know why everybody's freaking out..." It's just funny. It's a funny situation.

Q. Kylene, Reality Wanted: Would you have had a different approach if the social media had been live as the show was airing, instead of based only on the pictures?
A. Kristin: If they were showing our whole season live, showing the episodes that they put together, and THEN let social media watch it and THEN judge, it would be different. I don't know...that's a difficult question. I wouldn't change, I would act the same, but I think that social media would see it differently if it was live because they would be able to see the other side of me. I know I kind of just keep repeating myself, but there's so much that's not show. They have so much footage that they can do whatever they want with it. It's difficult for people to understand that and be able to say, "well, we see what we see on TV, so that must be how you act all the time." Sometimes even watching myself, I would cringe and I would be like, "Good Lord! Enough negativity in one episode for me," because that's all that would be shown.

Q. Kylene, Reality Wanted: You weren't shy about not liking a lot of the girls and even upon your elimination said you were happy you wouldn't have to interact with them anymore. Have you held to that or have you been in touch with any of them since?
A. Kristin: I was really angry at that point, I had my interview, I'd been just eliminated. I talk to Laura - I just Skyped with Laura and saw her animals the other day. I've seen Allyssa multiple times because Allyssa just lives in Tallahassee, which is three hours from me, so I've seen her multiple times, I talk to her like once a week. I talk to Brittany, I pretty much try to keep in contact with all the girls except for the few that I didn't like. And half of them, it's just like...its so weird, I'll watch the show, and I'll be like...do I get mad that they're talking shit? Or is there anything I can even do about it? Because I'll probably never have to be in that position ever again, so it's weird.

Q. Kylene, Reality Wanted: What was your favorite challenge to participate in?
A. Kristin: My favorite challenge would have to be the "go see," I had so much fun on the go see with Brit. We just really enjoyed that one, and I liked how it actually had to do with modeling and it actually taught us something that would have to be used in the real modeling world.

Q. Kylene, Reality Wanted: As a Communications student, you've got a pretty broad spectrum of professional possibilities - what type of career do you plan to pursue?
A. Kristin: I want to continue modeling, but I wanna do...it's so hard to answer that question! I feel like I'm so young and I haven't quite figured it out! Definitely would love to model, that would just be awesome. But if that doesn't work out, I really want to stay in doing a fast paced lifestyle, up and go, be here one day, be there the next day. I just like to keep myself busy and not be stuck in an office all day. I haven't quite figured out what I'm going to do - YET! - so it's up in the air. I just know that I want to do something that I really enjoy doing. I pretty much just want to love what I do, which...it's really not work if you love what you do!

Q. Kylene, Reality Wanted: So what's next for you - are there any upcoming projects that you're excited about?
A. Kristin: I'm getting back to school - I took a break from school since I've been on the show, but I'm actually going up to my school for a little bit today to get back enrolled, and I'm excited for that. I've been kind of just relaxing and working, so I'm definitely pumped to get back into school!

America's Next Top Model: College Edition airs Fridays at 8/7c on the CW!

(Image courtesy of The CW)