Throng

This week’s exciting instalment of the hit reality series America’s Next Top Model sees the winner of a pose challenge selected to work with photographer and judge Nigel Barker when the series screens on Friday, January 16th at 7:30pm on 3.

But what many fans, as well as the girls in this cycle’s competition, may not realise is that Barker himself once competed to be a “Top Model”.

Barker recently spoke about the competition that was his big break into the industry, saying it was actually his mother – who has also previously appeared on America's Next Top Model – who got him to compete.

“My mum was Miss Sri Lanka years ago, and she became obsessed with this model search show called The Clothes Show. She entered me in it in the mid 80s, and I got into the top three. I was studying to be a doctor at the time, but that show launched my modelling career,” he told stuff.co.nz.

It’s this experience that, according to Barker, gives him a unique perspective into the modelling industry, and he feels he has a good grasp on what it takes, even if it's sometimes not immediately obvious to the audience at home.

“Some [viewers] complain that a lot of the girls we select aren't even pretty enough to be models…But the thing that differentiates a top model from a regular model isn't generally that she's more beautiful. There's a lot to be said for charm and personality, or just being striking.”

“Look at Kate Moss. When she came along, people said she was too short, too flat chested and had a face like an alien. Now she's everybody's darling."

The judge also revealed that even though being part of America’s Next Top Model is a dream come true, the series is still a competition. “Of course, it's not all fun – this is a competition and each week, another girl goes home. It gets terribly sad,” he says.

“We all get really emotionally involved with the contestants, because we're with these girls for three months, and they're just teenagers, you know. Their feelings are really close to the surface.”

And it’s these feelings that often get the girls into trouble - the current cycle of the series has already seen the wannabe models fight, cry, and even quit the series.

So what further dramas are in store this week? Find out when the competition continues on America’s Next Top Model, screening on Friday, January 16th at 7:30pm on 3.

Source: www.stuff.co.nz