In April of 2006, Fans of Reality TV (FORT) interviewed Cycle 6‘s Mollie Gondi following her elimination and appearance on the show. Here is the text from the interview (written and posted by Hepcat):
America’s Next Top Model 6: Interview With Mollie Sue, 4/9/06
Last week we watched as Mollie Sue became the fifth person eliminated from cycle 6 of “America’s Next Top Model”. For veteran watchers of the show, Mollie Sue’s look was reminiscent of former contestants Amanda Swafford and Nicole Borud all wrapped up in one stunning package. But any hope that Mollie Sue could take the competition to the end started to fade when we heard the foreshadowing speeches about a lack of personality, or the tepid, “the girl who just isn’t shining enough” label of doom. In this interview, don’t be surprised if Mollie Sue displays a *gasp* personality. In fact, instead of a dull monotone, she gave her answers in a voice that was suppressing laughter most of the time. At least when she wasn’t rehashing the pain of being in the bottom two with Jade, that is.
Congratulations on getting so far in the competition – not far enough in my opinion, though.
Mine too. Thanks.
On our website, a lot of people were predicting you would be the winner by your preshow photos alone, so I can safely say you made a lot of fans.
I know, I saw that. I was kind of excited to talk to you guys.
Were you a fan of the show? Had you seen any of the previous cycles?
Of course. I was a big fan of the show.
Did you identify with any previous contestant?
Elyse, she’s more like me taste-wise. Personality-wise, I’m more like Adrianne probably. Cycle One was my favorite cycle.
What’s your opinion of your makeover?
I was thrilled. I was absolutely thrilled with my makeover. My whole thing was that they had better hack it all off or give me really long extensions, so I was really happy. I got really good feedback from it, so I was really happy.
Which photoshoot was your favorite?
The bald one, definitely. The make up was so odd, and all of us were actually looking at each other and dying laughing, but when the pictures came out, we were like, “Wow, these are really good!” I really liked my picture. It’s one of my favorite pictures ever.
At any of the photoshoots, did you feel like you had a better shot that didn’t make it to the judging panel?
That is the best question ever, because the biggest thing with the girls, we all said, “I want to see my roll of film.” Like the Little Boy Blue one, I was happy with it, but I wasn’t too happy with the closeup of it because of my nostrils were kind of big in that one. But I really trust Jay. The only reason I was really kind of mad at the pictures was the last one as a makeup artist, because it was Jay’s favorite. He told me, “You did so well, you finally did so well, I’m so proud of you!” He was so excited, so I really thought I had an amazing picture. And not that the picture was bad, but the hair – I think they could have clipped it in the back, and the angle was all off. I just felt like there could have been a better picture in there. But I trust them. That’s what they thought was the best I guess.
What did you think about what the judges said about you – all of the contestants, not just you — not being able to judge your own pictures because you couldn’t feel when the picture was right?
Yeah, at the shoot, that was Jay’s advice to me – that if it feels awkward, that could be the best shot. If you feel like you look ridiculous, it’s probably your best shot.
Were you fooled when Tyra fainted?
That was so odd because no one was running to help her! None of the camera crew stopped filming or anything. But then she shouted for the producer by name, and she wouldn’t do that – you’re not allowed to say that on TV, so we were all just wondering what was going on.
And the best part about it was after she got back up and she was so excited, she said, “We’re going to Aaa…ct this week!” We couldn’t hear her, so you can hear Danielle saying, “We’re going where?” (Laughs) And she said, “Acting school!” And seriously, our faces just frowned, and we went and sat back down. We were so ready for her to say something like, “We’re going to Korea!” or “We’re going to Paris” or whatever!
What did you think of Jade’s improv “rap”?
Honestly, she had talked so much about her poems, and her raps, and her this and her that; she said it everywhere how this was her thing, and she kept saying, “This is me this is me” – and then she comes out with it, and it was like, what are you saying? You’re not rhyming, and you’re being really mean! Like it was just the first thing out of her mouth about Furonda’s skin, and the second thing – because they had been telling Sarah that she’s a little too tall – she was like, “you’re not even supposed to be here, they don’t even want you here.” It was like, oh wow. We had made little jokes like, they shaved your head. Little things. But it got so bad.
And then afterwards, she wouldn’t do it anymore. She said, “This isn’t my kind of joking. This is mean. Who does this? This isn’t jokes.”
What?
I was like, you’re the only one doing that, babe. I mean, they show full-on her being crazy, but they missed a lot of points where she was being even crazier.
I just don’t understand Jade. She just seems…off.
It is so odd, because when we all met her in semi-finals, there was a group of us who were good friends. And when we went there, that was our group of friends: Me, Sarah, Jade – kind of the opposite of who I ended up being good friends with in the house. Once we got there, it was so backwards. She took Furonda’s rules wrong and got so mad. These little things would trigger something in her head and it set off a different person. It was just kind of scary sometimes. I was always in a different room and kept away from her as much as I could. And that’s probably why I had a lack of air time.
Okay, I’m going to read off some names, and I’d like you to tell me what you thought of them in a sentence or two. People love reading what you thought of the other girls. So…first off, an easy one:
Jade: Crazy out of her mind.
Gina: Gina was a hard one at first. Even Tyra called her the valley girl, the girl at the mall. She was just confused. Even in talking with her afterwards, she really wanted to represent Asians, but that’s not really what she represents. So it was really hard for her to back down from that. Every thing she did contradicted her initial reasons. It’s not as bad as everyone wants to make her out to be.
Furonda: Furonda is amazing. She’s one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. That first episode she comes in really strong, and all of us were kind of like, whatever. That was like, I plan on being this character, this is what I’m going to play. And once Tyra was really harsh with her, she just backed down and decided to just be Furonda. She was hilarious to be around.
Sarah, Brooke, Kari: Sarah was one of the ones – there were a handful of girls who were just nice to even exist. Sarah, Brooke, and Kari – they were so nice, it was like, “These people aren’t real.” Just really sweet, and half the time I hear Sarah commenting on the show I think it’s me, because we both have that low deep voice that comes across as really boring. But Sarah’s a sweetheart, and has her head on straight more than any girl I’ve ever met.
I don’t think you come across as boring, but I do think you didn’t get as much screen time. Some of the girls in their interviews mentioned that you were really funny in the house. We were kind of wondering, you know, where’s this person people are talking about?
Yeah, that threw everyone off. Like Danielle – she’s my best friend in the entire world. We talk every single day. And everyone’s like, “What?” Last night it showed us for a second just being us, and they didn’t – I even talked to her about it and she pointed out that they’re not going to show us together with her being funny and me being boring. It’s true! They can’t possibly show us together. We had nicknames for each other, and each week would be talking about, “What are they going to do now”…everything from us spitting water on each other to chasing each other around the house with rotten yoghurt we found. Every single day it was something. We were attached at the hip. So the only time you see us together is when we’re coming in to judging and we’re standing next to each other, or we’re sitting next to each other. She was the first person who gave me a hug, and that was the first time I saw people asking, “Why is Danielle crying? Danielle doesn’t cry, so why is she crying?” That was my only regret about the whole show.
You didn’t feel like you weren’t coming across during the show, I bet.
Right.
How about Leslie?
She’s hard. There’s nothing I can say nice about Leslie. But of all people to say is boring, me over her, was kind of upsetting. We have had what, a minute of air time of Leslie since the show started? And it’s just like, why in the world? The panel from day one just loved her, that’s all it is. Right from her first interview, she had a great interview, so they just couldn’t say bad about her. I had a bad interview my first interview, so I was typecast as boring instead of her.
What do you think about Tyra now?
I read an interview where Tyra said, “The girls love me when they make it and they hate me when they’re voted off.” And it’s true! I can’t hate her because she gave me this opportunity. I wish she would have – I don’t know, I just can’t say I hate her. It’s so hard to say because of what she did. It’s a reality show, and I have to remember that. And I know that every girl has to be typecast. I knew that coming into it, but I never would have thought that [the girl with no personality] would be mine.
It’s different when it’s you.
Yeah, but I have to respect the woman for what she’s done and what she’s done for all of these girls. I really can’t hate her at all.
What about Jay Manuel? It seemed like you two really got along.
Yeah! When I did Talk Model today, he came on and said, “I just want to tell you Mollie that you were one of my favorites definitely, and if I could come back in another life – I’d come back as you.” Everything he said, he was the only person who sat down and talked to you, and was genuine with you. You know, Tyra wouldn’t talk to us. No one else would talk to us. He would sit down and just talk to us about our relationships, and what we were doing, and it shows a clip of him getting upset that I got upset. They made it look like at that photoshoot that I got upset at what he said, but I was upset with myself. It was frustration. They showed a clip of him afterwards saying, “I really feel bad making her feel that way.” And he really did. It wasn’t just Tyra saying, “I feel bad about this.” He meant it, and he was really a good guy. And his voice is really soothing, if you haven’t noticed. (Laughs) We just liked to listen to him talk.
You know, before the cycle aired Jay Manuel did a press interview and said he was really excited to meet one girl in particular. Some people are thinking that was you, but we can’t figure out who he meant.
I know! I can’t either. Even my husband was like, “That’s you, right?” I was like, “I don’t know!” In the falling challenge, when Danielle walked out of it, he goes, “ I LOVE YOU!” He was screaming about how much he loved her. I think it could be Nnenna, or Danielle, or myself. I sometimes think Jay’s favorite is Sarah, actually, he used to call her “my beautiful giant.” I’d love to say, “Yeah, it’s me,” but I don’t know. We got along really well and he took the time out ot talk to me all the time which was really cool.
I don’t think he gets as much screen time as he could.
I know! (Laughs)
You seemed to come out of panel really haven taken the judges’ criticism to heart, whereas in contrast, Jade seemed to question the judges from the beginning and was fighting them at every turn. Are you surprised that the judges rewarded that attitude?
Yeah. It’s like, they want wild and crazy even if it’s over-the-top over the girl that they’re just not sure who she is. It’s not even that I took it so bad like they were mean to me, but I just wondered what could I do to fix this? And Jade’s was so easy to fix – just back off. It’s much easier to back off than to step it up.
Was it especially hard to lose against Jade?
Oh my God. I wish I could say, “It’s okay, she deserves it.” The craziest part is the it shows Jade at the very end hugging me. She actually got very emotional, and she just looked at me and said, “It shouldn’t be you.” I was just shocked because she just gave me this, “It should have been me”. It was so weird and awkward. I think she really meant it. You go straight into an interview afterwards, I mean they just suck you right up into interviewing, and I was so angry. I was screaming about her. My entire thing afterwards was, “I can’t believe that I was next to Jade of all people and they picked her and oh my gosh – I mean I just flipped out.”
What’s ahead for you, Mollie Sue?
I’m moving to New York next week with my fingers crossed, and just, hope. I’m hoping that the reaction I’ve got from everyone else that an agency will feel the same way. Maybe I’m the long-lost girl that some agency has been looking for. That’s what I’m hoping for.
Was there anything about you or that happened to you that we didn’t get to see?
The only things that happened here and there were the little things…like Petey and Kitty. No one understands it when I say it, but Danielle was Kitty and I was Petey. Just our little moments. After the show ended, we said we’re going to start our own reality show, the Petey and Kitty show. They haven’t shown any of it! So we were like, okay, we can’t really do that when they haven’t shown any of it. (Laughs) In this last episode, I was saying, please let them let me finish with a bang. We found a thing of rotten yoghurt in Furonda’s bathroom. We found out that Janice Dickenson told her to put yoghurt on her face to make it better. So she kept this yoghurt in her bathroom for four weeks. So we were all drinking – we didn’t know who was going next so we just said, let’s have a party for whoever is going next. So we’re drinking and we were in the bathroom and we found this stuff, and we were like, “What is this?” We started freaking out and just chasing everyone in the house with it for about an hour. Even the cameramen were falling over laughing – they were dropping their equipment. It was such a good last night, we were so excited about seeing that. And they didn’t show any of it!
Maybe it will be on the DVD.
Maybe. We got a lot of bloopers this season.
Well, are you prepared for a flood of people on your myspace now?
I love it, I’ve gotten so many nice things said about me, it’s great. I love it.
Thanks to UPN for granting the interview, and to Mollie Sue, I suspected we barely got to know you, and now I’m sure of it! Best of luck in New York.
To learn more about Cycle 6’s Mollie Gondi, visit her bio page here.
