20-year-old Mila Bosonowa didn’t necessarily grow up wanting to be a model. Signed at the age of 15, she tried it out and then, took a break from it. When cycle 9 of America’s Next Top Model auditions came around, she decided to audition and made it into the final 13. While some of the judges were unsure of her modeling capabilities, Tyra stuck up for her, feeling she deserved to be there. Mila became the first to be eliminated after her performance in the anti-smoking photo shoot. When she was supposed to be portraying someone who had gone through chemotherapy, she couldn’t seem to stop laughing. During judging, Tyra and the others felt she just didn’t absorb what they said and she was eliminated. This week, Mila took the time to talk to BuddyTV about her time on Top Model and spoke out about the case of the giggles that sent her home.
Below, you will find the complete transcript and mp3 of the interview.
Hey everybody, this is Gina from BuddyTV and I’m talking to Mila from America’s Next Top Model. How are you, Mila?
Good, thank you. How are you?
I’m good, thanks. Well, can you tell me how long you’ve wanted to be a model? Is that something that was a childhood dream of yours?
You know, when I was younger, I had a contract when I was like, 15-years-old. Every two years people would, like, doubt me, so I never just really pursued it because I was in school, I don’t know. I just kept getting asked to do it, and I never really pursued it and then this time I just “OK, why not, I’ll just do it.”
Had you watched previous seasons of Top Model?
Before I had met the casting associate, I never really watched it, but afterwards I was like, “I have to see it, I have to see what happens.” I did watch many episodes.
So this cycle was your first time trying out?
Yeah.
And what was that experience like, because from the minute you guys got there, you were whisked away to go do a photo shoot and meet Tyra. What was that experience like?
It was just very exciting, there was so much going on. All the girls were hoping to get into the house, obviously. The whole experience was very exciting and very new.
It seemed like there was drama right off the bat between Bianca and Lisa. What was your take on that?
On the show, you see Bianca calling out Lisa for being, I guess, she’s a dancer. I don’t know, I think it’s just part of Bianca’s personality that she wanted to call people out. If that’s what she wanted to do, that’s OK.
It seemed like Heather was sort of left on her own and not very many people were talking to her. I don’t know if that was just editing or if that’s really what happened. Were people friendly with Heather?
I think it’s really very, very overdramatized on TV. It shows Heather always on her own and the girls talking behind her back, but really, Heather did interact very much with other girls. Everybody interacted and the show is definitely edited for more drama.
When you guys found out that this season you would be going green and then your first photo shoot would be anti-smoking, what was your opinion on the fact that it was so political and it was controversial?
I think it’s really good that they’re showing on television the going green thing, and trying to conserve water and energy and just not be wasteful. I think it’s great to send that message out there and just to show that on a show like America’s Next Top Model that it can be trendy, and little girls will watch and be like, “Oh, that’s cool, I want to do that.” I think it’s great to show a younger generation that it’s cool to go green, I guess.
We’ve definitely seen models on previous cycles smoking in the house. When Tyra said that this season would be smoke-free, were there any girls who were upset or surprised?
I think we were all a little surprised when she said that, because on all the previous cycles, everybody smoked and everybody was allowed to smoke if they had wanted to. There weren’t many smokers this cycle anyway, and one girl said that she was already trying to quit smoking before she went into the house, so hopefully this was an extra incentive for her. I mean, as far as I know no one was really upset, but I wasn’t there for when we came back, you know.
Right. Now when Tyra said there would be no smoking this season, did she say what the penalty would be if someone was caught smoking, would that mean that they were taken out of the competition?
You know, she didn’t say any penalties, she just said no smoking. So I have no idea what happened. I’m curious to watch, actually.
When you guys were in judging, were you surprised that you ended up being in the bottom two? How did you think you did in the photo shoot?
I think, on TV, when I watched myself during the episode, with me laughing, I think the way it’s edited, I seem very obnoxious and I regret that that was shown on TV and just me not taking it seriously at all. Because I did take the photo shoot seriously, I just, like, everybody was trying to have a good time and we were all just laughing and trying to enjoy ourselves. And all it shows is just me laughing and sitting there and laughing. You know, I wish I didn’t laugh.
Yeah, there were people who criticized you for laughing, but I figured that there might be more to the story that you might want to share so that people didn’t get the wrong impression.
Yeah, definitely, there was a lot going on. The makeup artists were making me laugh when they were doing my makeup. All the girls… Bianca was laughing, you’ll see it, and I understand, of course, there’s gonna be bad vibes. That’s OK. I watched it and I thought it was ridiculous.
Since you’ve left the show, is your plan to still pursue modeling?
Yeah, I would love to pursue modeling. I live in New York now, I go to school here and I do have time to pursue it, so I think it would be great.
OK, well I just wanted to thank you for your time, Mila, and we really liked watching you on the show, and I wish you good luck in your modeling career.
Thank you very much.
– Gina Scarpa, BuddyTV Staff Writer
(Image courtesy of CW)
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
