Ufuoma Itoje was booted out of the Britain and Ireland’s Next Top Model house last night for being a bit too cheerful during the naked challenge, but she insists that Elle chose the wrong picture! We chatted to her about the amount of crying in the house, Stacey’s ‘great tits’ and why Amy now looks like Noel Fielding..
We were a bit gutted to see you go last night! Talk us through it..
I thought I might be going after the nude shoot – it wasn’t one of my best. I thought it would be either me or Stacey to get the chop and so it proved..
It must have been a crazy week? You had a make-over and then a naked shoot..
Yeah I was comfortable being naked, it was just the wig-wearing that was quite uncomfortable for me. I’m not sure why I had to wear one straight after getting my hair done but it didn’t really help because I couldn’t move about too much. But I thought I would be fine because we had all been preparing for the shoot mentally since the night before, but they kind of sprang the wig on me! I didn’t really get into the shoot quickly enough..
Do you think Elle picked your best shot?
Well the judges picked up on the fact that it was a very smiley shot, but that was the only time I smiled during the whole shoot! When Elle was saying ‘This is your best shot’ I was surprised (laughs). I didn’t want to smile! It was literally the end of the shoot, I was just getting up and I laughed at something someone said and they took the shot! You can see I’m just getting up.. I’d rather they had picked another shot to be fair..
At least you got a free haircut before you left..
Yeah mine was fine, but Amy’s was definitely the worst..
Yeah she looked a bit like that bloke off The Mighty Boosh afterwards..
Noel Fielding? (laughs) maybe..
Do you think she’ll do well in the series? She seems very fragile..
Yes she came across as being quite insecure and she was always making excuses for herself when things didn’t quite go her way. You can’t change her face though, that’s why she’s there – she’s kind of like Marmite I think. When it comes to her body, I don’t think she’s modelled very well, so I’m hoping that she’s going to improve a bit or she’ll probably get kicked out..
How about the girl you were up against in the final two?
Stacey knows how to model. She’s small but once she’s on a set she knows how to work it..
Do you think it’s right that someone that thin should stay in when you consider how BINTM have made efforts to go against size zero culture?
Well she’s not anorexic – she’s a 28D, she’s got big boobs. I know she’s eating and you can’t be anorexic and have.. tits. I think she’s just a really thin girl. Jade is small as well but because she’s got more shape to her she doesn’t get so much attention for it. With regard to Size Zero, you can pretend not to like it, but it’s still a big part of the modelling culture..
You seemed like a calm influence in the house during your time on the show, were you surprised by the amount of crying that was going on around you?
Some girls were so senstive, you couldn’t say anything without them going ‘what you mean?!’ so you had to be very aware of everything you said. Everyone’s obviously got some insecurities about their body and that environment will test those insecurities. Some people got a bit worked up over it but that’s just the way they are. To be surrounded by your competition all the time is pretty intense..
So who was the worst?
I thought Kim, who left last week, was the worst to be honest. After the catwalk challenge someone said something to her and on the way home she started crying and she just didn’t stop! It’s like; “You said you couldn’t walk well, so why are you getting upset when someone else said it?”
Last year the girl who got the shortest haircut during the make-over ended up taking the title. Do you think that could happen again with Juste?
I really got on with Juste, some people were accusing her of being over-confident, but people just asked about what she’d done beofre she came in and she was telling them. I think some other people were getting quite intimidated by her, but she wasn’t really bragging about it. I think she’s quite popular with the judges and most of the girls I really think she could win – she looks like a model already..
