by Lisa J. Tabet
Daily Lobo
Elyse Sewell, a 21-year-old UNM alumna and local clinical researcher who aspires to be a doctor, was voted off of "America's Next Top Model," a UPN reality series Tuesday night after becoming one of three finalists in the eight-week competition.
The television series, made popular for its risquÇ content including a series of bikini waxes done on camera, subjected 10 gorgeous women to a fashion model boot camp. A panel of judges eliminated one woman a week after critiquing her supermodel potential.
Sewell, who graduated with degrees in Biology and Spanish from UNM in only three years, was billed as the show's "high fashion pre-med student."
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She and the other contestants were sent to New York City and Paris to immerse themselves into the world of modeling, all the time under 24-hour surveillance by cameras, which served to highlight conflicts among the girls.
Not immune to the continuous fighting that occurred in the house that all 10 contestants shared during the filming of the show, Sewell was continuously harassed for her atheistic beliefs by some of the other more religious contestants.
This tension climaxed when Robin Manning, the self-proclaimed ultra-religious individual in the house asked Sewell to read aloud from her Bible.
Sewell's eating habits were also scrutinized. In return, Sewell consistently criticized the girls she was running against, and the modeling industry as a whole.
She was noted by the show's judges for saying: "I don't have the will to walk on the catwalk. I don't want to be a model. I don't. I can't. It's so irrelevant. Eliminate me!"
Gaining a reputation among her fellow contestants for being intelligent and worldly, she carved a niche for herself among the other, more traditional girls.
Adrianne Curry, a 20-year-old waitress from Joliet, Ill., won the contest. She will appear in Marie Claire magazine, receive a contract from Revlon and management by the Wilhelmina modeling agency.
Sewell and her family declined to comment.
"It sucks to lose," Sewell said on camera after the judges booted her. "But the decision has been made for me. I'll be a doctor instead of a top model."
