Back at it again! Here’s the transcript of Oliver’s interview with Jaslene. It gets cut short because Jaslene doesn’t have much time so it’s essentially just a description of her audition processes and Roll Call, but Oliver is hopeful they can do a Part 2 where they get deeper into the episodes and photo shoots and fan questions like he usually does.
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Jaslene was a big fan of the show from the start. She never really had the desire to audition until a few cycles in when she realized how little Latina representation there was on the show.
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She made it her goal to be the first Latina winner and purposely decided that she wanted to be seen in person at a casting call since she thought online applications would get lost easily. There weren’t live auditions in major cities at the time so she rented a car and drove 6 hours to Cleveland, Ohio
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She ended up having to extend her stay in Cleveland because she kept making it through the process, eventually getting cast by Michelle Mock (original casting director of ANTM)
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She remembers how packed the rooms were during the process to the point where the girls were touching shoulders when they lined up. It was here that she realized how important it was to stand out with the little bit of time they had to make an impression.
Cycle 7
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Oliver asks what her C7 experience was like, and if she’d like to elaborate on the rumors that issues in her personal life prevented her from making the final cast. Jaslene has spoken on this before so she has no problem addressing it. During the casting process the girls are put through several interviews with psychological professionals, and she spoke very freely about her life, including her relationship at the time which was what she described as “high and low”.
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She remembers being singled out among the girls to have one more “therapy” session, and she was alone in this one. This was right before the final cast was chosen.
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After the final callout and not making the cast, Jaslene was pissed and refused to do any interviews or final shots. Production took her aside and let her know that she was Tyra’s #1 choice, but the psych team overruled her because from the way she talked to them they gathered that she was in an abusive relationship and not emotionally ready to be on the show. This was the first time she’d ever heard the word abuse about her relationship.
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The producers told her if she went home and worked on herself mentally and emotionally, she’d have a guaranteed spot next cycle. She went through 6 months of therapy, during which she did a lot of learning about abuse and what constitutes a healthy relationships. Aside from a couple of instances of returning to him early on, she split from that boyfriend, came back for C8, and the rest was history.
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She’s grateful because if the show hadn’t given her the awareness, she wouldn’t have gone on the healing journey and become the advocate for domestic violence awareness she is now. To end the segment, Jaslene advises anyone watching to not be afraid to speak up about their experiences.
Cycle 8
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How was boot camp? It was definitely a real bootcamp experience. They really slept in bunk beds and trekked through mud. She still has her combat boots from it. It was also the first taste of how much “torture” reality tv could be.
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Did you feel like the boot camp was necessary? She pauses but says that she thinks everything they did was necessary, even if it didn’t feel like it at the time.
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What do you remember about your approach to C8/coming across more “calm” as Tyra said? She was just presenting a more grown, humbled approach to the judges. She also says that she was taking C8 much more seriously, joking that she didn’t have her “pack of drag queens” that she had with her to help prep like when she auditioned the first time. She also wanted to make sure she showed off that 6 months of therapy.
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Oliver asks her to elaborate on the pack of drag queens comment. She literally had a bunch of drag queen friends. She was a singer/dancer for years before ANTM, and part of a big crew that was well known in their community. She even used to perform as a backup dancer at the drag shows at 21. Oliver asks her to show off the singing voice, and they do a little impromptu duet on Selena’s Como La Flor.
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Oliver notes that it’s funny to learn she actually was so immersed in drag culture and it wasn’t just a running joke on the set. Jaslene says she absolutely ran with her pack of drag queens, and even performed at The Baton (legendary drag performance lounge in Chicago) when she was a teenager. Her drag name “Cha-Cha Diva” was given to her by Miss J, not by any of her friends.
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What are your thoughts on all the drama in casting with Natasha? Was she being intentionally antagonistic? Looking back on it, she had a very different personality than everyone else which naturally was off-putting to a lot of girls, including her.
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Were you shocked that you made it into the house or scared you wouldn’t? She was definitely going through some initial shock and remembers hiding from the camera/not going into the confessional in those first moments.. She was also nervous about articulating things because she was concerned about sounding too “hood” or mixing things up being bilingual.
Roll Call:
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Kathleen: Sweetheart
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Samantha: She says “Crybaby”, but then switches to “Baby Girl”. Oliver says that in his chats with other C8 girls it’s been hinted that Samantha’s elimination had more to do with some BTS issues. Jaslene says S just seemed naturally timid and could have given up and not wanted to be there, she doesn’t remember any specific drama though.
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Cassandra: She says Sweetheart for her too. Oliver and J talk about her getting frostbite on her hand during the ice cream shoot and about her infamous wig being sewn on. Oliver says the judges made fun of her but she was a trendsetter and didn’t even know it. Jaslene says Cassandra was one of the first girls Jaslene could open up to.
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Felicia: “More limbs than a giraffe”, that’s the first thing she remembers. Oliver asks if she was shocked when she went home so early, Jaslene immediately says no. She says that Felicia was probably her least favorite person to compete with, they didn’t mesh personally and Felicia was the only one who really got into it with her. At the time Jaslene wasn’t confident in her ability to take someone down with words (in English) and would’ve beat her up or read her down in Spanish if she could.
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Diana: She pauses for a while here and can only say “Cute”. Oliver brings up her infamous “just cuz” moment and Jaslene reiterates that a lot of girls didn’t have a narrative, and her being prepared definitely was a big asset to her.
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Sarah: Quirky. Oliver asks if Jaslene saw Sarah as big competition, she says no. She says that she would’ve thought Samantha would have lasted longer than Sarah based on modeling potential.
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Whitelle: Jaslene loves her. They lived together briefly in New York and are still friends to this day.
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Jael: She was a rockstar on the season. Jaslene always felt that her biggest competitors were more personality based than modeling, and Jael was one of the biggest (said with love). Jaslene knew she had the upper hand in the modeling element but knew that Jael had the most amazing personality for reality tv. Touches on her (and Renee’s) tragic post-ANTM trajectory and says that looking back there were definitely some signs that she had a rough backstory which shaped how she’d react to things. She remembers Jael wasn’t catty at all and was always more invested in the other girls’ successes than her own chances at winning.
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Did you stay in contact with her post show? No, but she saved the letter Jael wrote her after her elimination.
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What is your reaction to Jael’s story post-ANTM, specifically the era of her appearance on Dr. Phil? She was deeply saddened and shocked that she looked like a completely different person, but she was happy to see she was getting her life back on track before her untimely passing. Oliver plugs his interview with Brittany, who was close with Jael post-show and gave a lovely tribute to her.
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Brittany: The first word that comes to mind is “pigeon”, because she remembers her birdlike features. She really did whine as much as it was shown. Jaslene felt a lot of things triggered Brittany. Oliver asks if she felt Brittany was tough competition, and she says definitely, and she realized specifically that she’d be strong competition during the photo shoot with past contestants where Brittany was paired with Amanda and Michelle.
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What was your reaction to her go-see meltdown? She was a mess (jokingly giving a nod to her terrible makeover weave, I think Jaslene thinks the question is about Brittany's makeover here)
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Dionne: A beauty, very stunning and peaceful. They got along well, but she never saw her as a threat because her essence was more beautiful girl than model.
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Renee: She pauses here because she doesn’t want to kick someone when they’re down. She says “Renee was a pair of white sunglasses in a box of black sunglasses, and white sunglasses are a fashion faux pas”. She doesn’t elaborate and leaves it at that.
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What was your reaction to Renee’s story post-ANTM? Another unfortunate situation, especially because she has kids. Brings up again the experience of living with her and getting a glimpse of her background and the things both pre and during ANTM that could have affected her that way.
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Natasha: “The Russian Bride”. They joke about her marriage storyline, and Jaslene says she sees her on instagram all the time now looking like a whole different person. She also brings up that she never sees any signs of the child Natasha was always talking about on the show. Oliver wonders what exactly Natasha does these days, and the two of them get into a conversation about Russian models and influencers.
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Did you think Natasha would beat you? At the end she was briefly concerned that they’d pull a reality-tv switchup and crown her at the last minute. Oliver mentions how the final panel critiques seemed to skew more positively towards Natasha’s runway walk, and Jaslene says that her walk was definitely stronger than Natasha’s.
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Sutan (aka Raja): He loved her, and always called dibs on doing her makeup on set. They used to gossip and Kiki on set all the time. At the final runway he saw her walk and said “girl you GOT this”. Was very much a big sister to Jaslene.
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Mr. Jay: Silence. She’s able to say “Blue Steel” and “Silver Fox”. As a fan before a contestant, she was excited to meet and work with him. He was always nice and never seemed to play favorites.
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Twiggy: She didn’t see her much outside of panel. She took everything Twiggy said to heart because she knew what an icon she was.
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Nigel: She loves Nigel, and just saw him recently. He was always supportive of her, and has told her that she was his winner the moment he met her.
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Miss J: “Miss Ruffles”. She credits Miss J with teaching her how to properly walk a runway, and still uses tips from Miss J to this day, even from the high school track teach. Unsurprisingly she adores Miss J like everyone else.
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Tyra: She loves her, though she is aware she’s probably one of the few contestants who would truly honor her. She definitely remembers her being more stoic in person and not getting the 1:1 interaction that a lot of girls likely expect when joining. She is grateful and humbled to have been on the show and won, but she definitely acknowledges that Tyra is the head of ANTM and suspects that she doesn’t want any of her girls to get bigger than her.
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What’s your reaction to all of the criticism Tyra’s gotten over the years? Jaslene says that she thinks that overall ANTM has done enough good for a lot of people’s lives that should be taken into consideration. She wishes that ANTM would have been able to branch out and expand into the type of success that shows like Drag Race has today.
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They cut the interview here because Jaslene has to go, but she ends by showing love to everyone in the chat for supporting her for all of these years.