Interview With Tyson Beckford & Nicole Trunfio of Make Me a Supermodel

[Photo: © 2009 NBC Universal, Inc.]

Today I got to do something that I know so many women would love to do…I got to participate in a conference call with Tyson Beckford!!! Yes, that’s right, the super-hot model and host of the reality series Make Me a Supermodel, Tyson Beckford. (Be still, my heart!!) He was so nice on the call and it was just completely cool to be a part of it.

But, hey, I can’t actually say that he was there to talk to me personally. He and fellow supermodel Nicole Trunfio, who will be a part of the second season of the series as the models’ mentor, answered questions in a conference call with members of the press. I am honored that I got to take part in it.

The two talked about the second season of Bravo’s breakout hit reality series, Make Me a Supermodel, that will premiere next Wednesday, March 4 at 10/9c. Lots of people got to ask them questions, but I’ll give you all the questions and answers here:

Q: Hey, I wanted to know how you think the modeling business overall has changed since you started? And would you want to have to break in at this point in the game?

Tyson Beckford: I think basically the kids are outstanding but they don’t really have so much personality. And you know it – I don’t think they are as talented as we were when I first started. You know a lot of these kids are just picked off of the street. And they are just picking them because they are tall. I’ve seem some of them walk and they can’t.

Nicole Trunfio: At the same time as well, there’s also like so many other ways that scouts can get to like the tiniest little countries in the middle of continents and stuff. So they can find people that haven’t got any experience or any knowledge about the industry. I think there is less personality and it’s less glamorized. And there’s no diva anymore.

Q: I noticed looking over all of the contestants this year there’s quite a few that kind of live in smaller towns or smaller states. They are not from the metropolitan areas. Do you think they have an advantage or a disadvantage not being in the metropolitan areas?

Tyson Beckford: No, I don’t think so. I think they just sought after kids that were different and seemed to have a lot more personality than anywhere. It’s just random. It wasn’t like we went to smaller cities because we wanted to find some more unique kids, it was just random where we picked them from.

Q: Nicole, do you have an opinion on that?

Nicole Trunfio: Yeah, I totally agree. Like, I’m from the middle of nowhere in Australia. Tyson I think you are from the Bronx, right?

Tyson Beckford: Yeah.

Nicole Trunfio: And it just doesn’t really matter. It doesn’t make a difference where you’re from. If you have what it takes, you have what it takes.

Q: Congratulations on the second season. I think the first season the real appeal was was such personalities on the show – Ben, Perry, Ronnie. What can we expect from this season’s crop? Are they as strong as they were in the first season?

Tyson Beckford: I believe they are even stronger. You’re going to be blown away by the second season. The first season to me was good you know. And the guys, Ben, Ronnie, and Perry, they definitely played up to the camera. I was with them last night and they still haven’t changed.

Q: What are they up to now?

Tyson Beckford: Ronnie released a record. And they did a little bit of their singing last night as well, and you know they are still the same men. Yeah, but my understanding is it’s more Casey now. Casey has just come out of his shell. So he’s definitely a different guy from when he was on the first season.

Q: What do you guys think of starting the bromance phenomenon?

Tyson Beckford: I don’t think Ben’s wife, April, liked that too much. I think that she called the producers and gave them a piece of her mind. So she wasn’t really with that. But she’s glad now that she’s got her husband back. They stayed together. But I don’t think he has contact with Ronnie as much anymore.

Q: You said these contestants are even stronger. Any particular types of personalities or any particular styles that we can look for? Colin seems like a character.

Tyson Beckford: Yeah, they are – you have to watch all of them because I think they all got their own little thing going on. From Amanda to CJ, I mean they all just got their own little personalities going on.

Nicole Trunfio: Yeah, they really do. They really are.

Tyson Beckford: And there’s a lot of stuff me and Nicole didn’t see that was going on that I’m finding out now.

Nicole Trunfio: I’m so excited to watch the show because it was shot – we had little things about when we were on the set that we didn’t actually get to see what was going on. And apparently there was a lot of drama.

Tyson Beckford: Yeah, when we asked them about it, they were all like, “No, no. Everything is good.” Little liars.

Nicole Trunfio: They were actually like angels in front of us. They were like buttering us up, but behind the scenes it wasn’t all that.

Tyson Beckford: Yeah, so I warned them. I said, “Look, whatever you do, don’t get yourselves in trouble because you know potential clients will be watching this.” Yeah, but as usual they are kids. They don’t listen.

Q: A lot of the competitive reality shows operate in their own little bubble. And last season the whole situation with Perry’s girlfriend who appeared in the picture with Adnan. What did you think about that in terms of how it can help promote the show and are there any other instances where you kind of crash into real life during the second season?

Tyson Beckford: Well, when that was brought to my attention, I knew how much Perry was into his girlfriend. I wasn’t thinking how much it was going to promote the show and I can’t speak for the rest of – whoever brought it to our attention. But my main concern was, you know, Perry’s feelings. And the worst thing is to hear it from someone else in the wrong context. So what I did was I brought him the article so that he could see it for himself. Because that way you can take it in yourself and you make your own judgment. But in no way or form were we trying – I wasn’t or Perry trying to you know promote the show and make the show a bigger deal. But you know it just came out.

And I knew he was head over heels over her so I chose to be the one to give it to him. I didn’t want a producer to do it because you know they have no connection with him like how I do. So when I brought it to him, it was rough on him. But I said, “Hey, man. These things are going to happen when you become in the public’s eye. You’ve just got to deal with it.”

Q: My first question actually is for Nicole. Nicole, can you tell me what prompted you to want to join up with the show?

Nicole Trunfio: Well, it wasn’t something I was pretty interested in in the beginning. I don’t watch TV at all. I had no kind of ambitions towards that. But you know upon hearing about it and being informed about what it was all about and what I could do for the show, I became really interested in it.

And I guess it was a mixture between my agency, who I really respect their opinion on things and you know it’s my industry. And I’m very passionate about you know modeling and having a voice as a model and getting that out there and showing what our industry entails and involves. So I really became passionate about the show very quickly.

Q: For either of you guys, what would you say was one of your most memorable moments with the cast maybe during one of their challenges or even behind the scenes?

Tyson Beckford: I would say the catwalk days were some of my most fond days with them because we get to talk and we get to joke around and you know then we get right back into the seriousness of the business. You know getting them to walk right. You know, get to the next level and don’t be in the doghouse.

Nicole Trunfio: I like them going into the house. I used to go into the house with them on like the off days and you know join them. And I’ve seen them in their own environments and sometimes you would see the cheeky side of them. It was nice to see that “out of work” mode mentality.

Q: How true would you say your show is compared to the modeling world?

Nicole Trunfio: I think it’s very true. I think that we took every single version of modeling and put it in there. There’s things that we did on the show that I haven’t experienced in the industry before. But we tried to give them (the realest taste) we could. And definitely, definitely real. We had industry professionals in the show – like great people that have credibility in our industry that joined us and gave their professional opinion on what we were doing. And so they definitely got a big (taste).

Q: I know you don’t watch a lot of TV, but a lot of people are using [reality TV] as their launching pad for their dreams and careers. Do you think it’s a good way to go about it?

Nicole Trunfio: I didn’t used to think that, but when I started working reality TV, I think it shows you know it’s not covered by – like a silver screen.

So people realize that it’s good in the way that people are realizing that they don’t have to be perfect, like, movie stars. And not everything is like, that so they’re not living in a fantasy world. Like, reality TV really makes people realize that they have the same problems as everybody else and, they’re all kind of the same in a way. It shows kind of a oneness with the world.

I mean there’s stuff that I hate about reality TV because I really love mystery and fantasy and imagination and all that sort of stuff. But I just hate that you can be exposed so rawly by using that medium. But in the same sense like this is the future of technology and communication. We have instant access to everything these days, so I feel like we have to embrace it and move forward with it and use it in the best way we can.

I think Tyson and I gave a lot of good advice on the show even about life. Tyson’s been through a great deal and I’ve been through a little bit. I mean, I’m 22 so we tried to give these kids good advice on life too, not just from the fashion industry and modeling.

Q: [People] are really interested in what it takes to get on the show. You know, in five words I’m wondering if you all could tell me what does it take to be a black supermodel right now? Besides height, what do you need? Funny looking? Wide eyes? Natural hair? A bald head? What’s the hot look?

Tyson Beckford: I don’t think it’s really a looks thing it’s just there’s so many (Iman, Chanel) you’ve got so many beautiful girls coming up it’s just that we’re in a recession so it’s kind of like it’s feeling it and plus it’s – we, as black models, it’s hard already on us because we’re in a white industry so we have to fight twice as hard. We’ll get called in on the same casting as everyone else. But our books got to be twice as good so it’s really hard. It takes a lot of heart. It takes a lot of soul and you’ve also got to have a really good agent or manager or booker, as they say, to really push you to these clients. And the clients have really got to see something different in you that’s going to separate you from your white peers.

And, you know, it’s hard. A lot of advertisers would rather go using someone else before they use a black model, so it’s hard on us but we’re pushing through. I’ve survived 16 years of it and I think it’s only going to get better now.

Nicole Trunfio: I think to become a supermodel, black or white, you need to have an x-factor to make that – you know, it’s a mixture of confidence, personality, inner beauty, outer beauty, it’s like everything whirled into one.

Q: I have noticed that, not necessarily on your show, but there have been other reality shows that use black models and there seems to be some sort of look. You need to, you know, have really wide eyes. You need to have natural hair. You need to have dreadlocks. You need to have something different, not just your regular girl on the street. So as far as black women and men are concerned, is that possible? Can you take someone off the street and say, okay, let’s make you a model?

Tyson Beckford: Yeah, if they have the height and the look.

Nicole Trunfio: I think that absolutely it’s possible. I mean, these days people, I mean, it’s just such a realistic thing nowadays that people are just scouted off the street. I meet so many models that I walk the runways with and pass them along that were like started off the street or in, like, Burger King or in a supermarket so it’s entirely possible.

Tyson Beckford: That’s how I was discovered, off the street, so, yeah.

Nicole Trunfio: Yeah. I was found on the street, too.

Tyson Beckford: Yeah. We also have one guy, Sandhurst. He was found on the street, as well.

Q: How important in swagger in a competition like this?

Tyson Beckford: It’s very important. It separates you from the average guy because the average guy doesn’t have swagger. If you’ve got swagger you can pretty much go into anything from a board meeting to a football tryout to an audition. It separates you from everyone else. It gives you – it’s basically having personality with everything you do; the way you walk, the way you carry yourself. That’s swagger. And that’s what I was trying to teach these kids to have. You’ve got to separate yourself from the other guy.

Nicole Trunfio: Can you learn how to have swagger? Or are you just born with swagger?

Tyson Beckford: You can learn how to have it. But the ones who really are good at it, those are the ones who had it to begin with.

Q: Last season we saw some really fun challenges. One that sticks out in my mind is an equestrian one that has sort of a fetish twist to it or maybe that’s just the way to interpret it. What particular challenges could you point to this coming season?

Tyson Beckford: There are so many. We put – remember we took, Nicole, we took them to the horse farm?

Nicole Trunfio: Yeah.

Tyson Beckford: And we had that huge bull and one of the kids got kicked by him and so it’s like, we in our business work with so many different things.

Q: Did that person get voted off?

Tyson Beckford: No, he did well. Remember when he got kicked he did well. Even though he got kicked he did well.

Q: So are they working with animals at this horse farm?

Tyson Beckford: Yeah. They do. I mean there’s different farm animals because in our business we work with different animals. I’ve worked with dogs…

Nicole Trunfio: Yeah, like killer dogs.

Tyson Beckford: Crazy. Well, no I worked with Labradors. I didn’t work with no killer dogs.

Nicole Trunfio: I did. On (chains), whoa.

Tyson Beckford: So you work with all types of things.

Nicole Trunfio: Yeah. And you have to pretend that you know exactly what you’re doing and get on a horse even though you’ve never ridden a horse before in your life. So we throw them out there (at times). You push their limits.

Q: And how would you describe each of your differing mentoring styles for the models?

Tyson Beckford: I would say my style is basically talking from past experience because there’s nothing that they’re doing that I haven’t done already. So I would build them up and tell them, don’t worry. These girls are nothing. You can beat them. You know, nothing too crazy, I just pump them up. Because that’s all it is. If you give someone great confidence, they’ll do really well. You know? That’s where it comes from. The confidence factor and that’s where I went with it and Nicole could tell you what she did.

Nicole Trunfio: I just use my past experiences to help the girls out and just was there for them whenever they needed support and all the questions they asked me I gave them the most appropriate answer I could. I’m still young. I’m 22 so for me, I actually learn a lot from Tyson as well on the show and the judges there.

Q: Are you still a working model, Nicole?

Nicole Trunfio: Yes.

Q: And Tyson, you too?

Tyson Beckford: Yep. I just came from London Fashion Week and they worked me to death.

Q: You’ve seen a lot of differences this season already, not only just a new panel of judges but, like, the way you’re eliminated. You hand them their book so they can take it. Are there any other structural tweaks or changes that we can expect?

Tyson Beckford: Yeah. I mean, you see us, me and Nicole are more hands-on than we were last year. And we can also intervene if the judges are beating up on somebody we can jump in. And we have jumped in and saved some of the kids, I have. And, the producers tried to do a battle of sexes but I didn’t listen. And, of course, I just felt like a girl needed my help I would go and help her, you know. But they tried to keep it male versus female which I thought was stupid. But I thought if the girl did well and they were just beating up on her I would jump in and try to save her.

Q: One of the contestants is from San Antonio and her name is Jordan and I was wondering if you had any impressions you could give me [about her].

Nicole Trunfio: Jordan was wonderful. From my point of view I think she was one of the girls that had the greatest potential or has the greatest potential. She reminds me of one of my friends who’s a supermodel already so she definitely sparked my eye as soon as she walked in. She’s going to be a good one to watch.

Tyson Beckford: Yeah, I found out that Jordan had already been modeling in Singapore, Nicole.

Nicole Trunfio: Oh. Really?

Tyson Beckford: Yeah. I know a bunch of girls that know her.

Nicole Trunfio: Yeah that’s the place to go.

Tyson Beckford: I was like, wow, I didn’t know that and when I had asked her she was like, “No, I never really did anything.” Whatever. But, no, she’s – yeah, because she was way too good to be just never doing anything so it was good to know that she did do something. But she’s got a bright future ahead of her. The only one that can stop her from doing anything is her.

Q: Is there any nude modeling in this season?

Tyson Beckford: Oh, yeah.

Nicole Trunfio: Next question. No, I’m kidding.

Q: I remember last season. I loved last season.

Tyson Beckford: Yeah, this year you’re going to love this.

Nicole Trunfio: Even me and Tyson got half naked.

Q: Wow, I’m going to have to look for that. Is that in the middle of the season or when?

Nicole Trunfio: You have to watch.

Tyson Beckford: No, you have to watch and see. We’re not going to tell.

Nicole Trunfio: It was very spontaneous. It was not planned at all.

Q: Are you the only modeling reality show that has men and women together.

Nicole Trunfio: No, we’re the only one.

Tyson Beckford: Yeah, we’re the only one right at now. But there were others that tried it and failed.

Q: That’s what I like about your show, especially, is that kind of mix.

Nicole Trunfio: Yeah, you need to have that dynamic.

Tyson Beckford: Yeah, you to keep it real.

Nicole Trunfio: Yeah, you need to have that dynamic. I mean, that’s reality in life it’s all about men and women in this world.

Tyson Beckford: I just did a show where there was, like, 50 girls and it was only me so there are men in the industry but maybe not a whole lot but we’re there.

Q: What do you do if somebody says they don’t want to go nude or something like that?

Nicole Trunfio: Kick them off.

Q: That’s a strike against them?

Tyson Beckford: You try to like build them up to it and talk them into it because this business is about body and face and it’s nothing personal. We’re not trying to just say, “Hey, we want to see you naked.” No, it’s not like that. That’s part of the business. And a lot of times if that person doesn’t want to do that, we don’t force them. You know? But it probably will hurt them when it comes to elimination, yes.

Q: [My publication] is a gay publication and of course you guys, as another Bravo show delivers for our demographic.

Tyson Beckford: Right on.

Q: I’m sure a lot of people would be excited to know that Jenny Shimizu is one of the judges this year and she’s really parlayed her androgynous look into a successful career.

Tyson Beckford: Oh, yes. She has.

Q: But that has not been cracked for the male demographics. Do you think so?

Tyson Beckford: Yeah, it’s hard because the male side asks for so much masculinity that it’s almost hard to accept an androgynous male supermodel, you know. It’s just so hard. We tried it with one of our contestants but he didn’t stand up to it. And he wasn’t – you know, because you’re still going to have to be able to toughen up on certain shoots. If he was able to flip it and go both sides, he would have done really well, but it’s really tough, though.

Q: And it – it’s really tough for the male side, correct?

Tyson Beckford: Yeah, it is.

Q: And then you’re a mentor for the dudes.

Tyson Beckford: Yeah.

Q: Okay, so let’s say you’re in the supermodel test tube lab, Tyson, and you get to mix all the elements for the male version of Jenny Shimuzu, a successful model that can do that. What does that look like? And what’s that, you know, model swagger going to be all about?

Tyson Beckford: He would have – to me – probably a little taste of Brad Pitt, a little bit of me in there and a little bit of Marcus Schenkenberg and a little bit of Mark Vanderloo. I think – it’s so many different mixes to make it up. But it’s more so about the attitude to be able to toughen up when need be and get feminine when need be to. It depends on what clients you work for, you know?

Q: How do you get feminine Tyson?

Tyson Beckford: It’s just a feeling of what you’re wearing at the time, you know? Like if I was modeling a scarf or something and it was a woman’s scarf and they wanted me to get feminine, I think it’s when you’re put into that place and that time you can do it.

Q: Tyson, have you ever been offered an intimate same sex modeling gig and perhaps had to turn it down because it could negatively impact your career?

Tyson Beckford: No, you know what? I’ve never been put in that position. And then when we put Brendan in that position, I just said to Brendan, I said, look, you know your sexuality, you know what you like and what you don’t like, come on, just stand up and do the job. And remarkably he did really well, too. You know, when you see it, you’ll be like, wow, you know? And this is a kid who was very – this is the first time he ever done anything like this. But he was very nervous, scared and didn’t want to look – you know, oh, I don’t want my friends to think I’m gay.

I said, well, you know you’re not, what do you care. You know? So, he did really well.

Q: Can you think of any client that would hire a really androgynous male supermodel like dude because it has yet to be cracked. Where do you see that market going in 2009?

Tyson Beckford: It could be anybody who’s ready to – any designer who’s ready to push the limit. I mean look at Jean Paul Gaultier has. They’re kind of like risqué with the men, you know, so it’s anybody who is willing to try it, you know, and shoot it with the right photographer. That’s all it takes.

Nicole Trunfio: I don’t think it’s that far away either.

Tyson Beckford: No, I don’t think so either.

Q: Can the show take away from the seriousness of being a model? For example, how do you think the agencies are going to view these models if they don’t win the show?

Tyson Beckford: I think the agencies are looking to pick people not because they win the show. I mean we’ve got guys who didn’t win the show and they’re doing really well. I’ve had girls from the Australia version of Make Me a Supermodel who are doing well here in New York. It’s not so much about the winner. I think it’s about every – the top five, because you see who has potential and if the agency is willing to take the person and work with them, I think that’s a plus. Sometimes it’s good if you don’t win it because then not too much is expected from you. But there’s a potential to take you to that next level.

Nicole Trunfio: Yeah, I think, as well, like there’s definitely some people in there that I think have more potential than the person that wins.

Tyson Beckford: I agree with you.

Nicole Trunfio: If they can take the lessons that we teach them and learn from it, you know, you can always change…

As a person at any time in your life. It depends on the time that you decide to. And there are people in there that would definitely, definitely have the potentially to be making a lot of money in this industry and they have the charm and the charisma. It’s just that they – being on reality TV it’s hard to bring it out…

Q: Some of the famous models today; Tyra, Iman, even you Tyson and you Nicole, were you guys made or were you born?

Tyson Beckford: I think I was born, honestly. I think honestly I was born because there was no – I didn’t have – when I was coming up, I didn’t have a guy or a mentor that looked to, it just – I just went in there and did it and they told me what to do, you know. But I started off as an actor, so if you told me to act like a supermodel, I could do it, so I think it was probably born for me.

And if you look at Nicole, I think she fell out of her mom just the same height and weight as she is right now, so… I think it means a lot that you’re born, you know. Because when you see Nicole walk the runway for the kids, it’s just like, that can’t be taught. That girl knew that. Nicole knew that from probably when she was six years old how to do that.

Q: And then how do feel having to dish out the truth to the models?

Tyson Beckford: I love it. I love telling them the truth, because I’d rather tell them in my way than to them go out into the real world and the client tell them, because I’ve had clients throw my book back at me. And I just picked my book up and picked my face up and my whole attitude and walked off, and be like, oh, well, you’ll be sorry.

Nicole Trunfio: I think it’s better to be told the truth instead of having people blow smoke up your ass.

Tyson Beckford: Yeah, and string you along for so many years, because I’ve seen people get done like that. And I’m just like – you know, I tell them, look, you’re not meant to be a model. And they get mad and they curse me out, “You know what you’re talking about, who are you anyway?” I go, “Oh, I’m a supermodel”.

Q: What advice do you have for someone that wants to be a supermodel and be on the show and all that?

Tyson Beckford: I would say make sure you find a great photographer to shoot with that you can connect with and then from that point on, get your walking shoes on and walk and go see all the agencies.

Q: What’s the hardest part been for you for being a mentor for contestant models?

Tyson Beckford: I think the hardest part is when they don’t get it, you know?

Nicole Trunfio: And they don’t listen.

Tyson Beckford: Yeah, when they don’t listen. I think it’s so simple.

Nicole Trunfio: Doing it, though, over and over and over and over and over again.

Tyson Beckford: And I think the hardest part is when they don’t ask questions. You say, do you guys got it and they’re like, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know. And I think it’s a nervousness of the camera crew that’s around them that’s why they rush and say they got it. But then when you see the finished product, you’re like, you didn’t get what I was telling you.

Don’t rush it. Ask questions because that’s the most important thing. That’s what we’re taught in acting and just the whole modeling world. Ask questions. You know, the more you know, the better you’ll do.

Q: I just interviewed Chris last week. Do you have any opinions on him?

Tyson Beckford: Chris? Long-haired Chris, blond.

Q: Yes, long-haired Chris.

Tyson Beckford: Chris’ thing was he needs to be able to – because he’s a male model – that’s what he’s got to remember that he’s a male model and he’s going to have to be able to do – toughen up. When sometimes the photographers would ask him to play tough and then play androgynous and he’s – he can do the androgynous side good, but he can’t play the tough side. And to be the supermodel, you got to be able to do everything that’s asked of you.

Q: Now, also like America’s Top Model, shows like that are changing their height requirements. What’s your guys’ opinion on that, to plus-size models and things like that?

Tyson Beckford: Well, I don’t really watch that other show too much. I mean, to me it’s a great show. It’s great entertainment, but I don’t think they focus as much as we do on the whole modeling world.

Nicole Trunfio: And the reality of the modeling world, it’s about the perfect weight, the perfect height, the perfect look, it’s not about breaking those boundaries. And a couple of people did it but we have to stay like as good models and role models to – we have to get the clothing to look good without looking good. Where I don’t think that being overweight is a good boundary to break.

So, if you’re like me, you are getting excited about the season 2 premiere of Make Me a Supermodel. Well, we only have a week to wait. The series premieres next Wedenesday on Bravo at 10/9c.