MTV can make you a model! But could you lose 80 pounds first?

Casting call:

MTV is looking for girls willing to shed the pounds (30-80 lbs), become a model and win $100,000! We are looking for girls with a great attitude, a pretty face and the endurance to sweat off the pounds during a 3 month boot camp style show. All applicants must be 5'8" - 6' and appear between 18 and 25 years old.

I heard about this yesterday when a reporter from ABCNews rang me up. She was sure I'd have something to say...and she was correct-o! Check it out here.

And in 20 minutes, at 9:45am EST, I'm going to be a call-in expert on Fox's America's Newsroom.

Reality TV shows are a dime a dozen and massive weight loss is nothing new, but I wonder how many already-slender model wannabes are going to show up, willing to do whatever it takes to get on TV and become a star? Even if that means dropping 40 pounds in three months.

When I was in eighth grade or so, my mom took me to a local modelling agency. The told me I could model for them...if I dropped about 20 pounds. Yeah, that wasn't soul-crushing or anything.

From the MTV web site:

HOW TO ENTER:

So what does it take to get on the show? “We are looking for beautiful, charismatic women who are willing to put in the effort to become a true model,” says Michael Flutie.

If you are between the ages of 17 & 24, 5'9" to 6' tall, and 130-190 pounds, please send a recent photo of yourself (head shots and body shots in a bathing suit) to mtvmodel@madwood.tv along with your

Name
Mailing Address
Home and Cell Telephone numbers
E-mail Address
Birth Date
Height
Weight
Bust-Waist-Hip Measurements
Dress Size
Occupation

OK, so the top end of the "beginnning" weight range is 190 pounds. The show states contestants may need to shed up to 80 pounds. So that would be...my math skills are sketchy buuuut...110 pounds? And only women 5'9" and up need apply? SO HEALTHY!

So all you readers who live in Pensacola, Florida; St. Louis, Missouri; West Des Moines, Iowa; Omaha, Nebraska; and Kansas City, Kansas - wipe off your makeup and pull on your skinny jeans. Casting calls are coming to your town!

Comments

Geez.

I am 5'2" and recently lost 65 pounds. I weigh around 127 now, and I look just fine.

130 pounds is the lower end of the "fat" range for women who are at least 5'9"? Now, that's just gross.

Well, crap. I'm an inch too short. And here my life's ambition was to be ridiculed for being too fat on TV! So now how I am ever going to lose the 30 lbs that I apparently need to lose to be a cool MTV gal?

Moments like this make me glad I grew up without cable and was too old for MTV when I finally had access to the channel.

Very sad...another misguided media quirk to confuse the public. The media is silly with their interpretation of what is healthy and beautiful! With two daughters I am very concerned about their self-esteem. Nice post!

This is outrageous! Basically they're saying: "Calling all gorgeous, tall, normal weight girls to be anorexic and famous!" This is a joke. It's a slap in the face for sooooo many reasons. The poor girls who enter this...

Wow, I don't even know what to say. What a ridiculous, train wreck of a premise for a show...

First impression? No way in hell!

Second impression - if they choose women who are legitimately overweight and could lose 30-50 pounds and still be healthy, it could turn into a positive thing (depending on how they do it and if they keep ridicule out of it).

But I don't feel like they'd take that much of a emotion-healthy stance. Sounds like they will be promoting anorexia, especially with those height/weight ratios.

Is it wrong that if I were three inches taller, I'd totally sign up? I want to drop about 10 pounds, but I think a bootcamp would be great for me, and I figure I could always quit when I was at my goal :) Although I'm sure they'll come up with some kind of contract that says you can't quit...

Sounds like hell on earth

Sounds like hell on earth

I don't recommend reading this post while eating Cheezits.

Just sayin'.

I have no words with which to express my disgust.

Wow. I hope they've left room in the budget for therapy, medical bills, and lawsuits.

Greta, LOL!!!!
I'm the right height, fall in the weight range... DAMN! I'm too freakin' old!
Ah well. Guess I'll just have to get healthy in the privacy of my own life.

What happened to the MTV that used to "Rock the Vote?" Can we create WTV? Womens' Television? And I mean REAL women, not Oxygen or Lifetime, bad women-in-peril-movies- type tv.

I wonder how many crrently not so succesful models are gonna snarf a bunch of food and go out for this casting call.
I cannot believe they are mixing the horrors of America's next top model with biggest looser... This is is SO begging for an eating disorder....

The pressures that are placed on girls and women these days to be ultra thin, are terrible. I have a five year old daughter who loves her body for the way it can move and bend and dance... and I hope to instill in her a PERMANENT love for herself... I hope she never thinks about herself the way I have though about MYSELF in the past. Thankfully, I have overcome those feelings of self doubt, but it was a long and hard road. Good Post.

In a word...yikes.

That is pretty disgusting. They will probably call the 110 pound model full figured, too.

That's MTV for ya.

West Des Moines, Iowa, huh? That's REALLY close to me... kind of seems like a random location tho...

Worse than the 110 you calculated are the low numbers - start at 130, lose 30 pounds, and you're 100 pounds at the minimum height of 5'9". Which is a BMI of 14.8, by the way. HEALTHY!

Ummm...yeah. Sounds like a show to encourage eating disorders in young women. Good job MTV!

What does "appear between 18 and 25 years old" mean anyway?

Gross. Gross. GROSS!

I am 5'9" and my weight is between 130-135 (apparently I would "qualify" for this show....dare me to go on and sabotage it?). If I went on, I'm assuming I would have to lose the minimum...30 pounds. Y-U-C-K.

I am a lover of certain MTV reality shows, but this one is just sinking to an all time low.

The Size doesn't make the Woman fabulous, The woman makes the size fabulous. Everybody is different. That show is about as real as the Tooth Fairy. On another note, Has anyone used it or heard of Norwegian Formula Age Shield hand Cream by Neutrogena? There a coupon for it at: www.neutrogena.com/ageshield It's has UVA protection to prevent age spots and is supposed to work last up 24 hours. I know it's a little off topic but I get excited about coupons.

i am looking for a job as a model i am 130 to 140 and 5.9 i think this is good

i am looking for a job as a model i am 130 to 140 and 5.9 i think this is good

i am 30 and i wonder if i could ever get to be a supermodel.i know i am to old for the model business but there is a saying you are never to old to do something.Miss Tyra banks show makes me want even more to give it a try to feel what its like to be a supermodel and i am willing to lose the weigth and do what i have to do to get that experience and to stand infront ofher.