Saturday, March 14, 2009

ANTM 13 Chaos!

"Some girl poured beer on mah weave!" There you go folks, that's the reason why such catastrophic event happen in NYC... Just kidding... Here's an article from LJ Top Model Community to explain all these "midgets" cat fight...

Arrests After Melee at TV Casting Call

Published: March 14, 2009

It was America’s next top melee.

An open casting call for the reality television program “America’s Next Top Model” turned into mayhem on Saturday afternoon in Midtown Manhattan. Fights broke out, three people were arrested and at least six others suffered minor injuries after they were pushed down in a crush of thousands of aspiring models waiting in line to be discovered.

The police did not say what caused the disturbance outside the audition site at the Park Central Hotel, at 210 West 55th Street, but would-be contestants for the 13th season of the popular program blamed a lack of organization, frayed nerves and a brief panic that erupted when someone screamed that a smoking overheated car was on fire and about to explode.

“Everyone got thrown everywhere,” said Annina Manttari, 23, of Hackensack, N.J. “People were getting run over.”

Two women and one man were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and inciting to riot, but the police did not say whether they were there to audition or were with a would-be contestant. They were identified as Michael Edwards, 24; Vanessa Quinones, 20; and Clem Clemmons, 40.

The Fire Department said two people were taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center with minor injures, and that four others refused medical attention.

The CW network, which broadcasts “America’s Next Top Model,” said it was “working and cooperating with local authorities.” Representatives for the supermodel Tyra Banks, the program’s host and executive producer, did not return messages Saturday night.

Women began lining up outside the Park Central on Friday night, and thousands more arrived the next morning, waiting in stiletto heels and short skirts in a line that stretched down 55th Street and up both Broadway and Seventh Avenue. Some brought their mothers or boyfriends; others carried portfolio books and business cards.

Many said they were there because, for the first time, the program would be open only to women 5-foot-7 and shorter, who had been unable to audition for previous seasons and said they often lost work to taller, more willowy models.

Contestant hopefuls said the lines were poorly coordinated, and no one knew what to do or when they would be seen. With little to eat and no way to use the bathroom without losing a spot in line, tempers flared.

“People were pushing, screaming, yelling at each other,” said Lauren Musacchio, 21, of Manhattan. “It was chaos.”

By 6 p.m. Saturday, West 55th Street was littered with the wreckage of the day: torn sleeping bags where aspiring contestants had spent the night, police barricades, shoes and clothes in the gutter. More than a hundred women still waited on the sidewalk, hoping to get into the Park Central.

But a half-hour later, the police told the women that the auditions had been canceled, that the producers were gone and that the women should go home.

Many of the women, who had traveled from as far away as California, were armed with glossy headshots and gauzy dreams of being the one face picked from a crowd of thousands, and the worst part of the day was not getting pushed or knocked over, but missing their shot at the spotlight.

“This was a huge dream of mine,” said Rebecca Albora, 21, of Saddle Brook, N.J. “I lost my dream. I lost my chance.”

Stacey Stowe contributed reporting.

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