When the latest season of the UPN show “America’s Next Top Model” premieres on Wednesday, it will also be the debut of Wesleyan’s first bona fide reality star.
Kim Stolz ’05 will be among thirteen women living together in a house and competing for a modeling contract, as documented on the hit reality series. Under the watchful eye of supermodel Tyra Banks and a panel of expert judges, Stolz and the other hopefuls will participate in fashion shoots, exercise regimens and other challenges that come with the life of a model.
Though the show has finished shooting and the winner has been chosen, the details are under wraps. If Stolz wins, she will receive a contract with Ford Models, a $100,000 contract with Cover Girl, a fashion spread in Elle magazine and a cover shoot with Tyra Banks in ELLEgirl magazine.
Because of the contract she signed with the show, Stolz is not allowed to speak to the media until the finale airs. In videos on the “Top Model” website, however, Stolz discusses both her identity as a lesbian and her education as factors in her competition on the show.
“Right before I came to this I finished my 180-page thesis,” Stolz, a government major, said in an audition tape. She went on to discuss the edge her Wesleyan education gives her.
“I know I’m probably more highly educated than the other girls,” she said. “I think that gives me a better ability to strategize. I think my intellect will probably help me a bit.”
Stolz, who was a member of the Trans/Gender group at Wesleyan and helped pen the trans monologue in the 2003 production of “The Vagina Monologues,” is one of only a few openly gay contestants to ever appear on the show.
“I think that lesbians are really underrepresented in the modeling world,” she said. “I know that we live in a much more accepting society than we used to, but I know that there are a lot of not accepting people I hope that my sexuality being known will not hinder me from any success.”
A website called AfterEllen.com, which focuses on lesbian and bisexual representation in the media, has already featured Stolz on the site. The lesbian-focused magazine Go NYC also featured her on the cover of their Sept. issue. In the magazine’s TV-season rundown, they wrote, “Finally, a really hot, completely out lesbian storms the runway.”
Internet message boards dedicated to the show have already begun discussing Stolz and the other models; one poster wrote, “Maybe she thinks she’s smarter because Wesleyan is a TOUGH school.”
Another message board-poster, a Wesleyan graduate, wrote “I’ll have to root for her out of mad Wesleyan pride.”
Reality shows are famous for typecasting their participants, and Stolz, based on Internet discussion and the interview clips the show posted on its website, has already become known as “the smart one.”
“She talked to me about how they try to portray her, as you can see on the website, as an academic,” said Eliza Ford ’08.
For Stolz’s friends and “Top Model” fans alike, there is definite anticipation to see one of Wesleyan’s own become instantly famous.
“She’s going to represent Wesleyan not just as a lesbian but also as a really intelligent woman,” Ford said. “That’s something, beyond the excitement of having my friend on the show, that I’m excited about for her.”
The show will premiere Wednesday night at 8 p.m. on the UPN network, which is channel 9 on campus.
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