{alltv} 'America's Next Top Model': Dominique rips on Tyra, Mr. Jay, and the show's 'reality'

When we prepared ourselves to speak with Houston's Dominique Waldrup, the last eliminated model on "America's Next Top Model," we had no idea what we were in for. It's clear she doesn't look back fondly on her experience.

"Yes, it's reality TV," Dominique tells Zap2it. "But I feel like there's two sides to reality TV. There's one when you're watching and you think this is all happening to them. But, when you're in it, it's reality to a certain extent. People don't see the production part."

The 23-year-old was very willing to enlighten us on the production side of things, the lack of direction she got and how she feels she forced the show to eliminate her.

Here are the juiciest bits from our conversation:

On her overall impression of the show: "I kind of felt like we were there just for the ratings. I felt like they didn't really care about us. They really just cared for the sake of putting money in their pockets."

On the lack of mentoring she received: "Perhaps, Miss Tyra [Banks] or Mr. Jay [Manuel] could have been more personal, had some one-on-one time with us behind the scenes. Like I've had interviews asking me, 'What modeling experience can you take from this?' I can't take anything back. I don't know what I did [right] and did wrong. You have that person criticizing you at [judging panel] and you understand, but you don't understand. And you would like them to elaborate and talk to you one-on-one, so you can develop yourself for the next time. But, you're not given the opportunity."

On who did care: "The only person who I can honestly say that talked to you when the cameras aren't around and I can take back a lot of things that he said was Miss J. [Alexander]. He knows he's just like us and he's on the same level as us. We may not have the same money that he has - because he's got some money - but he understands that he's just a human being as we are. Then, you have people like Mr. Jay who sits in his dressing room watching a football game when he doesn't have to be on camera."

On the show's direction: "I don't even know what the direction of 'America's Next Top Model' is supposed to be nowadays. I could have sworn when they first aired that it was supposed to be 'we want normal girls who have never modeled before. We want to turn them into models.' Or 'we want to develop them into the models they could potentially be.' Being in the situation, understanding the competition that you have there, these are the females who have already been in the game for years. How fair is that? But, you know what? Life isn't fair."

On quitting before the judges eliminated her: "Right after the photo shoot, you guys will never see it, I took off my microphone. I told the cameraman to get out of my face. And I told them to give me my phone back, because all I have to do is make a phone call and I can get my own plane ticket to come back out to Houston. I was so done with the show, so with that being done behind the scenes, I felt like they had no choice, but to let me go. You know, I didn't want to be there and they're not going to let someone stay there any longer than they want to be. Perhaps, I did have the worst photo, perhaps I didn't do so well compared to the rest of them. Perhaps that was true, but I still have my opinion that I already pre-eliminated myself by making the choice. So, its kind of like 'what can we do? We have to make the show flow, so we just have to eliminate her.'"

On what she did take away from the experience: "Any situation that I put myself into in the future, I'm not going to let the environment control my performance. Because I let all that negative stuff cancel me out. Period. I didn't even want to be a part of the production anymore, because I felt the way I felt. So in the future, I have to think about what's the main goal here. It's not about being treated equally or being treated fairly, or what they think of me, it's about winning the competition. When I get into the modeling industry, it's about getting that contract over somebody else."

Do you find Dominique's statements shocking? Like, does Mr. Jay really watch football?