When Esther Petrack tried out for "America's Next Top Model," she knew she'd be making waves. A Modern Orthodox Jew, she definitely got crusader-types riled up when she said she'd shun the Sabbath in favor of a modeling gig. Except, of course, that she didn't actually say that. We caught up with the Boston-native, this week's "Top Model" reject, to chat about controversy, religion, and scoring her very own Wikipedia page.
MSN TV: You've had mixed results on the show. Were you surprised to be sent packing?
Esther Petrack: I knew it was coming. I remember talking to Jane before the elimination and telling her, "I know I'm going home. It's okay, I've had a good run, I've done some amazing things. I know I'm going home. I'll accept it now." She said other people had done worse, but I knew the bottom two would be Ann and me. So I knew it was going to be me.
Given how rough a week Ann had, did you think there was any chance she would be going home?
No. I think we all know, if Ann has a bad week, it's okay. She's got a bit of a pass, because she's had five top photos in a row. Nobody does that. It's unprecedented. She's got amazing pictures. She knew herself, she told us, "I know one week in the bottom two, I'm not going home. If it keeps happening, maybe, but not one week." I had good pictures, but my immunity wasn't that strong. Ann's was amazing. My immunity was in that I kept improving. Because I started out pretty bad, let's be honest. But I kept improving, I worked at, I really did what they said. Tyra Banks had a really successful career over two decades, so I'm going to take her advice. That's was my strength. But it wasn't enough to keep me there. I hope someone who really, really wants it wins. We all came in with different backgrounds and different ideas in our heads. For some girls, they see it for the incredible opportunity it is, and some girls just thought of it as a reality TV role, like on "The Real World" or something.
Was it hard for you to commit to doing the show, given your religious background?
It wasn't hard to commit to the show, but once I was on the show, I think that's when the religious stuff kept coming up as a storyline. It was a tiny bit hard for me to go to the show in the first place because I didn't want to disappoint the people I knew who would be disappointed. I didn't want to be that girl who has a lot but throws it all away for a reality TV moment. So I tried to make sure that what I was doing wasn't just a fun reality TV gig. It was real. I've always wanted to model and this is something that could get me where I wanted to be. And I knew I would regret for the rest of my life if I didn't do it.
With the scene where you said you'd skip the Sabbath if you got a gig, was that all in the editing? I know your mom went on the Internet to defend your honor there.
I'll be honest, we had like had like a 15 minute long conversation about Judaism and the Sabbath and working on the Sabbath and how we could work around it on the show. So I don't remember exactly where I said those words, but I don't think it was a necessarily honest portrayal of how things went down. I remember saying something like, "I want the best of both worlds." I don't remember exactly how it went down, I don't remember the context.
Did you know there's already a Wikipedia page about you?
Two things, actually. Number one, it's always been my life goal to have my own Wikipedia page. I knew the second I had a Wikipedia page about me, I'd be good enough at what I'm doing to actually deserve a Wikipedia page. And in the end, it turns out I didn't get it for being great at anything. But oh well. I'll just have to keep working so that they'll have to add all my accomplishments to it later. The other thing: the guy who actually made the Wikipedia page on me, well, I know him. He went to my high school. So I think it's partially there because of the religious controversy -- a big part of it, I'm sure -- but it's also there because the guy went to my high school.
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