Lanesborough Native Featured On 'America's Next Top Model'

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — Phil Sullivan was living in a small 5-by-8 apartment with no windows in New York City when a friend posted on Facebook that auditions for "America's Next Top Model" were coming up.

The Lanesborough native was bartending and catering, struggling to pay his bills, trying to get modeling work. He figured he might as well take a shot.

"The struggle was in full effect so this was my chance," Sullivan said over lunch on Friday, just hours before the premiere episode for this season aired.

He went to the audition, waiting 12 hours before being called in for a four-hour audition that "was very taxing." In January, he received a call from the show inviting him out to Los Angeles for more auditions.

After five or six rounds, the Mount Greylock Regional High School graduate made the cut.

"I had no idea how many people were going to be in LA until I got there. I showed up and there were 36 people and you go,  'oh, man.' I moved out of my apartment, 5-by-8 and I was paying cheap rent — granted the place was not suitable for anybody — but I moved out of there to go on the show and I'm thinking I could go to LA and be sent home the first week," Sullivan said. "I gave up my space in New York and I may not have anything to go back to."

During filming, he lived in a house with the other models competing in the reality television show. His phone was turned off and he wasn't allowed to talk to people outside of the set. A dedicated runner, he wasn't able to go for trail runs but only allowed to use the treadmill in the gym.

"I talked to my mom once throughout the two months. I know she understood that it was for my career," Sullivan said. "But if they called me again said they want me back next year, I would totally do it again."

For those two months, there were no interactions that were not caught by the cameras. He kept wondering what his girlfriend was doing and how his family and friends were. But his interactions were limited to the 15 people he had just met.

"I don't think there is any mental preparation you can go through to be on the show. I am pretty selective with who I have in my life for a week and there are ... strangers for a month. It gave me a new respect for reality TV," he said. "People say it is acting but no — this is human relationships. This is what happens when you put 16 people in a house."

But everyone who was selected had "a story," Sullivan said. And his own path to modeling wasn't typical. It began on a train to New York City three years ago when he met a photographer from Lee. For a year, Sullivan went to back Lee to get photographed and build a portfolio that he sent out to modeling agencies in New York City and Boston, while working as an interior designer.

"I remember how nervous my mother was," he said of going to get photographed, but now she shows off his modeling shots to her friends.

After a year, he moved to Boston to further his career in interior design. He had a profile on a modeling website, and was a little leery when a photographer used it to contact him late one night to set up a shoot. He took the risk and that photographer got the photo that would land him a contract with an agency.

He went to New York City one day only to find that a Boston apartment he'd lined up was a scam. He was stuck in New York without a place to live or a job. Luckily, he met clothing designer Zoë Damacela in Time Square and the two hit it off and began dating.

"He basically moved into my apartment," Damacela said with a laugh.

Massimo Campana/Pottle Productions Inc. The Lanesborough native can't reveal how he fared on the show.

He is now back in New York with Damacela but came back to the Berkshires for the premiere. The show's first episode, with host Tyra Banks, airs Friday night on the CW channel and he will be spending it with close friends and family.

"I could have a huge party. I could invite the whole town of Lanesborough or Pittsfield and have a raging bash," Sullivan said. "But, it is the people who stuck by me. It is just nice for me to be able to bring everybody together tonight."

During the interview, Sullivan was nervous about the airing. He is hoping that the show depicts his professional side.

"The most important part is how I am going to be edited. I am seven different people as it is so if you want me to be the jerk, I can be the jerk. If you want me to be the nice guy, I can be the nice guy. If you want me to be the mentor, if you want me to be the clown that can't take life seriously, that's me," he said. "But I am professional and I want that to show."

But, if he said something on the show he isn't going to backtrack.

"At the same time, I'm not going to say 'that's not me.' I put it out there to be available. I can't say I didn't say that," he said.

He is still under contract with the show, so he can't reveal the outcome but that hasn't stopped people from asking. He won't even tell his mother.

"Tonight I will really find out how this show will impact my life," he said, adding that he doesn't know what will happen, especially since this is the first year the show featured male models.

For the future, he is keeping his options open. He is branding himself as a bearded model but also says he is interested in television and film careers as well. And he would like to emphasize his photography work. At this point, his appearance on the show hasn't made much of a difference — other than getting fan mail and friends asking how he did — but "it will pay off," he said.

He added that despite what the show does, he still loves the Berkshires — including spending this week showing friends from New York City around.

"If anybody loves the Berkshires, it's me," he said, even though he said some have already complained about him saying it was 'the middle of nowhere' in an interview. "I will never disrespect this place."

Sullivan is the second Mount Greylock graduate to appear on reality television. A few years ago, Ali Fedotowsky was featured on ABC's "The Bachelorette."

Update: Sullivan made it through both rounds of cuts on the reality show on Friday night two-hour premiere, joining 25 other contestants and then the final 16. He had to audition again, including a doing a lingerie catwalk that ended in a liplock with fellow contestant Virgg, and a Hollywood shoot.

	Sullivan grins after making the show's official 16 contestants for Cycle 20 of 'America's Top Model' on Friday night. He now has a chance to win a magazine spread, a modeling contract and a $100,000 gig in a national ad campaign for Guess.

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