Britain's Next Top Model, with Maltese roots?

Maltese model Tiffany Pisani has survived the first round of the latest edition of Britain's Next Top Model, which eliminated half of the 25 contestants.

The blonde 18-year-old, who has a Maltese father and British mother, lives in Wolverhampton and Attard.

The sixth season of the programme, based on the hit US show, America’s Next Top Model, which premiered in 2003, started on Living TV on Monday.

The show, the brainchild of former top model Tyra Banks, is followed everywhere and churns out aspiring models who have to face a number of trying challenges during the series and withstand the backstabbing of the modelling industry, as well as enjoy a taste of its glamour.

On Monday’s programme, the 5’9” blonde model from Attard, pleased the photographer and was the first to be shortlisted from 25.

In her “graduate video” footage, she confidently describes herself as independent, motivated and ambitious, saying she was not fazed by the fact she was youngest in the house, although the upcoming makeover scares her.

Ms Pisani said her best asset were her eyes and that she had always wanted to be a model and enter the model scouting competition, having followed the programme on television.

She started out about three years ago by joining a model scouting competition called Virtual Model, organised by stylist Marisa Grima, and was immediately snapped up by Pink magazine, published by Allied Newspapers, for its fashion photo shoots.

“I remember she had applied with her older sister and had placed second. She was extremely shy and almost geeky, unwilling to smile and sort of dangly. She just did not know what to do with her limbs,” Ms Grima said.

“Over the years of working with her, she has improved tremendously from someone who couldn’t walk or pose to this...

“The fact that she got so far shows the stigma that Maltese models are not good enough is simply not true. Today, they have more of a chance; the world is smaller and, thanks to internet openings, it is easier to make contacts,” Ms Grima said.

She graced the magazine cover on numerous occasions and was the face of a black and white photo shoot in June 2009, which she sent to apply for Britain’s Next Top Model. It was on the basis of these photos by Alexandra Pace that she was chosen to participate in the British television show.

Ms Pace, who had made her prints for her portfolio, recalls shooting her at the Virtual Model competition, when she had “no clue what to do”.

Ms Pisani was “a pretty girl but had no idea what to do in front of a camera. She had no experience and was awkward. As the shoots progressed, so did she,” Ms Pace said.

The show airs on Mondays, with a repeat on Tuesday. It is hosted by former top model Elle Macpherson, also known as The Body, who, as the head judge, has said the sixth season has a “really strong selection of girls” and that it would be hard for her to narrow them down to one winner.

Each season of Britain’s Next Top Model has between 10 and 12 episodes and starts with 14 contestants, who are eliminated one by one on each show. This time round, the final will be live and t he public gets to choose.

Meanwhile, Ms Pisani is being judged by British Fashion designer Julien MacDonald and Vogue’s fashion stylist of the year Grace Woodward.

In her footage she says she plans “to be myself” and wants to impress them by heeding their advice.

If she wins, she will receive a £1 million modelling contract with Europe’s major modelling agency Models 1, which has listed Kate Moss, Naomi Campell, Claudia Schiffer and Twiggy among others. She is also in the running to become t he f ace of Revlon’s autumn/winter 2010 trend collection.

See also

http://tv.sky.com/bntm-profile-tiffany-pisani