America’s Next Top Model: Nicole Fox

America's Next Top Model winner and CU student Nicole Fox (Courtesy of Jim DeYonker/The CW)

After winning “America’s Next Top Model,” 18-year-old Nicole Fox is learning to deal with her newfound fame and all the problems that come with it. 

Fox said the “hardships” of celebrity life include getting mobbed by adoring fans, being shadowed by papparazzi and—above all else—the road to fame itself. 

Since gaining celebrity status, Fox explained that she has to avoid certain places, like clothing stores. Fans are more apt to crowd her in public places, and she recalled an event that has caused her to now steer clear of a specific store. 

”I expect [fans] to come up and ask to take a picture with me,” Fox said. “One girl had a video camera and asked to take a video of me but was already filming. I asked, ‘What do you want me to do?!’ and she said, ‘I don’t know, just say something!’ I ended up blushing so hard that my sister had to rescue me because she thought I was going to pass out; it was horrible and I haven’t been back to that store since.” 

Fox said most of her more enthusiastic fans tend to fall in the teenage girl range, a crowd she said to not having dealt with before her success. 

“Hoards of teenage girls attacking me — that didn’t generally happen before the show,” Fox said. 

After the show, Fox said her friends and family were worried that the success might go to her head. 

Her roommate and sister, Alexandra Fox, said she was worried about their relationship after the show. Alexandra Fox, a 20-year-old sophomore majoring in theatre and dance, said the two spend a lot of time together. 

“We’re kind of each others’ best friends and we’ve shared a room since she was born,” Alexandra Fox said. “When she got back from the show it was not good; we hardly talked for a while. I thought she was going to change and that definitely added to the tension between us.” 

Still, Nicole Fox said that after winning, not much has changed. 

“I think I’ve pretty much stayed the same,” Nicole Fox said. “Friends of mine were worried I would come back and be like ‘I’m a model now.’ But no, I’m the same.” 

Chelsea Welch, a 19-year-old freshman open-option student who said she has been friends with Nicole Fox since 8th grade, said she noticed changes in Nicole, but only for the better.

“She’s definitely a lot more confident…she was very shy,” Welch said. “The show taught her to be a lot friendlier and now she walks around with a smile to be friendlier, but personality-wise she’s the same.” 

After coming home from the show, Nicole Fox said her family persisted in asking questions and wanting to know the outcome of the competition. 

Because the show aired months after filming and leaking of information could ruin it for viewers, rules prohibited Nicole Fox from sharing results. 

“Friends and family were really surprised,” Nicole Fox said. ”The finale actually filmed mid-June and so it was a five month delay from when it filmed to when it aired. It was sweet, I really loved being able to hold it over my family’s heads each week, and they wanted me to tell but I didn’t. They were shocked when it aired.” 

Alexandra Fox said at first, she wasn’t sure how Nicole would do on the show. Then, later on, she was positive her sister was going to win. 

“I know my sister and she’s really shy,” Alexandra Fox explained. “But when I was watching it they were showing her as less shy, and more lovable. I knew she was going to win after the third episode.” 

Welch also noted that she had been confident in Nicole Fox winning and had thought that the entire season. 

“The entire time I thought she was the prettiest one there, and most unique; I thought she could make it all the way,” Welch said. “I wasn’t surprised when she won, just relieved.” 

Unlike most attention-seeking, wannabe-celebs, Nicole Fox’s fame came accidentally. 

She said she never modeled prior to “ANTM,” and two photographers spotted her at an art gallery in Denver and asked to take her picture. 

“They ended up being really well-known photographers,” Nicole Fox said. ”So I went over to their house and they took pictures of me. As it turned out the guy was actually friends with Allison who was a contestant on cycle 12. He thought we were sort of similar and that if I tried out for the show I had a good shot of making it. I thought ‘Sure, whatever, sounds like fun.’ So I auditioned.” 

With a smile, she continued. 

“I kind of (auditioned) on a whim, to be honest, and because apparently I’m incredibly masochistic.” 

Nicole Fox was accompanied by her sister, Alexandra Fox, and the two auditioned together. 

Before getting in over her head, Nicole Fox said she did her homework and researched the show. 

“I wanted to know what I was getting myself into,” Nicole Fox explained. “And to be honest, I hadn’t seen the show that often until I went on it. But I YouTubed episodes and studied them to know what these girls were going to be like. Bad idea. It was just horrible, the drama and backstabbing, I was like ‘Oh, lord.’” 

After an entire season of filming, Nicole Fox said the girls ended up being much nicer than what she had expected. 

But not everything on the show was nice and glamorous. 

“There was constant boredom in the house,” Nicole Fox said. ”The girls weren’t as big an issue for me as living in a house full of cameras — that was the worst.” 

Going into detail, she proceeded to explain why. 

“I didn’t want to be alone in the house; if I was alone a cameraman would just start to follow me,” Nicole Fox detailed. ”I would be putting on lotion or socks or whatever and they’d get right in your face, super close. I would get so irritated and so self-conscious for whatever I was doing when a cameraman caught me alone, I would freeze.”

Lastly, she commented on how the situation would resolve itself.

“I would be mid-sock pull-up and just freeze, and look at him like I totally wasn’t supposed to do,” Nicole Fox added. ”It was horrible. Then finally we would have a stare-off and he would leave.” 

Nicole Fox has since booked modeling jobs, most recently in L.A. last weekend. Alexandra Fox also said the two plan on moving to New York: Nicole Fox to pursue her modeling career and Alexandra Fox to take a different route in acting. 

“She’s going to be moving to New York soon and we’re going to be roommates,” Alexandra Fox said. “Nicole wants to look at art schools and I’m looking into schools too. Nicole’s really excited to go to Manhattan because she’s been so many times; I’ve never been so I’m a little nervous.” 

Nicole Fox said the show was a one-time experience that she was glad to do — but wouldn’t do again. 

“I consider myself lucky that I survived this experience; it could have gone really poorly for me,” Nicole Fox commented. ”I walked away a lucky survivor. It was worth it.” 

Contact CU Independent Entertainment Editor Adrian Kun at [email protected].

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