Once upon a time in Top Model history, winner Caridee was spared elimination when she talked back to judge Nigel Barker. But this cycle, Allison wasn’t so lucky when her nerves came across as a lack of humility — and she repeatedly failed to thank the judges for a compliment — at panel. The 19-year-old, who’s back in her home state of Wisconsin and working on her portfolio, talked to PEOPLE about redheaded makeover, her relationship with feisty Fatima and the impact of saying “thank you.” –Archana Ram
What do you take away from being on America’s Next Top Model?
It really helped me progress as a person and as a model as well. I’m more aware of how I come off. And in terms of modeling, [I've learned] just to be more relaxed and follow my instincts instead of carbon-copying what I see in the magazines.
Were you happy with the makeover they gave you?
I really loved it because I really didn’t like my hair the way it was before. It was very bland and blah. It just sort of hung there. It really needed to go. Anything that they felt was more marketable and helped me look more model-esque was fine with me.
You and Fatima butted heads. What was your relationship like off camera?
We had our differences, but off camera, we made up and are fine now. If there’s ever a reunion we’ll see where that goes, but I’ve been pretty busy working so I haven’t been very good about keeping in contact with any of the girls unfortunately. I would love to, but we’re all in different areas of the country and we’re all doing our own thing.
What did you think of the judges’ decision and their comments about you not saying “thank you?”
I definitely blew my homeless shoot, but I thought I improved my photo for the Elle Macpherson lingerie one, and it just sucks that it was such a small thing that could have been prevented with the “thank you” comment. When you’re up there, it is very intimidating and your adrenaline is just going like a gazillion miles an hour. You don’t always hear every single critique or comment they give you because you’re more focused on keeping your cool. So you can’t really hear their criticisms until you they’re on TV once the episode airs. I honestly couldn’t hear some of the comments. I was zoning out a little bit and I shouldn’t have done that. It’s something I definitely regret.
Eric Liebowitz/The CW
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