Mary Alice Stephenson, co-host of America’s Most Smartest Model, is a fashion industry insider whose smart looks and smart tongue control her show’s pretty people. Each week we talk with her about issues on the show. This time the subjects are Pickel’s performance, Andre’s unstoppable Soviet nature and V.J.’s sneaky-sneaky behavior.

VH1: We’re all so sad to see Pickel go.
Mary Alice Stephenson: If I could, I would have kept them all. I was really sad to see Pickel go. What you didn’t see was a whole conversation we had with him. He was one of my favorite contestants — so funny and well-spoken. We were calling him “Baby De Niro” the whole time because we all thought he looked so much like Robert De Niro! Before we eliminated him, we told him that he was great in front of the camera and that he’d make a great actor. He is an actor in L.A. It’s not that he can’t model, but we felt that based on his performance in the edge challenge, he was the one to go. It wasn’t based so much on the runway this time, but on their performances earlier. What you didn’t see is me telling him, “We really love you, and we think you’ll be a great actor — America’s most smartest actor, probably.” That was one of the hardest eliminations. The kids were all so good at that point.

VH1: Why eliminate Pickel over Brett?
MAS: That’s a question for Ben. We had to look at the individual challenges, and Ben thought Brett did better than Pickel. But it was difficult. We wanted to keep all three. Ben played a big part in that decision. Brett had done so well, and even though he was a little combative with [guest judge] John Pfeiffer — he did have a scowl on his face, which probably had a lot to do with the obstacle course he was running beforehand — but we had to nitpick.

VH1: During the treadmill segment, were you watching the whole time? V.J. seemed awfully sneaky there.
MAS: We were there the whole time. The one thing I have to say is that if I had seen V.J. leaning on the treadmill, I would have talked to Ben and asked him and the producers if that was really fair. Watching the show, that looks really unfair. They were both grabbing onto the railings because they were both exhausted. V.J. and Andre ran for far longer and at a level of intensity that had us all goggle-eyed. They’re both so physically fit, it’s unbelievable. They just kept going and going and going. After awhile, I was reading The Wall Street Journal [laughs] and Ben was checking his emails. Then Andre said something about V.J. cheating; Ben and I looked up and didn’t see anything going on, and so we just chalked it up to the personality conflict between the two of them. But looking at it in the final edit of the show, yeah, it did look like he was cheating.

VH1: Andre was leaning, too?
MAS: They were both leaning. We didn’t see this “skipping” that was happening. I would have liked to have seen the tape, or to have had a conversation with Ben and the producers to see if that was truly cheating or not. You know, everyone’s like, “Mary Alice and Ben love V.J., but he’s so sneaky!” In all the judging, V.J. was professional. He worked hard. We didn’t see the sneaky stuff. We didn’t hear him doing his interviews. In those, he comes off quite competitive and strong. Those happen the day after they leave the house, by the way. But in front of us, he was doing really well in many of the challenges, being very respectful of us, and, frankly, he was sweet. We didn’t see that much cattiness. We didn’t see the reality.

VH1: That goes to show you how smart V.J. actually is. It’s not pretty, but it worked.
MAS: It’s funny to see how people change between what you remember happening and how they are on the show. You see that turnaround in Andre. He started working a lot harder to get along with everybody after Ben and I called him out on it. There were moments where I fought to eliminate Andre, but he pulled a real 180.

VH1: Maybe Andre was just happy that Daniel was gone.
MAS: At least in this show. Andre was disrespectful of Daniel, which wasn’t good. But here, you see him getting along with most of the guys. And that alliance . . . interesting.

VH1: What did you think of the alliance?
MAS: It seems like there’s always alliances on reality shows. The models seem more savvy as to how they’re playing the game. Anyway, they felt that their biggest threat was from Angela and V.J., who both consistently did well in the edge challenges. I thought it was interesting. Actually, I thought there would be more alliances sooner, just because of the other reality shows I’ve watched.

VH1: Let’s talk about runway behavior. What’s appropriate? What’s not?
MAS: John Pfeiffer truly books some of the most important runway shows around — Oscar de la Renta, Dior, Gucci, Michael Kors. He’s one of the biggest casting directors in the world. He’s very powerful, a great guy. And there are certain things you do and don’t do on the runway. Especially now. Modeling changes with the times, but it’s usually about showing off the clothes and walking in a very simple way. In the ’80s and ’90s, it was expected that runway models would be more flamboyant in their gestures; they smiled more; the girls used their hips and hands more, too. In the supermodel era, the shows were really about the personality of the models. Now, unfortunately in many ways, it’s about maintaining a neutrality on the runway. Andre winked and blew a kiss, which is fun and spirited, but unless a designer asks you to do that because it goes with the theme of the show, that’s something that’s not done. You saw how John reacted to that. You know, maybe at a suburban mall, that sort of display would fly, but in the world of high fashion, that’s not what you want a model to do. With Brett, when I brought up the fact that he was scowling, he got really angry right away. He wouldn’t let it go. Instead of listening to that criticism — and maybe saying that it was from the crazy obstacle course — he got belligerent. He escalated it. He is great on the runway, but he wasn’t at his best there. And he made it an issue to us. He should be asking John for his opinion. John thought he was castable, but his attitude was so disrespectful that he turned us off. You have to remember, though, that at this point they’re all exhausted. Tensions are running high, they’re all working so hard, and they’re close to the finale.

VH1: What about Pickel and Brett? Did the end of the show imply a relationship between the two of them?
MAS: That came across, yeah, definitely. But that’s just putting drama into that situation. I think they’re really good friends. They were great allies on the show, and they’re great friends now, hanging out in Hollywood. I think that’s cool. Do I think they’re gay? No. Absolutely not. Do I think maybe Pickel and Rachel had something going on that we viewers never knew about? Yes.


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