The Agency - Reality TV show about the Wilhelmina Modeling Agency

[xmodel citizen]

^ Good point. Now that I think about it, I might have to choose the trailer because I'd murder Becky and be locked up for life otherwise

 

[cheepmunk]

If I had to choose between dealing with Becky everyday and living in a trailer in Alabama, I just might choose the trailer. Becky is insufferable. It's no wonder their women's board is doing so poorly if the girls are being left in Becky's charge and scared off the industry.

The men's board staff, by contrast, look and behave like professionals.

Yeah, exactly. And I doubt she was really living in a trailer. Wasn't there a shot of her going into a very nice house after she had returned to Alabama at the end of the show? I suspect she had a good life in Alabama (about to finish high school, family, nice house and, most importantly, no Becky) and just didn't feel the need to put up with Becky's abuse.

 

[tellme_MAS]

I finally watched last week's episode tonight and I'm really curious to know which model in the women's division left... but I think that it was bound to happen since it they don't seem to have their act together over there. I do have to agree that it looks like the bookers in the men's division are more professional and are running a real business. Ultimately, it's a reality show so who knows how much is being played up for the cameras (my guess is a lot based on how some of it looks staged IMO)?

My first thought was Ekaterina K[ash... I dunno the rest of the spelling]. I am not sure when she left, though, and I am not sure when this show was filmed.

 

[Diorling]

This show must be staged, thier discussion of the canning of Becky is so unbelieveably unprofessional I cant imagine it being real. NO company in thier right mind would ever have that televised, it's just so extremely personal...You cant just humiliate someone like that.

Im watching it right now, that new guy has a nameplate necklace......A NAMEPLATE NECKLACE at a modelling agency...

 

[WhydoIlovehim]

Haha, I'm watching the show right now and as one agent was measuring a girl's hips (and saying they were "way too huge") you could see her roll hanging over her jeans. I know it's not her job to be thin, but it was just funny!

 

[Diorling]

I saw her hips from a mile away...Her hips dont lie.

She was gorgeous though, a little too bootylicious...I do think Becky is slightly negative but at the same time I respect her for it, because she's right...mostly.

 

[xmodel citizen]

This show must be staged, thier discussion of the canning of Becky is so unbelieveably unprofessional I cant imagine it being real. NO company in thier right mind would ever have that televised, it's just so extremely personal...You cant just humiliate someone like that.

Im watching it right now, that new guy has a nameplate necklace......A NAMEPLATE NECKLACE at a modelling agency...

Errr, I think she took care of that herself! I don't think at that point professional behavior was a big deal to them.

 

[Diorling]

The thing is, Becky really hasn't humiliated herself. They're humiliating her by firing her on national scratch that...INTERNATIONAL television. That is just not something you do.

 

[sarah13]

^I have to completely disagree with you. Becky has shown herself to be a very combative, aggressive (not in a good way) person. Whether her professional opinion, regarding models, is insightful or not, the way she express those opinions is horrendous and shameful. No one is receptive to her opinion because of the way she delivers it, so defensive and antagonistic.

She reminds me of one of those wild, barking, aggressive dogs on the Dog Whisperer that Cesar can swoop in and calm down...maybe they need the Dog Whisperer to visit the Agency. hehe

 

[xmodel citizen]

^^ Oh, I guess getting drunk, showing up late to work hung over, yelling, cursing, calling teenage girls fat, and generally being rude, nasty and obnoxious ISN'T humiliating! They totally should've held her hand and led her out the door quietly with a kiss on the cheek.

WTF?!? Are you serious? I would've fired that b*tch in Times Square!

And whether or not you think her advice is valid has no merit. Maybe if her advice and tactics were so refreshing and brilliant, they wouldn't have lost so many models and would've been much more successful. It's not like she groomed any superstars.

 

[masquerade]

I just saw two episodes of this show for the first time and omg Becky.

she is an embarrassment. Beyond the way she treated her models, i could not believe how she treated her boss, her BOSS. what gives her the right to go to pink and yell at him for signing the model w/ 37" inch hips? First of all, he is your superior, second of all, she doesnt have to represent the model, wtf is she bitching about? if he wants to have that model, how does that affect her? she feels like everything is her business and only her business. i mean, and then shes bitching at aubush after he is there for five minutes. why? who knows shes crazy

 

[mizenkay]

loved becky at first (it makes for great tv the first time you see it) but now she's become nails on a blackboard.

yikes! they're setting up for a showdown next week!

and actually i agree with her "talent evaluation" for the most part - i think she knows her stuff. but she is just cruel. i mean the girl who wouldn't dye her hair for the Bongo campaign wasn't really all that and becky knows it.

the way they edited the introduction of the new agent was priceless though. here we have the new guy. cut to becky with expletive deleted about the guys nuts on a skewer (or was it pink's nuts?) then quick cut to becky being all "hi, really nice to meet you". that was classic reality tv manipulation.

 

[morgan38]

Sometimes I like Becky. Sometimes I hate her.

I did have to laugh when she told Pink that the workday doesn't start until 10:45 or something like that.

 

[Diorling]

Yea, Becky does act like a moron. But I cant help but think, Wilhelmina is going to fire her on TV, so is it actually Wilhelmina, who have shown they have no respect for Becky, who is causing her to act like that? Yea, I know the men's board acts normal and professional (so we see) but the womens board, under Pink, all act like maniacs. So I cant help but wonder, with Wilhelmina's lack of professionalism, esp w/ Sean threatening Pink (which is unheard of in any real business)...Does Wilhelmina almost...Ask for it?

Hmm...Wondering...

Soaree has a fug face BTW.

 

[marqueemoon]

What I find baffling is how somebody like Becky could ever make it so far. I mean does no one realize she's batshit crazy? Not just crazy, but incompetent -- she scares models away, makes their company look bad and seems to completely lack an eye for potential. Anybody can be hypercritical all the time, but it's much harder to recognize potential. Frankly, I'm dumbfounded that she's managed to get a day through work anywhere without being fired, assuming her personality is even a bit what it's like on the show. And that other booker -- Lola? -- comes off as a drunk, ageing prostitute. It's amusing when the show switches to their men's board because they seem so professional by contrast.

 

[model_mom]

Just like other agency you have agents that do their best to treat the models in a fair manner and then you have the agents from hell. Some remarks I personally have heard in an agency from an agent in the New Faces division of a top NY agency....." Is that a zit on your face?Come over here so i can pop it. "Did you wash your hair today?" Model answers yes....agent says "Well it doesn't look like it, go back to the apartment and wash it.".....and there was the time an agent didn't like the outfit a model was wearing. She told her to bring everything she had brought to NY into the agency. The agent dumped the whole suitcase on to the floor and went through the poor girls things right in front of all of the other agents. Is it any wonder that some models decide they hate the business before they even get started.

Maybe its a test to see if you will be able to stand up to all the rejections and disappointments in the business but hopefully....there is a better way to go about it.

 

[marqueemoon]

^I wonder why they feel the need to be so nasty to those poor girls. It's almost as if the profession breeds ugliness, or maybe it attracts a certain type of critical person?

 

[xmodel citizen]

What I find baffling is how somebody like Becky could ever make it so far. I mean does no one realize she's batshit crazy? Not just crazy, but incompetent -- she scares models away, makes their company look bad and seems to completely lack an eye for potential. Anybody can be hypercritical all the time, but it's much harder to recognize potential. Frankly, I'm dumbfounded that she's managed to get a day through work anywhere without being fired, assuming her personality is even a bit what it's like on the show. And that other booker -- Lola? -- comes off as a drunk, ageing prostitute. It's amusing when the show switches to their men's board because they seem so professional by contrast.

I know! Oh God, poor Aubush! He thinks he's starting a new job, making some money, and then he's greeted with that bag of booze and bitterness.

 

[xmodel citizen]

And oooh, I can't wait to see that Fernanda girl! She looked gorgeous, really nice, probably the best I've seen on the entire show. And of course Becky thought she was awful

 

[MissMagAddict]

The fashion industry can be a b*tch. And no one knows this better than Becky Southwick, the breakout star of VH1's reality show The Agency. Singled out as the resident shrew at the high-end division of Wilhelmina Models, the 34-year-old Brit represents everything demanding, and frequently unsettling, about the world of modeling. This, naturally, has earned her an effusive cult following. In an industry rife with fickleness and sycophancy, the razor-tongued Southwick can be found proffering searing commentary like, ''You've got fatter. And yes, I've just said the F-word.'' (She plans to parlay her potent brand of tough love into future TV-hosting gigs.) So when EW.com chatted with her on the eve of The Agency's April 3 finale, we were impressed to discover that the surprisingly laid-back doyenne, who now works at Trump Model Management, can taketh the barbs like she giveth.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How do you feel about being portrayed as the show's villainess?
BECKY SOUTHWICK: I was a little concerned. But when I saw the first couple of episodes I was like, ''You know what? I'm actually really brilliant.'' What's been really satisfying is that the feedback from people in my industry — clients, models, agents — is like, ''Becky, you speak the truth.''
Do you regret anything you said on the show?
No.
Seriously, nothing?
The one thing that made me cringe a bit was when [my Wilhemina coworkers] Lola, Pink, and I went on that scouting trip down South. I'd overslept by a half hour. And they're trying to spin it like, ''Becky is lazy.'' We'd been working 16 hour days! I was a little bit upset the way I behaved that morning. And I just looked terrible. My voice was shot to pieces from smoking too many cigarettes. We'd been out drinking with the film crew till 4:30 a.m., to be honest.
They made you out to be a total lush.
Well, back in those days I did like to drink quite a lot. But I'm not as much of a boozer anymore. I just turned over a new leaf. And I don't even smoke anymore.
What do you think of the other modeling shows on TV?
To be honest, I've never watched America's Next Top Model. Ever. Tyra Banks was never a supermodel, as far as I was concerned. 8th and Ocean — I may have watched a little — but Miami is not a major market. I did watch one episode of [The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency]. Janice's hardball attitude is a little bit realistic. But Los Angeles also isn't a major market, so I couldn't take it seriously.... Frankly the models [on those shows] are not even models. They're not even pageant queens. They'd never step foot in any agency in New York City.
There's a lot of talk about models getting too thin. Aren't you part of the problem?
No, not at all. No. The industry demands a certain figure and shape. But I must admit last season on the runway I did feel that they had gone a bit far — their legs were the same width as their arms. Those were not girls that I represented. But everyone looked pretty amazing this season. Those girls have put on a few pounds.
But you're often telling models to lose weight.
Like [model] ''Doughy'' Chloe, for example. When we found her on the kids' division, she [only] needed to tone up. After we took her on the women's board, she let herself go. But what was shown was us being mean about it. People need to stop pointing fingers at skinny people and start pointing fingers at the obesity problem. They also need to look at the bloody actresses that are gracing the pages of every f---ing gossip magazine. They're the people that young girls aspire to be like — they don't aspire to be like models.
You were pretty tough on that teen model, Robin, who ended up quitting the business and moving back to Alabama. What's interesting is that when you went there to try to bring her back, she stuck it to you by eating Skittles in your face.
That was definitely a big finger to me. ''Look what I'm doing, Becky!''
Is it really so bad for her to not want to be a model at that price?
Actually when we went to Alabama.... she actually got herself back in shape. She looked amazing. They didn?t show this, but her boyfriend had tapped into her e-mail account and sent me these horrible e-mails — and that?s how [this] storyline came about. She now lives with that loser boyfriend in Birmingham, Alabama. There were a lot of issues there that were not shown on television. Her father, aunt, and I were so concerned about her... because we didn?t like this loser boyfriend. We felt she was passing a really good opportunity by. I actually gave a s--- about that girl.
Did you truly not like your job?
I did not like that agency. But I was still doing my job. I was just fed up: I was brought there to try to change things, and nothing changed. I was very disappointed, and you see that in my face.
Would you ever do a season 2 of The Agency if they were to renew it?
Not unless they were going to pay me a hugely large sum of money. Never ever will I go back there. I've moved on to a much better place. I'm at the right agency now.
ew