Catie from Cycle 2 was honestly iconic and deserved better.

We all know how the ANTM producers liked to edit things for entertainment or to make the contestants fit a certain narrative. I think Catie was a very obvious victim of that. When you really think about it, the producers did her DIRTY AF.

First let’s talk about the “crybaby” narrative. According to April, the other models cried just as much as Catie did but the producers mainly emphasized Catie’s emotional moments to push the crybaby narrative. I believe that Catie was delicate and emotional, but I find it hard to believe that she was the only one there who cracked under the pressure. The producers definitely created a narrative of “the other girls are strong but Catie is weak”.

Remember how most of the models had confessionals where they shaded Catie and complained about her behavior? I don’t recall Catie getting a confessional to voice her opinions about the others. There was clearly a power imbalance caused by the producers.

The judges acted like they didn’t even want her there, and the whole time I was wondering “why is she even in the contest if they have so little faith in her?”. They all complained that she was too cutesy and wholesome looking. Tyra complained that the pixie haircut didn’t help give her an edgy look. Janice made the VERY harmful comment about Catie looking like a child and you can tell Catie was rattled. When they did the “comedy” challenge, the judges seemed ready to shoot Catie down for being unfunny. Why was she there then if y’all don’t even like her??

I think the judges resented her for looking like what actual 18-year-olds look like. They wanted someone like Tyra or Naomi who looked very mature at 18. Again, why did they recruit her then?

She was honestly funny as hell. I loved how contradictory she was: she proclaimed that she didn’t care what they did to her hair and then was beside herself when she was given a pixie cut. She said wasn’t going to be scared doing the hanging photoshoot because fear is a waste of time and emotions, only to bawl her eyes out when it came time to do it. She was honestly hilarious when she got all sassy with Xiomara at panel and made a scene in front of the judges. It was embarrassing, but her bratty attitude was bold and funny. I also read somewhere that she apologized to Xiomara afterward and they made up.

She said “I just got my ass kicked off the show” when she got kicked out. Honestly funny asf lol.

She ended up having a pretty decent career as a model and I’m happy for that. Clearly she wasn’t a huge crybaby if she kept going and ended up succeeding. That definitely took some resilience, especially after having her confidence ruined while being on ANTM. She’s a survivor and she was a very memorable contestant.