The eagerness to be "America's Next Top Model" topped with a situation exaggerated resulted in a pandemonium. The audition of the reality show at Park Central New York hotel in Manhattan on Saturday, March 14 turned out to be a mayhem when somebody said the word "bomb".
The CW held an audition for the 13th season at the New York hotel and hopefuls had been queuing since a night before. The crowd was queuing in a fenced line on the sidewalk of W. 55th St. when a car stopped due to overheating. Somebody suddenly yelled "There's a bomb" when smoke started coming off the vehicle and people began panicking. They ran in every direction away from the car, causing stampede and injuries to several people.
A model hopeful named Jessica Paravati described to WNYW-TV, "It was pretty scary." As a result, a total of six people were hurt with two of them requiring immediate medical attention at a hospital. The authorities also initiated an arrest of two women and a man, named Michael Edwards, 24; Vanessa Quinones, 20; and Clem Clemmons, 40, who were thought of disorderly conduct and inciting the riot. No other cause has been reported by the authorities.
A number of clothes, heels, sleeping bags and other litters were found on the scene after the audition was shut down by the authorities. It was said to be improperly organized. The CW and rep of the show, meanwhile, have not returned any calls yet. The official site however, still lists other cities such as Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles for auditions.
Frenzy happening in front of the New York hotel:
 |   Bad Romance Lady GaGa |
 | Fireflies Owl City |
 | Empire State of Mind Jay-Z |
 | Tik Tok Ke$ha |
 | 3 Britney Spears |
 | Meet Me Halfway Black Eyed Peas |
 | Down Jay Sean |
 | Party in the U.S.A Miley Cyrus |
 | Paparazzi Lady GaGa |
 | Whatcha Say Jason Derulo |
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Only in NY.
I was also there. i was there from 10:30 - about 6pm when they told us to go home. I was and still am in utter dismay due to ANTM's casting directors lack of concern for the comfort, safety and well being of the girl's auditioning for their dream. I even found out at one point from a cop that the casting directors had decided to take an hr lunch break while we waited in the freezing cold outside!! i mean they could've eaten their lunch while they did the castings, i mean we werent even allowed to leave the line to go to the bathroom! we were treated like animals in cages! It was so disorganized, i also heard the cops didnt even know about the casting till about 9am and the line started moving at around 11! I was literally on edge, not only did i stay in line for 7 odd hours but had no sleep the night before b/c i was up preparing the last few days up until that night. bought a whole new outfit and shoes i barely had the money for, printed out a 15 pg application that cost me almost $10 to print out and not to mention the amount of money i had spent on pictures and time on the internet at kinkos!! i mean this was alot of money and precious time wasted. the only positive thing that came out of this experience, and i mean experience i will never forget, is the girls i had met and formed a special bond with the almost 8 hrs we had spent together. i formed together as a group and even had a towel that we each grabbed a hold of in a line so that we wouldnt lose eachother in the tug and pull that we had been experieneing throughout the whole day. we knew when the line was moving b/c everytime we heard screaming (bloody murder screaming) from the front, the line would start moving, it almost like our drill for war or something! lol. we laughed together and kept eachother warm. we even partnered up for bathroom breaks (before we were banned that is)and pushed ourselves back into our spots while girls frantically screamed at us for cutting like blood thirsty wolverines. soon we heard screaming from the back of the line this time, but this seemed normal to us since throughout the whole time we had kept our ears open for the screaming signal that the line was moving up and also girls had been fighting physically and verabally all around us so we thought this was normal. all of a sudden we were thrown back and forth as if sea waves were violently pushing us into a crazy current. my lungs were compressed and i couldnt breathe, i literally thought to myself for about 3 seconds, this line might just collapse like a domino effect leaving us on the bottom of the crowd squimming for our lives! thankfully we calmed eachother and held on for dear life. even holding unto other girls that werent part of our group and consoling them b/c frantic tears were developing in their eyes. finally the crowd kind of calmed to a safe level. we were pushed so far that when the stampede began our group was located at half midpoint of the block by the time the stampede settled we were all the way to the front where the door was! I love tyra but i saw the statment she made about the incident and her lack of concern for the girl's saftey was totally dismissed and omitted from the statment, all she pretty much did was thanked the police officers of which i noticed from the sky view video didnt really even seem to rush to the girls assistance! i am horribly disappointed trya this coulda all been avoided if it was organized properly!!
I was on line too, but I was lucky enough to have made it inside as one of the first to audition. It's not easy auditioning for this show, and I feel remorseful for the ladies that experienced the chaos.
I was there and I could not believe the chaos and the lack of order and care from the top model organization. I stood outside in the freezing cold from 8:00am until 7:30 almost 8pm. I waited in a line that circled the entire block. It was the longest block I have and will ever walk. From the beginning there was no order, just thousands of other women with the same application that said to meet at an address that was not where it was said to be. I hadn't slept in 24hours preparing for the audition I hadn't eaten a thing Thirsty, extremely in need of a bathroom and my energy running on the hopes that I could be "America's next top model." Finally I am 3/4 of the way there and I can see the door but the line is only moving 3 inches every 45mins. I am in a place of anger yet knowing the other girls around me were suffering the same cold weather, the same dreams, and the same physical pain and endurance, I was given some comfort. We even became Friends and worked as a unit to keep each other warm. I was thinking when did this become an episode of Survivor? Now to the Chaos The line went from one wide side walk to a very wide city street in width around 12pm There was a car that had hit a barricade and was over heating there was smoke filling the air and then next thing we hear is " it's going to explosed, it's on Fire! I am closest to the walk and was smashed into it. All of us on top of one another. There was no way to get out or move so I tried to slip down so if it blew I would have a better change of not getting my hair mess up or my head blown off. Then the cops tried to calm us down saying its not going to blow, easier said then done especially with some random strangers hands on your behind and you can't tell who's legs are who's. as we are still crushed by the pressure from the thousand of girls in front and behind us, even more chaos broke out when a man runs into the crowd where he pulls out some young girl and starts to beat her, as the cops come to get him he charges back into the crowd saying he has a gun and we heard something that sound like gunshot but that could not be confirmed. that is where it got even worst everyone running in to each other trying to get away from danger. I was now not being smashed against the wall but between people. It was like playing a game of life and death twister. I had moved a lot not even using my legs, my feet were no longer on the ground. I was being propel forward by force. my ribs and lungs were being crushed and I started to lose consciousness and could not breath. There was a girl on top of me who started to have a seizure and or was hyperventilating I had to pull myself together so I could help her. When they say you want to be on top I had no idea this is what they meant. after we had finally broke free the police said it is over go home. I became furious. How could they do this to us! *First we come out here with them not giving us any order or communication about whats going on *Second we stand in the freezing cold on a Saturday for hours and for some days. *Third those that were there waiting for these hours and days were cut in line from people that showed up late and formed their own line, not to mention they got in. *fourth and most importantly our lives were in dangered and our dreams shattered. Fifth we were treated like animals no food, no water, no bathroom, no order and no one to care. After everything was said and done we could not even get an apology, a thank you for coming out, an explanation, a sorry you came wasted your time and almost died as well as your dreams being scattered on the streets of NYC along with your belongings. It was another slap in the face. I Lauren Amaris was checked out by ambulance but chose not to go to hospital, due to I can not afford it. I am at home recovering with bruises, swelling, I am still walking with a limp due to the trauma my legs experience, I am having back pains and possible whiplash. I will be ok, but what's not ok is the lack of care that was shown for the people that came out to be apart of this great opportunity. I love Tyra Banks and what she stands for and the traumatizing experience that occurred this past Saturday March 14th 2009, I pray her and her team Right this wrong.