Tyra Banks Selects the “Fiercely Real” Model: Size 14 Sheridan Watson
March 12, 2010 in Beauty & Body Image, Celebrity Quotes, Hot Models, Tyra Banks by Versus
A while back, Tyra Banks started searching for a “fiercely real” plus-size teen model – find out more about the initiative HERE!
Tyra just selected the winner of the competition – but first, let’s hear Tyra’s thoughts about the concept:
The term “Plus-sized” models sounds super old fashioned… so I’m changing the term “Plus-sized” into “Fiercely Real”! The average size of a woman in America is a size 14. Our new winner, Sheridan, now represents for all the real sized women who have been ignored by the media. As you know, the mission of my B.I.O. (Beauty Inside & Out) campaign is to expand the definition of beauty. The Fiercely Real Model Search is one way that I’m doing just that. Hundreds of thousands of teen girls sent in their best model pictures to Tyra.com, but only 6 finalists made it. After competing in 5 challenges, Sheridan, the 17 year old, size 14, fierce teen from New Jersey came out on top.
Let’s meet the winner Sheridan Watson – via Vogue Curvy:
Sheridan Watson, 17, loads of chocolate-colored curves perfectly distributed over 5ft.10in. may convert legions of American women to the religion of wellness and common sense. “You have to learn how to eat healthily – she states – if you want to get thinner it is equally dangerous to fast and to gulp down junk food until you explode. And it is important to exercise regularly”. At this point we can’t help but ask her how did she reach size 14 since she swears she’d rather eat yoghurt than ice-cream and tells us she takes a 30-minute walk every single day. “I owe my figure to my genes – she claims – my mother is as curvy as I am, and in any case I try to be careful: I don’t want to be too fat, obesity is a real disease”.
See some more pictures of the fiercly real winner after the jump, then share your thoughts!
when Tyra gets invlolved into something, it always turns out to be pretty ridiculous….funny as hell, but stupid and pointless
YES! And the tone she sets to whole thing makes it like it was World’s Greatest Discovery or problem with top priority. And we always end up with at least one photo-shoot with her. This girl resembles Jordin Sparks a lot
It bugs me when people say “the average woman is a size 14″ and then use a plus size model as an example. The average size may be true, but the average women is not 5’10″ to 6’0″ like the plus size models are. If this girl was a more average height of 5’5″, she would probably be wearing a size 6 or 8. My point is that it’s not the same for a 5’5″ woman to be a size 12 and a 5’10″ woman to be a size 12. Even though the media likes to tell us that they are “expanding the definition of beauty”, that’s not really happening.
i could not agree with you more! as a tall girl it bugs me when people expect me to weigh less than a shorter girl who is thicker than me for her height. taller=larger size and more lbs (even if you look thinner)
Well said! You took the words right out of my mouth!
Not to nitpick but don’t think a tall size 14 is comparable to an average height 6-8….probably more like a size 10 or 12.
Couldn’t agree more
I think that there are a couple ways of looking at this .. on one hand this girl is a much more ‘average’ size for women who are 5’10 and is a good representation for showing that women of model height do not need to be of typical model proportions to be beautiful. on the other hand however, it is misguided to attempt to pawn this girl off as a representation as ‘average’ within the entire female population since she is well above average.. as mentioned previously most woman in western cultures have an average height of 5’5 and size 14, making their proportions much larger.
However Tyra and marketing execs know full well that the real average will not sell as well or make money so she is simply taking the already accepted plus-sized model concept and attempting to re-brand it so that more women can relate to it. Just another media ploy ..
oh great now I already know the winner
this show isn´t even out here yet.
I think tyra rather silly but the girl is gorgeous!
tyra sounds*
When will people learn what “curves” mean?
Just because someone isn’t thin doesn’t make them “curvy”. i don’t see much waist to hip ratio here
which does not make her curvy. Slender people can be curvy too, it’s about hip to waist ratio.
She’s got an okay waist/hip ratio because her bottom half is bigger but she’s not particularly curvy, no.
I don’t think plus size woman should model.
What are you, the fashion police? Obviously there is a market for plus sized models.
You must think plus sized men should model instead.
What’s wrong with her? I could see her getting me to buy whatever, and based on my apperance, I should relate to skinny models more. She’s stunning and has a nice fit figure, at least, in these pictures.
Hard to say anything about her body, a tank and jeans have a way to make different bodies look a lot more similar than they would in diff clothes, but her face seems pretty. Fiercely real is a term i can’t take seriously
But Tyra loves to create ridiculous terms and drama and other silly things.
how many size differences are there between US and AU sizes, I’ve been told there are 3 full sizes, which would make her an AU20, which I would find hard to believe, I think she looks more like an AU16, though i know you can’t just look at someone and guess their size.
i’m an AU16, 5ft8 and this girl looks thinner than me and standing next to Tyra, unless there is an awful lot of photoshop, i think she only looks about a size bigger or two at the very most, and i don’t think Tyra would be a 12 ?
or maybe theres just something wrong with my eyes lol
theres 4 sizes between au and us- as far as i know.
that would make her a size 18. she certainly doesnt look that big at all!
the last two pictures look like a cartoon.they are really photoshopped.
I think it’s admirable that she says that she owes her figure to genes, and that she still exercises, and I like how she points out how obesity is a real disease. But, I just laughed at this post for one main reason: People say that Tyra’s really full of herself, and over the years I really see it. Every model she launches (and I mean EVERY one of them) she gets photographed with, almost trying to outshine them sometimes. That’s just my view, but that’s kind of how it looks. And the reason I laughed is because, if I ever had a photo shoot near her, I could just imagine her running towards the flash bulbs and shoving me aside to get photographed. LaughedMAO!
I read another article about her that said she was heavier when she was younger. Kids threw fries at her saying, time to feed the whale. So she has lost weight I guess.
Omg, that would probably make me want to lose weight, too. That’s really sad…
Padme, really? That’s awful. But hey, she gets the last laugh, because she’s a model now.
Yeah I think I read it in this week’s People magazine.
uh so it was all about tall and skinny now its tall and “curvy” or a little overweight.
how about the fact that most women are 5″4? what about the bunch of 5″4 skinny girls i see around? cant they be models? cause i dont relate at all to tall models, shirts they wear will look like a dress on me
i personally dont care too much who models what anymore because if you wanted to please everyone that would mean that anyone could be a model.
hello that would put tall skinny girls out of business! lol jkjk but you know what i mean here. i just dont see a real solution to this problem
the cycle before this was devoted to exactly that…short skinny models…so tyra did make a modeling season about shorter models to represent different heights
Only for ‘petite models’, not for actual ‘petite people’. 5’7″ and below is short for a model, but 5’4″ and under is petite for the average woman. I only recall there being two or so women in that competition who were truly petite.
I agree with you! I’m 5’4. I have NEVER seen anyone put a shorter girl in one of these “anyone can be a model” campaigns (height, which people have no control over), yet they will put plus size (overweight) people on there (weight is something people do have control over). First of all, I don’t think it is healthy. I understand that obesity is climbing in America and that the average woman is a size 14, but what about healthy sized women? Sizes 2-10 are being left out for extra skinny models and plus size models. Also, I understand that plus size is looked at as ‘curvy’. But what about the people that aren’t a size 14? I am a 6-8, and I am curvy. I don’t think that just because someone is plus sized, they are automatically curvy..? The word ‘curvy’ just has a ‘plus sized’ undertone to it in the fashion world. I don’t think it should be like this.
I even agree and I am 6′. Models are tall like me…so why can’t I just walk into a store and buy something in the regular length? Regular length clothes are made for a medium-height woman, not a tall one (thank you J.Crew Tall sizes or I wouldn’t have a thing to wear). Why models are 5’11″ and a size 0 I’ll never know…can you buy off the rack if you are that size?
I’m glad she realizes that obesity is a real disease. Most bigger people usually ignore that fact and call themselves big boned. I hate that – especially when they call slim/normal sized people anorexic – ugh!
She is defently NOT big by any means, very average/curvy. I dont know how photoshopped these are but she looks like she is at a healthy weight for her very tall height. There is a difference when the person is so large they cant even walk a flight of stairs without passing out.
Hey, how did you change your picture on here? I cannot figure it out with this new site!
Also, totally agree with your comment!
I did a little venting about the same topic a few posts up, lol
If I didn’t know she was a model, I’d have guessed that she was an athlete, she has a strong looking body that looks like she does more than take 30 min. walks.
Her face is gorgeous…….and I agree that you can not tell her shape in the jeans and tank…and for most people curves equals a butt, hips, and boobs with a small waist.and virtual no stomach…most thin people are photoshopped so they appear curvy then what they are…hip ratio is important but unless you have at least a 13 inch difference to me in those terms then you are not curvy when factoring in waist hip ratio.
0.7 waist/hip ratio is curvy. It’s not the actual number of inches.
I get that but after examining people with those proportions …unless they had the descriptions above they do not appear curvy to me…most celebs lie about measurements so you can guess but what i notice is that on real people when they have smaller waist being around 13 inches smaller then top and bottom then they look curvy. Very few people in real life will not be skinny and curvy some can but that is the exception not the rule. Most people want to be skinny and curvy and they are not. That does not mean they are not hot but they are not curvy either. I also not talking about the extremes but the middle range of individuals. Curvy is the lastest thing that everyone wants to claim and alot of celebs are not..
Well like you say the celebs may be claiming false measurements.
Also depends on the person’s body type. Long waisted, slender girls with 0.7 waist/hip ratios do not appear to be as curvy as short waisted thicker girls with the same waist/hip ratio.
Two things I want to say about this article.
1) Stop using things like, “The average size of a woman in America is a size 14″ as some sort of incentive. The average woman is overweight, and not just overweight, but also has heart problems, diabetes, high cholesterol, and other problem associated with obesity. Just because something is average doesn’t mean its good, so there is no point in using that as an incentive. I’m not saying don’t use size 14 models, just, that shouldn’t be the reason why you use them.
2) Girl looks great. But look at her. How many size 14′s look like that? Her body is about as attainable as a size 0-2 models we currently have. Good luck getting her proportions if you’re not born with them, no matter how much you diet. The way they are selling her…it’s as if she is somehow more relateable to the average woman. But she’s not like the average woman at all. She’s gorgeous.
I myself have problems with this “Hey, the average size is a 14″ being used as some sort of incentive. IF the average Western woman IS indeed overweight, and if you really examine her and find her to be unhealthy, that’s not something to aspire to or be complacent with. That’s why I loved Tyra’s campaign: “Get YOUR SHAPE in shape.” At the end of the day, we’ll all have different frames, but you should aim to get your body healthy and let your weight fall where it may fall if you follow the proper healthy parameters and of course make sure through doctors that you have no underlying conditions that will affect your weight. If, and I stress ‘if’ because I don’t know the statistics and doubt the statistics would tell the full story anyway, the average woman is unhealthy, and the average woman is also a size 14, what does that say? That would technically say that the average woman needs to pay better attention to her health.
I ilked Tyra’s get your shape in shape campaign as well. It wasn’t even about being super toned like celebrities…it was just about being healthy and looking healthy no matter what size you happened to be. I think everyone should eat at least reasonably healthy (I’m not against eating pizza or McDonalds, but in moderation…have it once in a while), and exercize regularly as much as a doctor recommends.
Imagine how much public health costs would go down if people simply did the above things. But still, the average person does not do the above things.
I will not comment on the content, it really does not interest me, and – as someone already said – there is no market for short girls as models, even though we might have modelesque figures. But i need to say this woman Tyra chose is incredibly beautiful. Her face is so stunning that you don’t even notice the body anymore. And i’ve seen this before: plus sized models usually have gorgeous faces, definitely more beautiful that normal sized models (of course there are extremely beautiful thin models as well, but proportionally speaking, not so many of them)
very well said
. SHe look like Jordan Sparks right? btw is that a size 18/16 in UK then?
i’d kill myself if i was a size 14, or anything above a 6. sorry. and i’m tired of tyra acting as if she’s going to change the world. her actions are superficial; she says one thing on her show, then rips girls apart on ANTM. this is helping girls feel better about themselves how?
Haha so you would kill yourself if you were a 14 and you think Tyra is superficial? Hypocrite much?
HEY EVERYBODY. CLOTHES LOOK BETTER ON TALL, SKINNY WOMEN. DEAL WITH IT.
i happen to know this girl, shes actually my best friend believe it or not, but yes, shes as stunning in real life as she is in the pictures. She deserves this win more so much and I think she’s an incredibly apt definition of beauty. people who say that curvy girls aren’t as beautiful as the stick thin twigs that weve seen going down runways for the last couple decades are probably flat chested and jealous.
you really want to help girls and boost their self-esteem. stop having “plus sized” models. have models. period. have one season of antm which isn’t specific. have a regular season where girls of ALL sizes and shapes and heights are welcome to be part of.