Telephone Q&A session
Yesterday evening, some of us bloggers had the chance to ask Furonda some questions. I thought she was very well spoken and funny. She also provided some interesting details that we never got to saw. And if you're interested in her upcoming projects, check out her website at furonda.com. So here we go:
On judging:
Like Leslie said, judging takes all day long. The girls line up and the judges arrive there. They have to do the challenge. An hour is spent on critiques; an hour is spent on deliberation. Some time in between, the judges take a lunch break. The process lasts eight to ten hours. The girls are held in a room while the girl sent home has about an hour or two to pack up.
On friends:
Furonda was closest to Nnenna, Joanie, Jade, and Sara. She talks to all of the girls once a week. She talks to Nnenna every day.
On her walk:
Furonda said that she now has a vaccine for her Stiff Arm Syndrome.
On previous cycles:
Furonda has been a faithful viewer since Cycle 1, which is her favorite cycle. In fact, after Cycle 1, she tried out for Cycle 2. Kesse was her favorite girl from the first cycle. Some of the girls she likes include Elyse, Robin (mostly because of the Christian vs. atheist battle between her and Elyse), Adrianne, Camille (Furonda dug her strong personality), Shandi, Eva, and Naima.
On her acting stint:
Everybody on the set was very nice and welcomed her. They were like a family. She liked Steve Guttenberg a lot. She would love to be on SNL, Chappelle's Show, or Wild 'N Out.
On her "rules":
She thought they were necessary, having lived in dorm rooms in college. After all, she would be living with twelve strangers for a few weeks. She said the rules reflect how unique she is. She respects other people's issues because she wants respect. On the show, the other girls laughed about the rules. Furonda said that while she is open to things, she doesn't want to deal with problems and stress. Finally, editing neglected to show us all of her rules. And what we saw on the screen wasn't what she had typed out. Once again, editing manipulated the viewers. She will put the list on her website.
In the last episode, Danielle said that they came back at 2:00 AM. Is that true?:
Yes. The photo shoots took a great deal of time. When they were actually AT the house, the girls didn't even have time to eat properly. It was quite easy to be in low spirits.
On Jade and the tiara incident:
Furonda thought it was hilarious when Jade told her that her tiara didn't have real diamonds. She looks back on it warmly. No hard feelings.
On her elimination episode:
She watched the episode on Wednesday night with her closest friends and family members. The dance routine was edited to make her look silly. The audience actually liked it, in fact. At one point, she had to turn her back to them because she was laughing so hard.
Favorite/least favorite photo shoot:
She liked the Pantene doll shoot. In the previous week, J. Alexander rudely said she looked like a rag doll, so it was sweet revenge that she was a rag doll and turned out a great photo. Like many of the others, she didn't like the fairy-tale shoot. Furonda said that the person who thought up the shoot should try falling down fifty times. It caused a lot of problems-- many of the girls got hurt; their necks were quite stiff. Sara even had to go to an EMT and a chiropractor after the shoot because she was in so much pain.
The future?:
Furonda wants to act and model. She is working with KNOWHIVAIDS.org. She and Nnenna will hold a conference in February 2007 for youths with AIDS. She and Nnenna will also hold a fashion show for the organization. She also sings, and she said that she'll put up the clips eventually on her Myspace and website. She basically wants to do it all. Also, she will room with Nnenna in NYC, as she's moving there too. She has lots of photos for her portfolio, but she's looking for photographers to do some shoots now.
Favorite models and designers:
She loves Tyra, Naomi, Beverly Peele, Giselle, and Heidi. Her favorite designers include Tracy Reese, Gucci, Tom Ford, and Valentino. She loves couture. She's a Project Runway fan, and she mentioned that one of the designers from the show (I didn't catch his/her name) designed the costumes for one of the Cycle 6 promotional pictures.
On her weave:
After coming back from Thailand, Furonda said her weave was rather icky. So she took it off and wore her hair short for a while. She did get a new weave, only it wasn't a "Tiffany weave" but a "Furonda weave." The weave is better because it frames her face, which is rather thin.
On how she was portrayed:
She says that although you can't get to know a person through an hour of television, she is pretty happy overall with how she was portrayed.