BY DORIAN BLOCK, ELIZABETH LAZAROWITZ AND RICH SCHAPIRO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Updated Sunday, March 15th 2009, 1:17 AM



Pandemonium erupted outside of an "America's Next Top Model" casting call in midtown Saturday when an overheating car triggered a stampede of catwalk-craving cuties.

Screaming as they ran for their lives, hundreds of hotties in heels toppled over barricades along W. 55th St. after several people in the crowd started yelling, "There's a bomb!"

By the time the model madness ended, two women were hospitalized and two others and one man were busted for inciting a riot, authorities said.

"The girls were running like it was 9/11 part two," said Jennifer Brown, 27, of Kensington, Brooklyn. "I feared for my life."

The audition for the The CW show, which for the first time was open to women under 5-feet-7, was doomed from the start, several said.

Scores of aspiring models slept overnight outside the Park Central Hotel, hoping to be the first to sashay before the hit show's casting agents.

But shortly after the sun rose, women began arriving and lining up indiscriminately.

Tensions quickly boiled over.

Things only got worse when the dolled-up ladies were told if they stepped out of the line, they couldn't come back in.

"I had to pee in a cup and change my clothes in the street," said Mona Knight, 18, of the Bronx, who slept on the street. "There was no organization whatsoever."

Cops arrived and placed barricades along the street. But by that point, there were already several thousand women lined up. A handful of women started fainting after getting pressed up against the wall, witnesses said.

"Everyone was so compressed, I don't think they could breathe," said Alex Saavedra, 23, who escorted his girlfriend to the audition. "Then they started passing out."

A fight broke out between two men who had been taunting each other for several hours, witnesses said.

Cops intervened and pulled the men off the line. One of them threatened to return with a gun, heightening tensions among the already-frazzled women.
Soon after, a black BMW with smoke pouring out of its hood pulled up in the street near the line, sending the sea of underdressed women scrambling to get away.

"The metal barricade fell down," said Kiara McCarthy, 19, of Levittown, L.I. "All of a sudden we heard this roar from behind us and we looked behind us and there's a wave of people falling on top of us."

Gabrielle Rose, 25, said several women started crying out in pain.

"We all fell on top of each other," said Rose, of Scranton, Pa. "People were squished against the wall, screaming, 'I can't breathe! I can't breathe!'"
Several women were treated at the scene, witnesses said. Two were transported to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell in stable condition, authorities said.

In the wake of the stampede, cops arrested three people: Clem Clemmons, 40; Vanessa Quiones, 20, and Michael Edwards. All were charged with inciting a riot.
"Representatives of The CW are working and cooperating with local authorities on the matter," a CW spokesman said.

No more women were allowed to audition after the stampede, leaving the diminutive ladies devastated that they missed out on an opportunity to make it big.

"I'm 5-foot-3. There's no way I can make it into a model agency," McCarthy said. "They would turn me away at the door. We had an opportunity and it was taken away from us."

rschapiro@nydailynews.com
With Jotham Sederstrom
[Edited 3/15/09 8:10am]

This is a sign from the Baby Jesus that women under 5'7" do not belong on a catwalk.

are you sure this isn't footage of michael jackson arriving at the O2?

It was probably a test. I bet Nigel Barker was up in a tree somewhere with a zoom lens.

I can hear Tyra now: "There is NO excuse! A model should be fierce even amid pending disaster!"


[Edited 3/15/09 8:22am]

Lammastide said:

The Can You Escape a Riot in Heels..FIERCELY challenge.

johnart said:

Stoopid.

Genesia said:

Short models? It's unnatural. Who are we (Tyra even) to question the Word of God?

lmao cracking joke.

Why do people even audition fr this show? None of the girls ever end up doing anything in the modeling world after the show is over.

DiamondGlove said:

I don't think they really "get" that.
A lot of kids prolly still think reality shows are a way to stardom.

Sidenote:
Have you ever seen an actual line up (not the ones they show) for these auditions?
They had one near our house when we lived in Philly.



I know everyone's child is beautiful to them, but some folk need be truthful before they let their kid go and try out for a modeling show.

It's all rather silly.

All any of those girls need to do is see the booking agent in the new faces divison of a modeling agency. Considering they're in New York it really is as simple as going in to any number of the top agencies there. A booker will be able to tell you right off the bat (after you're screened for height and weight requirements) if you've got the goods to work in the industry.

I have no idea why these topmodel shows still exist

I just read it online, didn't know there was video Now Tyra shouldda known damn well every short, scrappy bitch that thinks she's cute was gonna be in line - there's bound to be ruckus!

Ottensen said:

Because Tyra needs new weave money Seriously though, each season of Top Model gets more & more dumb. It's so goofy that she's doing a "short model" season

Quick! Somebody post that "roaring Tyra" gif.

so lemme get this straight, the people whose car over heated got charged for inciting a riot ?

Ottensen said:

I don't even know if the average person knows that. They think this is the only ticket. As other people said, the people who win these shows never go on to do anything big. Don't know what's the appeal.

Shawnt26 said:

But look @ all the reality show idiots there are - people will still do any & everything to be on tv!

CalhounSq said:

Most definitely..

johnart said:

THANK YOU.

All mainstream fashion is already fucking catered towards average height women, now top model gets taken from us tall chicks too? Fuck tyra banks.

http://www.youtube.com/wa...re=related

Lammastide said:

WTF were two men doing on the line?

evenstar3 said:

What's next? Wheelchairs on the catwalk??? This is an OUTRAGE!

Fury said:

Fury said: