So, you've decided you want to be a contestant on 'The Swan 2', you've filled out the 13-page application, signed the release forms, and shot your ten-minute-maximum video complete with a close up of your un-made-up face and a full-body shot in your bathing suit. If you haven't died from humiliation by this point, you're all set to submit your application before the June 18th deadline. But if you think it's going to be easy, Swan Cristina Tyree will quickly tell you otherwise.
Cristina, who was the winner of the second episode of 'The Swan' and participated in the pageant only to be cut in the first round, equates being chosen for 'The Swan' to winning the lottery, but "in season two a lot more people are buying tickets!"
If you are one of the lucky few to be chosen, Cristina advises you to be prepared to give up a lot of freedom and to work extremely hard both physically and mentally. She also says, "You have to think about being away from home, loved ones, your job, etc. for a pretty long period of time. If you don't have a whole lot of support from home, it could be tough." Cristina also warns control freaks and those only in it for the money that this process probably isn't for them. Cristina says potential Swans should do their homework by reading sites such as this one, "Do as much research as you can. You can never know too much."
Cristina wants all the women applying for 'The Swan 2' to realize that by going to the effort to actually apply means that you are ready to make some major changes in your life. And she says, "If you don't get picked, don't let that keep you from reaching for your dreams, they do come true."
Cristina was well on her way to changing her life before she was chosen to appear on 'The Swan'. Having once weighed 205 lbs., Cristina had changed her eating habits and dropped 80 lbs. Her dramatic weight loss left her with 'dead skin' on her stomach that had lost all its elasticity and would never retract back to its original shape. She had considered a tummy tuck prior to being chosen for The Swan, but felt she couldn't afford it. "When one of my passions is belly dancing, this creates a problem," she said. Thanks to the Swan surgeons who performed an 11-hour procedure Cristina now has a 'perfect' stomach. In a second surgery two weeks later Cristina's face was transformed during a 6-hour procedure.
Lazy people need not apply for 'The Swan' program; only two weeks after her facial surgery Cristina hit the gym. At first she only walked on the treadmill to get her heart rate going, but soon after it was time for 'Swan boot camp'. "When 'boot camp' started you'd better prepare to sweat bullets, or should I say buckets of bullets!" Cristina said.
Future Swan contestants should also be prepared to live without seeing their reflection in a mirror for several months. Cristina didn't mind living without mirrors immediately after her surgery, but as time went on she became both curious and a little afraid of what she would see. "It's like living without a face, so you really get to focus on what is going on inside your heart and mind and that is when you truly transform for the better," she said.
Although recovering from two major surgeries was no day at the beach, Cristina says her toughest challenge during the process was the emotional work she faced. "When it came time to cure my insecurity, I had to be my own doctor; nobody could do it for me." Through the help of weekly therapy, Cristina was able to resolve issues of not feeing good enough for her mother. Role playing helped her realize that her mom had her own unresolved childhood issues which caused her to be critical of her.
Cristina's final reveal rivals the birth of her son as the most intense moment of her life. "It was basically a rebirth moment," says Cristina, "my interior was about to meet my exterior." As excited as she was to see her 'new' self resplendent in an evening gown and with full make-up and perfectly styled hair, Cristina says the real 'party' began when she got back to her room alone. She washed away the make-up, undressed and looked at herself in her re-installed mirror, "I cried tears of joy for a few minutes, well… I must admit that I also danced too!"
Cristina says future Swans should expect to be the subject of the 'public's glare'. She was first recognized by a fellow audience member at an American Idol show. The woman told Cristina that she had been inspired by her story and had dropped a few pounds as a result. Realizing that her experience had influenced a total stranger brought Cristina to tears. "Just to know that I did something that impacted somebody else makes all my efforts and sacrifices worth it," she said. When asked to sign her first autograph Cristina paused for a moment and wondered what she should write. She realized that for the first time in her life she believed something that she never fully did before, she wrote this: ALWAYS DREAM BIG!!
Cristina would like to tell all the critics of the show that 'The Swan' was about much more than women having plastic surgery in order to compete in a beauty contest, it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to focus on herself away from all distractions and learn exactly who she is. The most important change she experienced is her vastly improved self-esteem. "Would you criticize someone for going to India to find their spiritual self?" she asks.
These days the new and improved Cristina is back to her normal life. In addition to being reunited with her husband and son, she's back at her job as an administrative assistant. Cristina is enjoying the simple pleasures she didn't realize she missed during her four months away - grocery shopping, walking in her neighborhood, and driving in her car with the radio turned up loud.
Although Cristina wasn't crowned the ultimate Swan, she says, "when it was all over my most precious prize was waiting for me, calling me Mommy, and I was crowned the queen of my home."
For all the women who apply for 'The Swan 2', I wish you luck. But even if you aren't chosen I hope you dance… too.
Kelley Rhodes is a full-time mom, part-time reality tv junky and would-be writer.
You can contact Kelley at kacir03@yahoo.com.
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