Alison Boxer, a contestant on Australia's Next Top Model, says she was told to shed pounds although she is technically underweight, News.com.au reports. Boxer, * pounds, was told by a guest mentor to lose "centimetres from her thighs." Boxer said, "It was a shock to the system to be told I needed to lose weight....At home a lot of people say I'm too skinny."

A spokesperson for Foxtel, which airs the program, confirmed that Boxer was told to slim down.
The show's scout Lizzi Leighton Clark said "at the end of the day you have to be tall and skinny to be a model."

POPULAR reality show Australia's Next Top Model has been accused of bowing to industry pressure by promoting super slim models in its new season, after encouraging fuller figures last year.
Despite being hailed for crowning healthy size 10 Tahnee Atkinson as the 2009 winner, producers this year have once again favoured a "more commercial" frame for the top 16.

One of this season's contestants is Melbourne teenager Alison Boxer.

At *kg, Alison, 16, is underweight, according to the universally recognised Body Mass Index.

But that's not good enough for a guest mentor on the latest series of the Fox8 show.

Alison said she was told to lose "centimetres from her thighs".

"It was a shock to the system to be told I needed to lose weight," she said.

"At home a lot of people say I'm too skinny. I was *kg at one stage, which I thought was a bit scary.

"So I was coming from a place where people were telling me to gain weight, to now people saying I should lose weight."

Alison, the second-youngest of 16 contestants, said she was one of four girls told to lose weight just a week into filming of the catty TV competition.

A Foxtel spokesperson confirmed Alison was told to shed a centimetre around her waist. But the contestant said she was told her hips and thighs were the real problem areas.

"I have never tried to lose weight before, but since then I have been going to the gym twice a day and eating in proportion to try to lose the weight," she said.

Sydney hopeful Chantal Croccolo, 20, said while thin was back in, the contestants should not be accused of supporting unhealthy body images.

"I have been thin my whole life but I understand the need to be healthy. I don't agree we all have to be skinny," she said.

Model agent and show scout Lizzi Leighton Clark said that producers had not searched for particular body shapes but "at the end of the day you have to be tall and skinny to be a model".

"Hopefully, we have a range of body shapes, faces and personalities, but tall and slim is what works," she said.

Eating Disorders Victoria spokeswoman Megan O'Connor slammed the show for promoting a poor body image among impressionable teenagers.

"Most people would look at her and see a particularly attractive young woman, yet it is suggested she lose further weight, and it is not attainable," Ms O'Connor said.

"We would prefer the show to promote diversity of body shape rather than assume a model needs to look super skinny."

It is not the first time the Fox8 series has come under fire for encouraging vulnerable young girls to lose weight.

The 2008 winner, Demelza Reveley, was initially mocked by mentor Jonathon Pease and judge Charlotte Dawson for her "fat" bottom and thighs.

The latest series is being filmed in Sydney and will air on Fox8 in July.

^Although I can't stand the series period, in the American installment of the show, the judges usually seem especially worried if a girl is underweight. A lot of the girls are usually incredibly thin (though they have had several plus-sized contestants) but it breaks my heart if one of them is revealed as having an eating disorder. There was one girl in the third season I could relate to who told another girl that she was bulimic, but when the judges called her out on it, she denied it. It's just very, very sad.

^I remember that one. I felt terrible for the girl, but if she didn't want the help, then that was her choice.

The best way to stop the growth of such shows and even magazines is to not watch, or buy something that isn't healthy.

perhaps it appeals to part of the ED? It used to do that for me, but now I just find it sad.