Still, it was a sad moment for Sara Racey-Tabrizi when she was eliminated during the second season of the popular reality show, which airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. E.T. on UPN.

There is something loveable about this 22 year old beauty, something real. Perhaps it is the way she answers questions at a million miles an hour, not yet polished in doing interviews. It's great to talk to someone who is probably going to be the next sensation in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition BEFORE she achieves official status as a goddess.

Although she may never be heroin chic enough for top fashion designers, Sara is capitalizing on the fame that comes with being on television to make her dreams of modeling come true...

Savvy: What's happening in your life and career since the show?

Sara: Right now I'm just hitting the trails like every other model. My agency, Hype Inc., and Victoria Talbot are trying to get some things going on in Europe. Besides that, I'm going to castings every day in New York and doing cool photo shoots like this one for Savvy. I'm going for more of what they predicted I would do on the show -- the more sexy, lingerie-type model. I'm finding that's more my fit than the stick-thin, anorexic couture model, which I don't want to be.

Savvy: Posing in your undies is more fun anyway.

Sara: I love it. Plus it pays more.

Savvy: Do you plan to turn the modeling into some kind of acting career?

Sara: A lot of people, agents and just random people, have told me I should go into acting because I have a great personality. I definitely want to but I feel like I need to take acting lessons. I want to do some hosting meanwhile to get myself in front of the camera.

Savvy: How much of "America's Next Top Model" was reality and how much was staged?

Sara: None of it was fake but sometimes Tyra or another judge would not say something the right way and we'd have to act surprised again for the fifth time. But we weren't told to be drama queens or fight. It happened naturally.

Savvy: Some of those challenges seemed pretty sadistic.

Sara: Well, you have to remember it is a TV show up against other reality shows. It's a marketing ploy. It's, like, "What's the craziest thing we can do to the models? Let's string them up in the air with Peacock feathers in their hair." Still, doing the show was the best experience of my life. Being in the room with Tyra and having her say what she said about me was just phenomenal. I couldn't believe it.

Savvy: Me and Tyra didn't want you to go.

Sara: Tyra was my biggest fan among the judges. We stay in contact. She got me an interview with (Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Editor) Diane Smith. She has a lot of faith in me. She's really rooting for me. She said that I could stand next to her and Heidi (Klum).

Savvy: Funny, but I had that same dream last night!

Sara: Tyra's a very, very, very busy businessperson so we don't talk everyday, but I call her when I need advice and she calls me back.

Savvy: Very cool. I saw where, out of 20 or so women from years and years of reality TV shows, you were picked online as the sexiest.

Sara: Yeah, that was great. I had a lot of fun on my Savvy shoot too. I made some new friends and ended up having the time of my life.

Savvy: Tell me something sexy.

Sara: I love wearing stiletto heels with tiny lingerie. It makes it a lot sexier.

Savvy: No argument here. How important is sex to you?

Sara: I hope my mom doesn't read this. Well... Sex is extremely important when you're in a relationship. I think that it plays a serious role in how well a relationship survives.

Savvy: It's fun too!

Sara: Talk about fun, I'm a sociology major. I took a lot of classes on the sociology of sexuality. For my life, sex is a connection. It's important. If you're single, then you may be able to get away with not having the best sex of your life because you can move on to the next candidate. Isn't that romantic?

Savvy: What's been the most romantic or erotic moment of your life so far?

Sara: This is the honest truth: It was meeting my boyfriend and having a connection with him where we could just stare into each others' eyes forever and not have to say a word because we knew...

Savvy: Staring at you is easy.

Sara: That was more romantic and more erotic than anything I've ever done. Well, there was the whole whipped cream incident but I won't get into all that!

Savvy: Oh please do!

Sara: No, no. I am very open with my sexuality but I don't go into graphic details.

Savvy: On the show, you seemed to get a hard time from your father for wanting to model. Is he still pissed that make a living as a sex symbol?

Sara: Actually, we started talking again about a month ago. He still doesn't like the modeling. He doesn't think it is a legitimate job. He thinks there are a lot of negative parts, which there are. A friend of mine who had a falling out with her father recently lost him, and I thought, the last thing I want is anger toward my father in case something happens to him.

Savvy: He has a gorgeous daughter. Was he flipping out because of your Persian background?

Sara: In that culture, men are very protective of women, especially fathers over their daughters. If I went to Iran right now, I would have to wear a head scarf and all that kind of stuff. I have so much love, admiration and respect for Persian culture. I was raised by an American mother as a Catholic in the inner city. I have a really weird life. My mom lived in Iran for two years, and during the Islamic revolution with the Ayatollah Khomeni, she had to escape with me in her stomach. She had to conceal it because if they found out she was pregnant with a Persian daughter, she would have been kept there. My mom refuses to see that movie "Not Without My Daughter" because the story reminds her so much of what she went through.

Savvy: How can you have positive feelings toward that kind of oppressive culture where you could never have realized your dream of modeling?

Sara: It's historical. You can't just say they need to change because American society is the way it is. A lot of Persian women like the way the culture is. It's church and state together, not separate like here in America. You live your religion. That goes back hundreds and hundreds of years and can't just change overnight. I respect it and will never dishonor it. I will never go to Iran and pose nude in the streets. But here in America, you have the freedom to do that.

Savvy: God bless America -- land of hot naked chicks.

Sara: A lot of people want me to do Playboy but I'm not sure if that's something I'm ready to do yet. I have to talk to mommy first.

Savvy: Mom, have a heart! When you pose for these sexy pictures, what do you think about?

Sara: As a model, you have to role-play. You have to feel very comfortable in your own skin. To feel sexy, I imagine my man standing there and nobody else in the room. I imagine I'm posing just for him.

Savvy: So what's your gameplan for conquering the entertainment industry?

Sara: To work my ass off. I was raised by a single mom so being self-sufficient is important to me.

Savvy: How sexed up is the modeling industry?

Sara: VERY. I am very quiet and reserved. I hear so many stories from other models about things they've done, things they've been propositioned to do. Some people will basically do anything to get to the top. I refuse to do that. But it's very explicit a lot of the things that go on in this industry that are just eye-popping.

Savvy: Is it different from how you imagined before you did the TV show?

Sara: It was just a dream then, something I was in Seattle wishing for. You really don't see that much on the show because people are watching out for you, but when you get out into the real world and go to the parties and around other models, it's not TV anymore. It's wonderful but scary sometimes. I've told myself before, "If I have to do that, I'm not going to do this."

Savvy: I imagine there are lots of guys who'll offer you stardom if you sleep with them.

Sara: I haven't encountered that yet. Men, in general, say things like, "Oh, you're beautiful, I'm going to make you a celebrity." When I tell them I have a boyfriend, a lot will just tell me goodbye. A lot of models also do drugs. I had some models ask me if I wanted to do cocaine with them. That kind of stuff I will never, ever, ever try.

Savvy: Hugs not drugs! Sounds like you aren't much for the party scene.

Sara: I hate crowds. Going to parties and smoozing, sometimes I just want to get out of there. I do like the club scene at times but watching a great movie or ordering take-out from the Chinese restaurant down the street and watching Fox News is the best! I'm a homebody. I just spent a week in Hawaii all by myself and it was one of the best times of my life.

Savvy: How does a guy get your phone number?

Sara: It's all in how a guy carries himself. If he's confident and not rude or cocky -- so many guys are overbearing -- and if he makes me laugh, he'll get my phone number very quickly. I hope this gets out to a lot of men: the respect factor was lost somewhere in time. Now, some men are genuine and sweet and that's wonderful, but a lot of guys don't know how to take "no thank you" lightly and their egos get hurt. If a woman says, "thanks but no thanks" or "I have a boyfriend," she's not dissing you. She's just being honest. For the most part, women just say that because they honestly don't want to talk to you. Sorry but it's the blatant truth.

Savvy: That explains it! What kind of man do you go for?

Sara: I need a man who is extremely confident with himself and with me. Jealousy can't break us up. I do a lot of traveling and in this industry, you have to have so much trust it hurts the brain. I like men tall, dark and handsome. He has to like to work out. He needs an outgoing personality where he can talk to my mother but then get naughty with me 10 minutes later. Hey, cook for me a couple of times and clean up afterwards and I'm a happy camper. He can throw in a massage too.

Savvy: Sara, best of luck. You ARE America's next top model.