By HEATHER MIDDLETON -- Toronto Sun
TORONTO -- So what does it take to be a supermodel?

Patience, if you're auditioning for Global TV's eight-part reality series, Supermodels.

I waited for hours in the heat yesterday -- first outside and then upstairs at the Joker nightclub on Richmond St. W. -- with hundreds of attractive young women, all hoping this would be their big break.

Lured by the prospect of joining the glamorous modelling world, some drove for hours, getting up as early as 5 a.m., for a chance to join the ranks of Linda Evangelista and Estella Warren as the next Canadian supermodel.

TALENT AND APPEAL

Although their dreams of supermodel status may be no more than that, they did have some talent and appeal.

However, I was quite unprepared for how intimidating the whole experience would be.

Contestants sized up their competition in the way that only females can, and a nervous tension hung in the air.

After spending all morning in the hot sun, we were gradually herded into the building, given numbers and told to wait.

My number was finally called -- along with two others -- at about 3 p.m. and we climbed another flight of stairs to join a new line.

This one moved faster than the last and before I knew it the three of us were ushered through a curtain to greet the judges and the TV camera.

The day of waiting culminated in a one-minute chat about our hobbies.

Later, a woman named Velvet came over to tell the tallest of us that she had made it and she was taken to a door on the left.

RUNWAY ABILITIES

There, she would have her photo taken and be judged on her runway abilities.

The other member of our group and me were directed down a set of back stairs leading to an alley. We stumbled out into the sunlight, still waiting for our big chance.