To me, Ireland is a magical place. I have always had a huge love of the country and its people; they are wonderful storytellers, great communicators and such colourful characters. During a trip to Ireland a few years ago I realized that in my 23 years in the business, I had never found an Irish lass on home turf. The idea of a model search in Ireland was exciting; I had always found the Irish look
captivating, the ‘Galway girl’, black hair, blue eyes and enchantingly pale skin as well as beautiful freckles and fiery hair. I knew if these striking physicality’s came alongside the Irish character my search would be very interesting. Throughout my career as an agent, I have learnt that those that really succeed are the girls with genuine individuality and an equally engaging persona. So the search was on and ‘The Model Agent’ was born. I was certainly up for the challenge and filming began in September 08 as I travelled from north to south, east to west, looking for Ireland's undiscovered beauty. After music festivals, shopping centres and over 1000 postal applications, I had found what I was looking for, twelve Irish girls that each had something incredibly special. As Image magazine call her my ‘long standing protégé and friend’ Erin O’Connor,
(being of true Irish stock and sharing my love of the land and people), came on board to assist me on the adventure. The six part series saw us travelling, to Ireland, London, Paris and New York. Erin and I engaged the girls in various master classes, teaching them about the industry, wanting to boost their confidence and self esteem as well as helping them physically with posture and deportment, all of these being equally
important within the modelling world. These master classes were followed by relevant challenges and tasks, to narrow down the twelve uniformly fine-looking young ladies. This series wasn't just about educating the girls and the viewers, but it was also important to me that the industry was honestly
represented, as well as the process that is taken to find, nurture and develop new and exciting talent. For me this competition wasn’t just about finding one winner but giving all of these
young hopefuls, the necessary tools to succeed and furthermore, allowing them to embark on a journey that they would never forget. After nine months of filming and working with the girls, we
had a tough call choosing our winner. As ‘The Agent’ I chose the girl who represented the reason that I came to Ireland, Carrie-Anne Burton. Carrie-Anne has an undeniably captivating and
engaging beauty together with a wicked style and the most endearing personality!
Ellis and Erin discussing the series on Turbidy Tonight on RTÉ One.
