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An eating disorder expert has warned that New Zealand's Next Top Model could "dehumanise" its young contestants, ahead of tomorrow's final audition in Auckland.
Dr Charles Fishman said the notion that thin equals beautiful contributes to many cases of anorexia and bulimia nervosa.
"Being gauged by your weight and scrutinised in such a way is dehumanising," said Fishman.
"It can leave girls with an inferiority complex and a compulsion towards thinness. I think young girls should be prepared and warned before they audition for the show."
Fishman, director of New Zealand Eating Disorder Specialists, a group of health professionals, spoke out after size 12 hopeful Pania Henare was originally turned away from the Wellington audition before judges had a change of heart.
The 1.82m, 19-year-old of Maori and Croatian descent was initially rejected for the TV3 reality show because she was considered plus-sized.
The average dress-size for New Zealand women is a size 14 to 16 but for high fashion the optimum size is 8 to 10.
Next Top Model producer Anna Lynch said they are looking for girls who are "wide-eyed and clear-skinned" and at least 1.7m tall.
"It's the reality of the business that the sample sizes of clothes come in sizes 8 and 10 and the models have to be able to fit them," she said.
British supermodel Sophie Dahl flaunted her plus-sized curves, but had many questioning her health when she dropped from a size 16 to a size 8.
Former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell publicly admitted to suffering from bulimia and binge eating and former bandmate Victoria Beckham also admitted being "Posh Spice" drove her to anorexia.
Singer Lily Allen has reportedly enlisted a hypnotist to help her lose weight, and comments about the pressures to be thin on her fan blog.
World designer Francis Hooper said calling women plus-sized was putting them in a box and size 12 was "normal". But the reality is that size 8 and 10 girls fit the clothes they are hired to sell.
"In World shows we use models who are 5ft 11in [1.8m], a size 8 and naturally slim, but in my personal opinion a size 12 woman is a slim, healthy, normal woman.
"The issue about healthy body image should be raised more within the industry, because models have an incredible freakishness in their genes that makes them look how they do."
Thirty-three finalists will fight it out for the title of New Zealand's Next Top Model.
Filming will take place in February and March and the show, hosted by celebrity and model manager Sara Tetro, is expected to air next summer.
