Former NFL football player Keith Carlos became the first male winner of "America's Next Top Model" in the 21st cycle of the modelling competition created and hosted by Tyra Banks.
"I've always been told I should model," Carlos told Zap2it. "But I was so attached to football that I never really immersed myself into it."
Carlos was a football player when he was in college as a wide receiver in 2009 and a running back in 2010. After graduating in 2011 from the Krannert School of Management with a bachelor's degree in business administration, he played wide receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles and the New York Giants, according to JConline.
In "ANTM Cycle 21," Carlos beat 13 other male and female aspiring models namely Ivy Timlin, Romeo Tostado, Ben Schreen, Kari Calhoun, Matthew Smith, Denzel Wells, Mirjana Puhar, Raelia Lewis, Chantelle Brown-Young, Shei Phan, Lenox Tillman, Adam Smith and Will Jardell.
In a recent interview with The Exponent, Carlos revealed that his favorite memory from the reality show was going to the international destination for the 21st cycle, which is Seoul, South Korea. He said it was his first time to leave the country so he enjoyed being in the Korean environment and experiencing the Korean culture.
The finale of the show featured K-Pop groups BtoB and 2NE1 as well as fashion designer Lie Sang Bong and actor and model Lee Soo-hyuk.
For Carlos, winning "ANTM" is huge as he "put so much work into it" so he is just glad and happy being the first man to win in 21 cycles.
Moreover, Carlos revealed that his favorite photo shoot on "ANTM" was also his most difficult one, which is the photo shoot from the opening credits.
"Tyra was actually shooting hers so we watched Tyra and got to see a super model in action, and to learn from her," Carlos explained adding that it was hard having a bucket of water slowly poured on their heads while trying to model.
On the same week, Carlos got his nickname "Manaconda" from Banks, which he likes but found "a little awkward and weird" at first.
