On the first day we arrived in New York City not knowing what to expect, I was a little nervous. We soon found out that there was a stage set up in Times Square where Tyson and Niki welcomed us to New York. To make the day even more interesting, we found out that the competition started right then and there. We were doing a photo shoot on that very stage that was set up in Times Square.

Our photographer was Lee Strickland which was extremely intimidating considering I have never done a real photo shoot before. On top of it being my first photo shoot, I was in an all pink outfit. When I got on the stage I blocked everything out, the cold, the people, the noise, everything. I felt more comfortable than I expected once Lee started shooting. It was a huge high to be able to get the chance to do what you've wanted to do for so long.

Later that day we arrived at the house. I was completely amazed at how great it was. Everyone scrambled to get their bed. Me and Ronnie got the same room which is great because now I don't have to share a room with five other people.

Day two came early and the house was woken up by Tyson yelling for everyone to get up. He told us to dress our best because we were going on a go-see. I threw on my best suit and dressed to impress. So we went and what I saw made my stomach drop.

So Tyson said that you need to be willing to sacrifice to grow. I started by throwing into the fire my favourite cashmere sweater but then thought is this enough? I decided it wasn't so the rest of my stuff followed closely behind. It was hard to throw away the suit that I proposed to my wife in but I could justify burning something that was so full of memories in because we have the wedding day.

Within minutes I was standing in my underwear in 30 degree weather but I felt in my heart it was worth it. After that we went to New York Models where we were evaluated. Cory felt my weight loss of 20pounds was excessive but I felt as though it wasn't because it was done naturally.