Heidi Klum puts fashion aside as TV's 'Talent' judge

Q: Do you have any specific criteria you are looking for?

A: I love people that surprise me, that show me things I haven't seen before. Today we looked at this guy ... he's a sword swallower. He combined that with pole dancing. He was pole dancing with a sword down his throat and did that deadly drop that they do at the end sometimes, you know? With a sword in his mouth. ... We're jaded and we've seen so many things and you're looking for something that surprises you.

Q: What made you interested in doing a show like this?

A: I never saw myself as a judge on the show because I was judging on my couch at home and that was it. And when they called me I was like, "Oh my gosh, what a fun gig that would be." I met with them and I was flattered that they would want me to be part of this. When the news came out that Mel B. was replacing Sharon Osbourne, I thought they just wanted to see if I was into it. Then they're like, "No, no, no, actually we were always planning on having four judges and you're going to be our surprise fourth judge."

Q: Does it remind you of auditions starting out as a model?

A: No, not really. When you model, people don't really care so much what you have to say. You don't really have to sing or dance or do a performance. It's about your look and they look at your face and your body. You get a once over, and people look at you and either they like your look or they don't.

Q: When did you know that modeling might not last forever?

A: It wasn't so much that I was thinking I have to branch out. I just branched out naturally because I enjoyed all the different things that I got into. For example, I started designing jewelry because the people who were making the million-dollar bra for Victoria's Secret - I got to wear the bra three times - and they saw my passion for design. So they said, 'Why don't we do a line together?' And that's how it started.

Before I entered my modeling competition in '92, I finished my school and I would've gone to Duesseldorf to design school. ... I wanted to be a fashion designer and if I wouldn't have won that modeling competition, I would've gone to school.

Q: How do you balance work in the United States and Germany?

A: I spend most of my time in America. I shoot "Germany's Next Top Model" in Los Angeles too. It airs in Germany, but I do all of it from home basically because I can't travel that much. So I do the finale in Germany and when I do the casting and look at all the girls, but I take them all to America and then we shoot the show in L.A. ... For me, this (show) is the closest to my heart, because these girls want to do what I've been doing for the last 20 years, and so I feel the closest to these kind of contestants.

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