Fashion: Model Search

In 2003, SMU grad Blake Towsley was spotted at a Pat Green concert by a Kim Dawson Agency model booker. In the five years since, he's gone from real estate broker to Model Search finalist to Survivor: Guatemala contestant to Nissan commercial star in Japan.

We caught up with the 28-year-old, who's now living in Los Angeles and signed with LA Models, to find out about life after reality TV.

Did appearing on Survivor open up opportunities for you?

Now that I've been in LA for a couple of years, things are starting to pick up. I am in the new Darius Rucker video, "Don't Think I Don't Think About It," that just came out. ... In the video, I get to do the good ol' country boy thing and race a Mercury Cougar at 100 miles per hour.

Blake Towsley

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Why did you turn down a role on the NBC soap opera Passions?

My agent at the time suggested that, after modeling and Survivor, going on that show could be a career-ender before my career even started. Who knows? It could have been a disaster; it could have been great.

Are you hoping to leave modeling behind?

I don't look at modeling as a lifelong career. It is definitely a means to an end, and I wouldn't trade the experience for the world. I still do print and runway. I've definitely developed a thick skin, which helps. You could be the best or worst in the room – it just comes down to what the casting director, producer or whoever thinks.