2009 Arnold Blog

One of my dearest friends in the biz and a straight shoot’n New Yorker, Tara Scotti shares her first encounter with 2008 Ms. Figure International Champ Gina Aliotti. It’s a rather amusing account of how she came to meet Gina. Tara then breaks down how she saw the Figure show go down. As a figure pro herself she gives you a unique perspective as she’s  "been there - done that".

2008 Arnold Recap - "Who’s Gina?"
By IFBB Figure Pro, Tara Scotti
Before I give my opinion on the Figure results for the 2008 Arnold, I wanted to preface it with the first time I actually met Gina Aliotti, the 2008 Figure International Champion.

September 23, 2006 in Anaheim California was the site of the 2006 Tournament of Champions. It was the last show of the year before the Olympia. I was coming along very nicely in my prep for the Olympia, so I decided last minute to enter the show. It was the first show of my career that my boyfriend (now husband) could not make the trip, so I was a little nervous. I woke up the morning of pre-judging, went to Jan Tana’s room to get my color, then my hair and makeup right after. When I got back to the room, I was looking at myself in the mirror in awe. Yes, I was sweating myself. Every once in a while a competitor has that moment when the pre-contest prep is going just as planned, your tan is the perfect shade, your hair is beautiful, your skin is glowing and all the planets and stars are lined up perfectly. This is what we strive for. This is when we want to step on stage. Only one other time in my career, the 2005 Olympia did I peak like this. Even though I did not place well at that contest, it was the best condition to date for me. Now here in Anaheim I at least matched that condition; maybe surpassed it. I was ecstatic. I headed over to the venue for pre judging alone in my usual get up, a Juicy Couture jump suit and a NY Yankee hat. I normally don’t talk much backstage, I just listen to my IPod and mostly keep to myself. I just want to see what the other girls look like. Even though we all play it cool backstage and greet each other warmly with smiles and kisses, we still want to size each other up. It’s the nature of competition. Anyway, it’s about 25 minutes to show time and most of the girls are warming up backstage and already in their suits. Of the 22 girls competing, I sized up 17 or 18 of them. Now I was feeling very confident. So I went outside to call my boyfriend.

The phone call went something very similar to this:
ME " Hey Babe, I am about to win my 2nd pro show”
HIM “Wow, that’s a pretty bold statement”
ME “Babe, trust me. I am peaking like I did at last year’s Olympia, and I saw almost all the girls backstage, I am not losing this show!! "
HIM “Simmer down cowboy. What about Gina Aliotti? "
ME "Who’s Gina?”
HIM “Gina Allioti, my sources in Anaheim tell me Gina is looking really good."
ME: "Who the f**k is Gina Allioti, and who the f**k are your sources?”
HIM: (laughing) Babe relax. You competed against her a few months ago in Colorado. You placed ahead of her. You don’t remember her? "
ME: "I have no idea who you are talking about. And if I already beat her, why would I lose to her now?"
HIM: “Gina is one of the new girls. She is very young, very pretty, has a great physique, flowing lines. If this kid can get her conditioning down, forget it, lights out. She is the future of Figure babe. It is what it is. Just relax. Just do your little thing on stage, and let the cards fall where they fall. You’re going to do fine, you always do.
ME: " Jesus, by the way you are talking, you sound like you are the president of her fan club. Why don’t we just break up and you can start dating her yourself."
HIM: “You know what, that’s not a bad idea. See if you can get me her number when you talk to her."
ME: (CLICK)

This jerk is trying to take the wind out of my sails. So I hung up on him and turned my phone off. So now I went from confident to shaky. My mind is starting to race. Who the f**k are his sources? Probably that nut case Isaac Hinds. Wait till I see him.

So now I am heading back to the dressing room area and there she is. I obviously didn’t see her before. I recognized her from the Colorado Pro Show a few months back. She is one of the newer girls I really didn’t know. I think I was even introduced to her for a quick minute, but there were so many new girls rising up in the figure world about this time, I just did not know who was who. She was exactly the way Dominic described her. Great lines, great symmetry, and to top it off, she was pretty. Why did this bitch have to be pretty? Why did she have to be so young? I mean this girl was born the same year I was listening to Madonna records in my bedroom back in Queens, NY. If Dominic attempted to take the wind out of my sails, seeing this Gina chick backstage did the trick. I went from confident, to shaky, to defeated. All in a 10 minute time period.

During prejudging, Gina and I were called out in first call outs in both rounds. We were also positioned next to each other. I knew the judges had us 1 and 2. Actually, I also knew the judges specifically had her 1 and me 2. While we were standing back in line watching the rest of the call outs, we were both smiling. Only her smile was sincere and mine was fake. She was genuinely happy that she is going to win her first pro show, and I was not happy I was being denied my 2nd pro victory. I knew I would be retiring soon and it would have been a great way to go out. So now I was figuring out a way to overcome this. Maybe after prejudging I could sneak into her hotel room and poor ex lax in her water. Or maybe I can invite her to lunch, kidnap her, keep her locked up in my car trunk until the show is over. She can’t win the show if she doesn’t show up to the finals, right? Ok, calm down people, I only had these thoughts for like 30, 45 seconds tops. I am standing on a stage under blaring lights, dripping orange paint off my body, I am dehydrated, and I haven’t had any water or real food in my system. Cut me a little slack. I still cant believe I have to call Dominic and tell him Gina won, and I took 2nd. I hate when he is right and I am wrong.

The finals came and Gina Aliotti won her first IFBB Pro Figure Competition deservingly. I took 2nd place and 3rd place went to another new girl I did not know, Sonia Adcock, who coincidently, was competing in her pro debut. Gina turned out to be a sweetheart. She is very nice and we always have time to chat when we run into each other.

Now onto the Arnold Figure…

Arnold Figure
As I sat in for the Figure pre-judging, you could tell there was a little more excitement in the air from previous years.  With Monica, Valerie, Jenny and Mary not in the lineup, this was definitely going to be a top 6 unlike any of the last 4 years.It was wide open at this point. I was very surprised at some of the call outs.  For the most part, the judging seemed consistent, except for a couple of surprises.

Actual Top 10
Gina Aliotti
Jennifer Gates
Amy Fry
Chasity Sloan
Sonia Adcock
Paola Almerico
Latisha Wilder          
Catherine Anderson  
Natalie Benson                                  
Krystal Richardson

Tara’s Top 10
Gina Aliotti
Jennifer Gates
Chasity Sloan
Amy Fry
Paola Almerico
Catherine Anderson
Juliana Malacarne
Sonia Adcock
Krystal Richardson                              
Latisha Wilder

Gina Aliotti has a perfect balance of muscularity and symmetry for the Figure division. Gina is THE girl to beat right now in Figure. I can’t wait to see her on the Olympia stage this year. At 23 years old, she has not yet peaked. I can only imagine Gina at her best.

This was the first time I ever laid eyes on Jennifer Gates. I was very impressed. She was put together well. Her suits looked great, overall very complete package.

I had Chasity Sloan in 3rd. Chasity is a seasoned competitor. I have been competing with Chasity since my pro debut in NY in 2004.  Chasity continued to improve over the last couple of years and I think she is at her best or near best right now.

I think the biggest surprise was the judges placed Juliana Malacarne 12th. That’s a bigger mystery to me then the tattoo’s on Lee Priests face. Juliana was the most conditioned girl on stage in Columbus and probably the most improved competitor in the last year. The judges asked her to lose some of the muscle and she did. She is still a little bit too muscular for Figure, but not enough to have her out of the top 10. This girl has crazy genetics.  If she tones it down a little bit more, she will be a top 5 competitor on the smaller shows.

I have been reading a lot about Sonia Adcock and her winning ways lately. I was looking forward to seeing her and I was expecting to be very impressed. I have to be honest; I wasn’t seeing what the judges were seeing. I did not like the cut of her 1 piece suit; it made her midsection look blocky. So I found myself mostly staring at her midsection while she was doing her quarter turns. I think she needs her suit redesigned because she did look better in the 2 piece.  But I also would like to see her with a bit more conditioned. She is very pretty; I just think she can improve significantly.

Latisha wilder is one of my favorite competitors. Like Chasity, I been on stage more times with Latisha than anyone else I think. I was always neck in neck with her. Her beating me a few times and I beating her a couple times.  This was the least conditioned I ever saw Latisha, so I had her lower than the 7th place the judges had her. Latisha has so much poise when she is on stage, it clearly shows. She walks, and does her quarter turns with a coolness that no one else has.  Her skin is perfect, she is very pretty, and is always a threat when she competes.
        
I think it was a great Figure show overall, and with the new faces, this could be the best version of the Figure Olympia to date. Stay tuned.