Sunday, July 1, 2007

Not your typical bikini model

By Katie Libecco

One local girl isn't who you'd expect to meet at a bikini contest

After 25 years of being onstage, Torrie Trella says it's only natural to keep going.

Her recent venue?

Local bikini contests.

Trella isn't what you'd expect from a pretty blonde (and very petite) bikini model. The 27-year-old Boardman resident is a graduate of New York University, where she studied dance and business. Now, she runs her own dance school in the Valley.

"I've been doing the bikini contests recently because I like the idea of being onstage competing," Trella said.

She came in second place Saturday at the Mahoning Valley Rib Burnoff at the Eastwood Mall Complex, bringing in an extra $200. She and the other top four qualifiers will also be ring girls at Tuesday's IFBL cage fight at the Eastwood Expo Center.

Trella isn't a stranger to being in front of crowds.

"I only get nervous right before I go out. I'm really comfortable up there," she said.

Trella was Miss Greater Cleveland and competed in the Miss Ohio Pageant. She was also a competitive dancer and frequently competed in beauty pageants.

"I did it for college money," Trella said.

She said she now competes in bikini contests because it's a way for her to be onstage and be competitive at her age. No, really. She said "at my age."

"Bikini contests are easier. The girls? You're only with them for two hours. And all of the girls are really nice. It's a lot different than pageants. The girls here are just trying to get a little extra money. At pageants, there's so much money involved. It changes when you throw in a crown, sash and flowers. If you added that, the kind of girls here would be entirely different," Trella says.

But the audiences are entirely different.

At Saturday's contest, guys of all ages crowded around the fenced-in area (you had to pay more to sit there) with cameras.

"Skin to win!," one of the oldest kept yelling.

Trella didn't even hear it.

"I don't hear any guys while I'm onstage. I block it out," she said.

Each of the 19 entrants at the bikini contests were subjected to a short personality Q&A. Most of the questions were suggestive, but when it came to Trella, it changed.

"Alright, we have to find a harder question for you," the announcer said after she confidently shot off clever answers. "Who invented the telephone?"

Whereas the other girls missed questions like, "Who's Dick Cheney?" and "Who is Ted Strickland?" Trella didn't pause.

"Alexander Graham Bell," she said from her perfectly-postured body.

(Editor's Note: We'll get into the telephone conspiracy theory another day.)

If there were a stereotype for bikini models, Trella completely destroyed it.