Part one of my exclusive audio interview with WWE Raw Diva Search finalist Leyla Milani is now online in Windows Media and Real Audio formats at JimmyVan.com. You can also listen to a five-minute preview clip of the interview in Real Audio format at this link:    http://www.jimmyvan.com/audio/leyla/part1/leyla-082405-clip1.ram                                 

 Here is a text transcript from this 32-minute portion of the interview.

  JV introduces Leyla, and jokes that he'll suck up to her based on the fact that she's Canadian alone. 

"We're from the same town too!" Leyla said in reference to Toronto.

 JV says Canada and specifically Toronto has been well represented in WWE, and mentions that both Alexis and Leyla from the Raw Diva Search are from the city. 

"I grew up in Toronto, pretty much all my life," Leyla said. 

JV comments on her pronunciation of "Toronto", joking that Americans say it differently so she proved she's Canadian. 

"Do you still say T-dot or is that cheesy, because I still say it," Leyla says laughing. JV says he prefers "TO".

 You're in California now, did you move out there due to the acting bug? 

"I moved for the fashion industry," Leyla said. "That was my passion. I had a clothing line. And then the acting bug bit me and it's history from there." She said she had a high-end contemporary denim line, but she had a falling out with her partner. She's hoping to launch a new clothing line soon. "Right now I'm so busy with the whole WWE thing, that's my main focus right now." JV jokes that if she's had a falling out with a partner, wrestling is perfect for her.

 You were the runner-up in the 2005 Raw Diva Search. How did you hear about the contest and what made you decide that you wanted to go for it? 

"My agent actually sent me out to the audition. It was just one of those random auditions, I go on several a day. The only difference was that this one, there were like, over 6 or 7 hundred girls there, in one room. It was just crazy. And I don't mean just any girls, I'm talking about top of the line, gorgeous girls, with perfect bodies. I'd never been so intimidated in my life." 

I've heard that you're somewhat of a wrestling fan, and Bret Hart is your favorite wrestler. 

"Bret Hart is my favorite because he's Canadian and because he's awesome and I think he's very cute," Leyla said. She said she hasn't had the chance to meet Bret or Trish Stratus but would like to.

 Being that you're from Toronto and it's a big WWE market, did you enter the Diva Search because of your interest in the business or were you looking at it as a way to get on TV and make $250,000? 

"To be honest with you, initially when I walked in the door I didn't know much about the competition or what the job description for a Diva was. It was a two-day process because there were so many girls there, and being there, watching some of the tape from last year's Diva Search, and watching some of the shows, Raw and SmackDown!, it sounds corny but I really fell in love with the whole company and all that it represents. And then going there and being in the ring live, it was crazy... Initially it was just a casting call for me but it's led on to something way bigger than I had ever imagined." 

How did the auditioning process measure up compared to other auditions you go on?

 "It took forever, one. And second of all, there were like 20 people in the room, and the spotlight was on you. There were cameras from every single angle so you couldn't feel self-conscious when you were in there. It was tough. You had 20 eyes just watching you..." 

And it was a taped audition, you knew footage was gonna show up on TV.

 "Exactly, and you knew you were gonna be seen by millions of people later on. Definitely the pressure was on." 

A few months ago I interviewed Amy Weber, who was in the Diva Search last year. She talked about there being some animosity backstage when she and the other girls came to TV. How were you treated by the guys when you showed up at the first show? 

"Well I have to be honest with you, I didn't feel that at all. And from what I hear from a lot of people in the industry is that this year's group was way different from last year's. All the girls first of all, got along. There were no catfights between us. Everybody at WWE seemed very nice, nobody... I didn't feel that. I didn't sense any sort of animosity from anybody whether it was the staff, or the wrestlers, or any of the other Divas." 

How about the fans? How did they treat you guys? 

Leyla laughs. "The funniest sign I have to say was the first day, the first day when we were in Anaheim when we were introducing ourselves to the Raw audience. One girl was holding a sign that said... and I just cracked up when I saw it... "I'd rather watch paint dry." ... it was crazy, it was so funny. But you know it got better and better after that so we were all happy. There was a lot of love."

 How would you describe the atmosphere of doing a live WWE show compared to doing a taping in a studio? 

"It's like day and night. To be honest with you, I'm an actress. And I have never experienced a live crowd... as much energy and the kind of rush you get just being up there, it's indescribable. That's why I think I want to pursue a career in WWE so bad now, because I'm addicted. It's crazy. Being in that ring, I cannot explain to you the adrenaline rush you get just standing there, and feeling just the crowd, it's incredible." 

And the reaction's instantaneous, you don't have to wait six months for it to come out. 

"It's live, that's the best part. It's live, it's right there," she said.

 What was it like when you met Vince McMahon? 

"Oh my God, talk about intimidating," Leyla said. "He is quite a presence, I must say. We met him that first day in Anaheim and you know, he came out and we came out and shook his hand one-by-one. I'm always so self-conscious, I always like to give a really nice, strong handshake, and I'm sure my handshake was one of those... shaking, shaking. I couldn't even look at him straight in the eye, that's how nervous I was." JV asked Leyla if she's heard about the famous wrestler's handshake, and she said no. JV explained the idea.

 I've heard that Shane McMahon had great rapport with the girls from the 2004 Raw Diva Search. Did you get to know Shane?

 "I only met Shane on that very first day, I didn't see him too much after that. I can't talk too much about him." 

On the July 4 episode of Raw, the Diva Search girls participated in the Sgt. Slaughter's Bikini Bootcamp. During this exercise you had a "wardrobe mulfunction", and Alexis (aka Leilene) wrote a commentary on the National Lampoon's Strip Poker website claiming that you did that on purpose, and she was going to do it herself but Stephanie McMahon told her not to. First question - did you do that on purpose? 

"Absolutely not," Leyla said. "I am way more creative than that, believe me ... Leilene, that's her name, that's her real name. First of all she changed her name because she thought it sounds too similar to Leyla, and also because we're both from Toronto, she thought people would get us mixed up which I don't see why they would... I don't know if she felt that I was her biggest competition there. I guess her deal was from the very beginning, she wanted to come off as a heel. And the only other person that she thought had that in her was probably me, which I wasn't trying to be a heel, I was just being myself, but I'm a pretty strong person so I'm not gonna take crap from people. So she kind of felt that way, and maybe I got on her bad side from the beginning. I didn't know that she wanted to actually wear the pasties and run through the obstacle course in them. I wear pasties all the time under any revealing kind of top just because of that reason, just in case it falls that you don't expose your nipples."

 JV joked that that could be a new fashion line for Leyla.

 "I was wearing the pasties regardless. Especially in that bikini top because I knew that it was really tiny, I mean the triangle was really tiny and going through the obstacle course, I knew something could have happened, and it did." 

JV said that screenshots of her showing the pasties during the obstacle course popped up all over the Internet, leading to speculation that it was done intentionally. 

"You know what, pasties come in all shapes, sizes and forms and I happened to choose that pasty that day." 

Just as a precautionary measure.

 "Yes," said Leyla. 

Alexis also said in that same website commentary that one of the other Divas ratted you out and told officials that you were going to supposedly come out of your top. Have you heard anything about that?

 "Somebody ratted me out that I wanted to expose my boobs?" questioned Leyla. 

JV confirmed that that's what was said in Alexis' commentary.

 "That is completely fabricated. I couldn't even think of who would rat me out for anything because we all really got along. She was the only one that really stood out only because she was so different... she would be my only guess. Herself. Maybe it was her," Leyla laughed.

 When you got to the back after the Bootcamp thing, what did management say? Did they think maybe you did do it on purpose? 

"I'm sure people thought, only because, you know... maybe because my pasties, the color, because they were stars, maybe they thought that way. But no, I mean they did say... I mean we had a meeting afterwards and they stressed that they don't want any kind of "wardrobe malfunction" on this show and that's not what the Divas represent, and no thongs. There's a lot of rules for it and yeah they definitely did reprimand us." 

You didn't finish that particular challenge. Were you afraid that that might hurt your chances as far as getting votes?

 "I did. But then at the end, when I got all the cheers, I kind of changed my mind, I thought you know what, maybe this actually worked for me." 

JV said he's sure it helped, and there were guys at home thinking if they vote for her, maybe she'll do that again next week.

 "She's gonna show her puppies, yeah," said Leyla. "I had a couple of those chants too, 'Show Your Puppies'."

You mentioned this already, but you said Leilene changed her name to Alexis because your names were too similar. Was that a WWE idea or did she do that on her own?

 "I think she did that on her own," said Leyla.

 The week after the Bikini Bootcamp, you did a spot where you low-blowed Earl Hebner in the ring...

"What a coincidence. That was incredible. I had no idea that that was Earl Hebner. I had no idea that day, I'm telling you when my top fell down, I didn't even know what I was thinking. I was in total shock. I just remember some referee threw the towel on me, and Coach yelling, "Leyla's disqualified. Leyla's disqualified," and the whole crowd booing." 

Did you know the next week that it was Earl?

 "Yes, the next week I knew it was him and that's why I prepared my talent to get rid of Earl Hebner."

 Where did that idea come from and what did Earl think about it?

 "Where did that idea come from? It came from me. I just put two-and-two together and thought, wow Earl Hebner, you know what, I'm gonna give him one back for Canada. This is my chance!" Leyla said.

 But I'm sure he was cool with it.

 "Um... well... yeah," Leyla laughed. "Cool with it, though he didn't look cool." 

But that wasn't a shoot, you didn't just unbeknownst to him go up behind him and give him a low-blow, he knew it was coming. 

"He... I don't think he knew it was gonna be a low-blow. He may have thought I was gonna do something to him that may not have been pleasant. But I dunno if he thought I was gonna actually give him a low-blow."

 Since you are a Bret Hart fan, were you tempted to stiff him on that shot, or did you stiff him on that shot?

 "I gave it to him. I put in as much force as I could. That was my first time low-blowing somebody so I dunno, I think I did pretty good." 

"Maybe not the last!" JV said. 

"And maybe not the last, "Leyla Low-Blow", I'm gonna patent that," said Leyla. JV joked that she better be careful what industry she's talking about with a name like that. 

I heard that you'd originally planned to give Coach the low-blow.

 "I wanted to give Coach the low-blow because he was the one that announced I was disqualified, but I later found out that it was Earl who made that call. I had to give it to the person who deserved it."

 It was the July 25 episode of Raw when you guys had a hotdog eating contest. It seemed that most of the girls weren't into it and weren't trying too hard. First question, how did everybody react when you were told about it? You were told in the back I imagine...

 "Yes, but we weren't told how it was gonna taste. We weren't told it was gonna be cold! We weren't told the buns were gonna be hard. And we weren't told we're not gonna have any condiments." 

In the real contests you see people dip them in water, and some of you were doing that.

 "Ya, that was my idea," said Leyla. 

JV jokingly asked if watching hotdog eating contests is a pastime.

 "No I just knew that, that was my little trick that I remembered and I brought it on," Leyla said. "Summer, Summer was the one that actually... she knew that I was gonna do that, and that's why I think her and I, we tied. We both dipped our hotdogs in water." 

I heard that some of the girls would only eat soy dogs.

 "Yes... SOME of them," Leyla said. "I ate the real beef." 

On another Raw episode you did the "American Gladiators" jousting. How was that? 

"Well, trying to balance yourself and hold a giant Q-tip, it was pretty heavy," Leyla said. 

JV joked that Rico should have been around since he was on "Gladiators" back in the day.

 "Ya, I heard that, I heard that," said Leyla. "I did get one pointer, which was, don't swing, just push forward. And so I was trying to do that, and Ashley and I went at it, I think I got tired by the end of it, that's why I lost." 

You got a little taste of celebrity in that segment, you got to work with Rob Schneider. 

"Yeah, he's hilarious. He is such a cool guy," Leyla said. 

JV said he dropped a lot of innuendo in that segment, and asked how he was backstage. 

"Nice. Cool. Calm. Funny. He was just a cool guy, he introduced himself. We just saw him for a few minutes so we didn't get the chance to talk to him too much but he introduced himself, we introduced ourselves, and we went out."

 You took a pie to the face on a pre-tape... 

"Totally unexpected," said Leyla. 

They showed Kristal's on WWE.com and she completely lost it, but you did all right. Describe that experience. 

"I tried to stay in character, I did my thing, of course I was surprised. I knew they were gonna... they told us it was gonna be a surprise, but they didn't tell us it was gonna be like that. Especially since we went through an hour of hair and make-up, looking all pretty, so when that happened I was just like, you've gotta be kidding me. It took me a couple of seconds to realize what just happened, and I just continued with my spiel." 

Did you go after the guy that actually delivered the pie face?

 "No I couldn't find him! I could not find him and I forget his name too. I was looking for him... but you know I handled it pretty well."

 JV said that WWE did that for a reason since stuff can happen on live TV that you don't expect to happen.

 "Exactly. They wanna see how well you can handle yourself."

 The night that you were eliminated, did you believe at the end that you were gonna win? 

"You know what, a little part of me really, really thought it was gonna be me. But a more realistic side of me knew it was gonna be Ashley. Honestly my instinct from the very beginning was that it was gonna come down to her and I. I felt that throughout the whole competition, she was probably the only competition I had. And that's only because every city we'd go, as far as the fans would go, we'd have the same amount of fans, almost the same amount of signs, so the support was pretty equal between us. So you really couldn't figure it out, but I knew that probably Ashley was gonna win because I guess she appealed to more of the WWE audience than I did."

 It seemed the consensus was that she had the unique style and you were the best looking of the group. 

"And I would be myself, I mean that's the way I dress all the time. My style is pretty classy. I wasn't gonna throw on a costume every week to be something else." 

When Elisabeth was leaving after being eliminated and you and Ashley went to see her backstage, the cameras from WWE.com picked her up saying, "Probably we'll be back together. We will be." Last year after the Diva Search, a bunch of the girls that didn't win ended up getting contracts. Did Elisabeth say what she said because you guys knew you'd be getting contract offers even though you didn't win? 

"I don't know why she said that. I do know that she did get a contract, that's the latest word I heard through my website. Somebody, a fan e-mailed me and told me Elisabeth got a contract. I get a lot of fan mail just from people asking me if I'm getting a contract. I can't say that I have a contract right now but I am in talks, so mine is not definite."

You mentioned something on your site - http://www.LeylaMilani.com - about an announcement coming soon.

 "Yes, and that's why I can't talk about that," Leyla said. 

You said you're concentrating on WWE so it sounds like that you're confident that that's gonna happen. 

"I'm confident, it's not that I'm hoping. I'm putting everything else aside and just focusing on WWE and a career in WWE. I don't look at WWE as a job, it's really a career, and it's a whole lifestyle, you just have to be prepared for it. And I am, and I want to." 

Do you have a preference whether you go to the Raw brand or the SmackDown! brand?

 "Either one would be okay with me, it would be a thrill just to be on any of them to be honest with you. But if I had to choose, I'd probably pick Raw only because I've gotten to know everybody there, and so it's more like home." 

Plus it's a live show, it's not pre-taped like SmackDown!.

 "Right, that's true," said Leyla. 

If and when you get a contract, do you want to do this full-time like Christy, or is this a once-a-week TV career like Amy Weber or Candice Michelle? 

"Honestly, I'd love to do it all. The more the better for me. I wanna be on either Raw or SmackDown! but for me it'd be a full-time position because I wanna put everything else aside and just focus on that. I'm the kind of person, I'm a workaholic so if I'm only concentrating on WWE than it's gotta be my whole life." 

So you'd do the house shows and the tour schedule and the whole deal. 

"I'd love to, yeah," said Leyla. 

You did a couple of interviews with WWE and one or two with other sources. You said in the interviews that you felt you worked harder than Ashley and deserved to win, and on WWE.com after you were eliminated you were walking backstage and it seemed like you were cutting a promo, you were looking into the camera... 

"That's Leyla's personality though, that's me just giving you a taste of another side of my personality. I'm like that." 

Talking trash...

 "Ya, you know what, that's how I felt at that moment. And the way I wanted to say it was the way I felt. It did kinda sound like that but that's really how I am. I'm an entertainer so if I have something to say I'm gonna make it entertaining for you to watch." 

Was there any real life animosity with Ashley or was it just one of these things where you at the time felt like you deserved to win? 

"I felt that I did work harder than Ashley only because every week I really did try to stand out and be creative and come up with something different, look different... I won immunity with the hotdog eating contest. I felt like I did bring more to Raw than Ashley did. I think with Ashley it was a lot of just her fans just liking her, or maybe her look, or style. But I actually worked harder than the other Divas."

You aside, let's say you weren't gonna win and somebody else had to win, do you think Ashley was the right choice? 

"Um... I would say so because at the end, it comes down to what the fans wanna see every Monday and if that's what the fans wanna see, then yes Ashley would be the right choice." 

So you and all the other girls got along? There were never any problems with the eight of you? 

"No. I know it sounds, you know... ya it's true. We all did pretty much get along... we all went out every week, we were just, very cool with each other. A lot of us kept in touch. Actually Elisabeth and Kristal and I are going out to dinner tonight." 

Back to Alexis, she also wrote on the National Lampoon's site about all the other finalists. Here's what she wrote about you: "(Leyla) took a number of shots at me on the WWE webpage this week, but I'm not taking it personally. With me gone, she's trying so hard to be the "heel" of the group, and I can't fault a girl for selling her character! It's a wise departure from how she portrayed herself before, which was as an airhead ditz." What do you think about that? 

Leyla laughed. "That's funny. An airhead ditz, I didn't know I was portraying myself as an airhead ditz. But I guess that's how she took it. See I was right, she really thought I was trying to be a heel. In fact I was just being myself. I was just being Leyla, and Leyla stands up for what she believes in and doesn't take crap from people."

 JV said that's a good attitude for wrestling since sometimes people will try to take advantage of you.

 "Oh yeah, especially a girl in LA, the way I look... I'm proud to say I have a good head on my shoulders and I'm wise beyond my years."

 How old are you?

"I'm 23." 

Alexis said the WWE writers didn't seem to be too familiar with the product. What was your experience like working with the writers and do you agree at all with Alexis' assessment? 

"You know what, I don't. Personally, I liked the writers that were appointed to us. As far as if they know anything about wrestling, that I cannot say because my experience with them was great. I loved our writers, they were awesome, they were always there for us. Very supportive, and we went to them with any problems we had. I guess it was just her that had the problem, I didn't even hear from any of the other girls that they had that issue." 

So they all seemed to know what they were talking about, they all seemed like they belonged in a wrestling environment. 

"I thought so. Otherwise they could have fooled me!" Leyla said. 

Part one of my exclusive audio interview with WWE Raw Diva Search finalist Leyla Milani is now online in Windows Media and Real Audio formats at JimmyVan.com. You can also listen to a five-minute preview clip of the interview in Real Audio format at this link:      http://www.jimmyvan.com/audio/leyla/part1/leyla-082405-clip1.ram 

Visit Leyla's official website at http://www.LeylaMilani.com!