Posted Feb. 26, 2008 –  “Rip the Runway: Model Search ’08” is a one-hour special that follows the journey of four hopefuls from casting and rehearsals to the  runway. Bobbi Jo is one of them.  She had it hard from the beginning. She moved all around upstate New York with her mother. Her mother was struggling to raise her and her younger sister, before eventually moving to Brooklyn.

The family barely had time to adjust to the much faster pace in the city before the state ripped Bobbi Jo and her sister away from their mother claming that they were victims of ‘educational neglect’. For the next 10 years Bobbi Jo bounced from one foster home to another and was subject both physical and mental abuse.

Finally fed up with being an outsider everywhere she went, Bobbi Jo set out on a search for her mother – and found her. She was unable to live with her again but they were able to restore their relationship.  She is convinced that the separation from her mother forced her to find her own way and pushed her to get on the grind to become a successful model. Today, along with her ‘sassy’ assistant Sean, Bobbi Jo moves from one gig to the next and enjoys the success that aspiring models only dream of.

Be sure to tune in Thursday at 10 p.m. (ET/PT) and watch it all unfold.

Don't forget to watch "Rip the Runway" March 4 at 8 p.m. (ET/PT).