America’s Next Top Model (ANTM) was one of the biggest hits of the reality TV boom, of the 2000s, bringing in roughly five million viewers for its first nine seasons (or excuse me, “cycles”). However, due to poor ratings, declining viewership, and a bunch of problematic onscreen decisions later, ANTM strutted its final runway in 2018. Now, almost 23 years since it premiered in 2003, all of ANTM’s skeletons are coming out of the closet for the upcoming docuseries, Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model.
The docuseries’ latest teaser features ANTM creator Tyra Banks, along with judges Jay Manuel, Miss J, and Nigel Barker. Former contestants and winners such as Whitney Thompson, Giselle Samson, Shannon Stewart, Shandi Sullivan, Dani Evans, and Keenyah Hill will also be making an appearance.
It seems like the docuseries won’t be shying away from the controversial parts of ANTM, because it’s already brought up the reality show’s problems with body-shaming, body modification, and racism (at one point, the teaser cuts to a younger Manuel telling a group of contestants, “We are actually going to switch your ethnicities.”).
In recent years, a number of ANTM’s controversies have come to light. An exposé published by Business Insider in 2022 revealed that Banks and her producers created a toxic work environment, as one contestant described it, nothing short of “psychological warfare.”
One former contestant, Eugenia Washington, revealed that she’d fallen and cracked her knee after being forced to walk across a path of wooden planks teetering on top of a pool (while wearing six-inch heels and two corsets).
Banks also pressured Evans, who is featured in the docuseries, into closing the gap between her front teeth to appear more “marketable.”
Hopefully, the series also delves into Banks’ racist behavior on ANTM, especially towards Black contestants.
“I knew I went too far,” said Banks. Well, it’s almost 10 years too late, Tyra, but you’ve got to start somewhere.
Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model begins streaming on February 16.
