America’s Next Top Model (ANTM) has long been the subject of controversy, with its more-than-questionable photoshoots, on-set accidents, and toxic body image issues that it normalized, consent, and more. But Netflix’s docuseries, Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, brings all those old, dirty skeletons back out of the closet.
Over the course of three episodes, most of ANTM’s main players return in front of the camera to speak about their versions of their time on the show. Tyra Banks herself, the supermodel and creator of the show, comes to say her piece (and tease a potential 25th cycle of ANTM). Her co-judges, J. Alexander (a.k.a. Miss J), Jay Manuel, and Nigel Barker also take part in the docuseries, as well as show producer Ken Mok. Several of ANTM’s former contestants also agreed to share what they went through on their cycles, and what they had to say was so shocking, it’s a wonder that ANTM wasn’t cancelled back in the early aughts.
A lot is revealed in Reality Check, and it can be emotionally difficult to sift through all the scandals it brings to light (and yes, there are a lot). To make things easier for you, we’ve rounded up the five most toxic takeaways from the docuseries.
Trigger warning: Mentions of sexual assault.
Honorable Mention: Asking a Gunshot Victim’s Daughter to Pose as a Casualty of Gun Violence
One of the most controversial photoshoots on ANTM was Cycle 8’s crime scene shoot, where contestants were asked to pose as corpses. One of the models was Dionne Walters, whose mother had been shot by a jealous ex-boyfriend, which left her paralyzed and in a wheelchair.
Walters noted that producers were aware of this as she’d included it in her application. “I thought it was a coincidence at the time,” said Walters when asked about the shoot. “But I don’t think it was.”
“I take full responsibility for that shoot,” admitted Mok. “That was a mistake. That one I look back on, and I’m like, ‘You were an idiot.’”
5. Ebony Haith and Giselle Samson Getting the Worst Storylines in Cycle 1
Banks may have claimed that she wanted to challenge the modeling industry’s lack of diversity when she started her show, but that didn’t mean that the models of color were treated with the respect they deserved onscreen.
Cycle 1 featured Ebony Haith and Giselle Samson, the show’s first Black and Latino contestants, respectively. Haith was also the show’s first openly queer cast member and was even shot onscreen spending time with her then partner during her downtime.
Unfortunately, both women were on the receiving end of offensive remarks that persisted throughout their cycle. Haith was mocked for her lesbian identity, “ashy” skin, and hair, with the show’s stylists even shaving off her hair and giving her three bald spots after using the wrong hair clippers. She was also portrayed as the cycle’s “aggressive” contestant, with the producers making her seem argumentative and difficult to work with. “Tyra Banks very much disappointed me,” said Haith.
Samson also endured body-shaming during her cycle, with the judges commenting on her “wide ass” and how she needs to “tighten up” (mind you, she was 18 when this was shot). She was also portrayed as one of the more emotional contestants, and claimed that this made it difficult for her to find work after leaving the show. Both Samson and Haith no longer work in the modeling industry.
4. Keenyah Hill Being Fatshamed and Assaulted
For Cycle 4 contestant Keenyah Hill, body-shaming became an integral part of her narrative. The editors made multiple choices that portrayed Hill as someone who couldn’t stop eating, with the model even recalling how she’d been edited to appear like she’d eaten three bagels in one sitting (when in fact, she’d only eaten one).
The comments on her body became more apparent during the photoshoots, particularly with one shoot where the models were asked to represent the seven deadly sins. Hill was noticeably tasked with the role of gluttony and, despite her best efforts, she was labelled “dumpy” and “piggy chic” by the judges. Similar comments were made in a later photoshoot in Africa, where Hill was asked to pose as an elephant.
But the worst part of Hill’s time on the show was when one of the dancers she was partnered with for a shoot began heavily flirting with her and making physical advances without her consent. When the dancer began moaning against her and grabbing her legs, Hill spoke up and told the producers that she felt uncomfortable. Instead of helping her, however, the team told her to continue with the shoot. Banks even later told Hill that she should have used her “feminine wiles” to put a stop to the dancer’s behavior in a “fun way.”
“We all now understand the protections that women need,” said Banks when asked about Hill’s assault. “So I say to Keenyah, ‘Boo boo, I am sorry.’ None of us knew.”
3. Tyra Firing Nigel and the Js
Although I’m wary of giving the show’s hosts more airtime than they deserve (no matter how sorry they may make themselves out to be in the docuseries), I can’t ignore the fact that what Banks did to them was cold, cruel, and downright cutthroat, especially considering how they’d been with her since the start.
As Banks stressed repeatedly in the docuseries, calls to fire the three longtime hosts came not from her, but from then-newly minted president of The CW Network, Mark Pedowitz. “There are no sacred cows,” said Banks, claiming that Pedowitz had told her the exact same phrase in 2012.
Despite Banks promising her three co-hosts that they’d be afforded a press release explaining that it was a mutual parting, a “leak” to Page Six painted the split in a much uglier light and claimed that Banks herself had fired the trio. “A ‘leak’ to Page Six?” Manuel asked rhetorically. “That show, the way we ran confidentiality… There was no leak. Anyone can assume where that came from.”
After their messy break-up, it looks as if Banks cut ties with Barker, Alexander, and Manuel, whose relationship with the model had already been on thin ice since he’d tried to leave the show in 2007 after Cycle 8. Manuel revealed that he hasn’t spoken to Banks since the firing. Alexander, who suffered from a stroke in 2022 that left him unable to walk and talk for a significant period of time, also revealed that Banks had yet to visit him, although she’d promised that she would in a text message.
2. Dani Evans and Joanie Sprague Being Forced to Get Their Teeth Done
Makeovers became a big part of ANTM, but things reached invasive heights in Cycle 6, when the show’s judges began pressuring contestants Dani Evans and Joanie Sprague to go to the dentist to significantly modify their teeth.
Sprague agreed to have four of her teeth surgically removed and to have several of her other teeth shaved down. “I was young and kind of just along for the ride,” said Sprague, “but I had to sign a separate release right then and there, too. [I] couldn’t talk to my mom about it, couldn’t call a lawyer… I didn’t know it would go on all night.”
Evans initially pushed back against having any work on her teeth done, having emphasized that she loved the gap between her two front teeth. But after Banks deemed her unmarketable and heavily implied that she wouldn’t be able to move forward in the competition if she didn’t agree to getting dental work, Evans returned to the show’s chosen dentist to have her gap slightly closed. “It’s my life and it was toyed with constantly,” said Evans.
1. Shandi Sullivan Being Assaulted On-Camera
Cycle 2 contestant Shandi Sullivan entered the show with a Cinderella-esque storyline, having left a job at Walgreens to shoot her shot at becoming a model on the show. However, most viewers remember her for her “cheating scandal,” in which the 19-year-old was filmed first having sex with a model in Milan and then later calling her then-boyfriend Eric to break the news to him.
However, in the docuseries, Sullivan’s recounting of that night makes it sound more like sexual assault than how ANTM originally portrayed it back in 2004. “I think I’d had two bottles of wine by myself,” she said, on top of not eating all day. “I was blacked out for a lot of it. I didn’t even feel sex happening. I just knew it was happening, and then I passed out.”
When asked about Sullivan, Mok insisted that there had been no need for the producers to intervene. “We treated Top Model like a documentary,” said Mok. “And we told the girls that.” Sullivan also noted that, after filming her calling her boyfriend and sobbing on the floor, the film crew apologized to her and told her that she shouldn’t have to be filmed.
Years later, Banks invited Sullivan to her talk show for an ANTM reunion. Although Sullivan had specifically asked Banks not to show any footage from that night in Milan, the model/talk show host proceeded to play a clip that showed Sullivan and the model in a hot tub before making their way to the bedroom. “I literally told [Tyra] behind the scenes, I don’t want to see it,” said Sullivan. “[She] didn’t respect that at all.”
