- 5 weeks ago
Dive into the unexpected and controversial stories uncovered by Netflix’s eye-opening docuseries about America’s Next Top Model. From behind-the-scenes secrets about photoshoot controversies and casting challenges to shocking revelations about treatment of contestants and production choices, this deep dive exposes the realities behind the glamor. Watch as we unravel the truth that redefines the legacy of the show.
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00:00What if I created a show where you saw what it took to become a model?
00:09Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're exploring the all-new secrets and scandals
00:13exposed by Netflix's three-part top model docuseries, Reality Check,
00:17Inside America's Next Top Model.
00:19I'm like, all right, this has gone too far.
00:21Like, we gotta, we gotta pull her out of this.
00:27Tyra Banks thought she was honoring diversity in race-swapping photo shoots.
00:31We are actually going to switch your ethnicities.
00:36The challenge here really is taking on the persona of that other ethnicity
00:42while in the photograph and owning it.
00:45One of the lasting impacts of America's Next Top Model is its envelope-pushing
00:49and often tasteless photo shoot themes.
00:51In particular, challenges in Cycle 4 and Cycle 13 saw their contestants asked to
00:57don makeup and clothing that represented a race or ethnicity other than their own.
01:01Tiffany, you're gonna be Native American.
01:03Brittany, an African-American woman.
01:07Kenya, Korean.
01:09Kaylin.
01:10We're featuring you as a woman.
01:12You can imagine how much of this was done for Shock Factor.
01:15But in Reality Check, Tyra Banks herself expressed that she felt these photo shoots
01:21honored racial differences.
01:22Looking at the show now through the 2020 lens, it's an issue.
01:27And I understand 100% why.
01:30While she cops to feeling differently now,
01:32it's hard to believe that this was about honoring different cultures
01:35and not about the Shock Factor.
01:38Whitney Thompson wasn't given clothes her size.
01:41The Cycle 10 winner was heralded as a sea change for the show.
01:44Whitney Thompson was the first plus-size top model champion.
01:48Whitney!
01:56However, Thompson's time on the show certainly didn't honor her groundbreaking run.
02:01During the photo shoots, she was rarely given clothes that fit.
02:04They would cut and pin garments around her
02:06instead of deigning to have size-appropriate clothes.
02:09At times, her mistreatment made her weep after filming days.
02:12They could easily have gotten clothes that were my size,
02:15but that was a choice that they made.
02:17And I dealt with that as well as I could.
02:21Because if they see weakness, they're gone.
02:24This was not a new phenomenon either.
02:26Hopeful models' weight was a constant concern for the judges.
02:29And they made that known.
02:30When I won, this was like a big deal
02:34that a plus-size model was winning on the show.
02:38And then, of course, we got a contract with Elite Model Management
02:42and they didn't even have a plus division.
02:44It seems like an unnecessary and unfair hurdle in the competition
02:47to punish models who were not sample size.
02:50Dani Evans didn't immediately agree to have her gap closed.
02:54Want to get them teeth done?
02:56All the way.
02:57Completely closed.
02:57I think all the way.
03:00Congratulations.
03:01Still in the running towards becoming America's next top model.
03:04Cycle 6 winner Dani Evans' makeover included dental surgery
03:07to close the gap between her two front teeth.
03:10Although Evans had some concerns on the show,
03:12her unwillingness was even stronger than what we saw.
03:15No, I don't want to close my gap.
03:17That's not your right to tell me what to do with my body.
03:22Banks' response in the documentary is measured.
03:24She insists that real fashion model agents had her convinced
03:28that Evans would never work if she didn't close the gap.
03:30That was between a rock and a hard place for me.
03:33Because there were agents that would tell me
03:37she will not work with those teeth.
03:39It's just not going to happen.
03:40That's what they told me.
03:41What the documentary does, perhaps for the first time,
03:44is let these two stories live side by side in the editing.
03:48Evans is clearly not buying what Banks is selling,
03:51accusing top model producers of just trying to make good TV at her expense.
03:55Me getting my gap closed is not opening any doors for me.
03:59You knew what you were doing for the show.
04:01You were making good for TV at my expense.
04:04They didn't always choose the model's best shots.
04:07One of the standard defining moments on every episode
04:10is when host Tyra Banks and the judges panel
04:12select one photo for each contestant and discuss it.
04:15Here's your best shot.
04:24Well, according to longtime fixture Jay Manuel,
04:27even the photo selection was calculated.
04:30Choosing the best photo was not always the goal.
04:33Initially, they were really trying to pull the best shots.
04:36But as we started getting into story,
04:38and then it turned into,
04:40we need better story out of these shots.
04:43Former contestants and Jay Manuel insist Banks,
04:46executive producer Ken Mock,
04:48and the team behind the show were often more interested
04:51in creating a context for a model's elimination
04:53than showcasing her skills.
04:55It's just one more occasion where generating good TV
04:58was more important than finding America's Next Top Model.
05:00The lack of ethics behind the scenes
05:03to make quote-unquote good TV,
05:05it's really disturbing.
05:07Tyra Banks knew the show wasn't taken seriously.
05:09I couldn't use any of the photos
05:11from America's Next Top Model
05:13in my actual modeling portfolio.
05:15The photo shoots were way overly themed,
05:18way too much makeup.
05:20I got really far in this competition,
05:22but then in real life,
05:24I was in the modeling industry,
05:26was nobody.
05:28Often presented as almost a bootcamp
05:30for a modeling career,
05:31the show's lofty promise
05:32to find the next Top Model was a losing battle.
05:35Top Model was largely seen as an industry joke.
05:38Fashion people often excluded models from jobs
05:40for even appearing on it.
05:42She's like,
05:42I finally asked our agent,
05:45why you never have castings
05:47whenever I go get the castings for all the girls?
05:49And she said to me,
05:51well, we have to treat Dani differently
05:52because she came from Top Model.
05:53That wasn't such a shocker.
05:55That's been pretty well-known for years,
05:57and former contestants have talked about it since.
06:00What's worse is that,
06:01according to Cycle 6 winner Dani Evans,
06:04Tyra Banks told her she knew the show
06:05hurt the contestants more than it helped.
06:07She's like,
06:08I knew that there were certain doors
06:09that you couldn't even get into
06:12because you did Top Model.
06:15And I did nothing about it.
06:17So much for finding the next big thing in modeling.
06:20They didn't know how to protect the models.
06:22On set,
06:23no one's really paying much attention to it at all.
06:25I have to pretty much fend for myself.
06:28There's space now.
06:29I gotta,
06:30I gotta wreck this out.
06:32I need some space.
06:34Several situations,
06:35including many that were shown to us,
06:37the viewers,
06:37were a result of a production team
06:39that wasn't sure how to protect its models from harm.
06:42Banks admitted as such in Reality Check.
06:45Looking back on Cycle 4 contestant
06:47Kenya Hill's experience with a male model,
06:49Banks regrets that she and fellow producers
06:51didn't know how to handle the misbehavior
06:53of the male models they hired.
06:54I was trying to empower her
06:55with the information that I had
06:58to say,
06:59you tell him to back up and da-da-da
07:01and don't we miss not much?
07:02You know,
07:02that's kind of what I was saying,
07:03not verbatim.
07:05If anyone should know or have the clout
07:07to make a photo shoot
07:08and a reality show safe for its participants,
07:10surely an executive producer,
07:12host,
07:12and renowned supermodel should.
07:14And so I say to Kenya,
07:16Boo-boo,
07:16I'm so sorry.
07:17None of us knew.
07:20Network executives didn't know.
07:21And I did the best that I could at that time.
07:24But she deserved more.
07:26The real story behind Shandy Sullivan's cheating controversy.
07:30Had she been on him?
07:31Really?
07:33Everybody's messed up, Shandy.
07:36I'm not judging you.
07:38As we learned,
07:39Cycle 2's most infamous moment
07:40has an even darker,
07:42more sinister explanation.
07:43Sullivan tells the Reality Check team
07:45that she blacked out during the event
07:47and wished the producers would have intervened.
07:49All I remember is just like,
07:51just like remember him on top of me.
07:54I was blacked out.
07:57No one did anything to stop it.
08:01And it all got filmed.
08:02All of it.
08:03The defense from producer Ken Mock
08:05is that the show is a, quote,
08:08documentary,
08:08and interfering would have ruined
08:10the integrity of the show.
08:11But a legitimate documentary team
08:13wouldn't set up a scenario
08:14where this could have happened.
08:15No matter what happens,
08:16while you're on camera,
08:18we're going to document all of that.
08:20Once again,
08:21with a reality show involving
08:22non-industry participants,
08:24producers have a responsibility
08:25to intervene when it comes
08:27to personal safety.
08:28We've seen a swift
08:29and uncomplicated response
08:30on many shows since,
08:32with some even halting production
08:34as a result of similar incidents.
08:35They actually filmed me
08:37talking to the guy
08:39and asking him myself,
08:40did you wear any protection?
08:42Do you have any STDs?
08:43Like, I felt like,
08:45like, why can't you just ask them yourself?
08:48Why do you have to film this?
08:50The Tiffany meltdown
08:51was way, way worse.
08:53Stop it!
08:56I have never in my life
08:57yelled at a girl like this.
09:00When my mother yells at this,
09:01it's because she loves me.
09:03I was rooting for you.
09:04We were all rooting for you.
09:05How dare you?
09:06It has since gone down
09:08in reality TV history,
09:09but the moment Tyra Banks
09:11shouted at Tiffany Richardson
09:12was apparently much,
09:13much more vicious
09:14than could be shown on camera.
09:16Banks, of course,
09:17reiterates her frustrations
09:18at the time.
09:19She was simply,
09:20in her words,
09:21upset to see Richardson
09:22not believe in herself.
09:24It was probably bigger than her.
09:25It was family, friends, society,
09:27black girls,
09:28all the challenges that we have.
09:29So many people saying
09:30that we're not good enough.
09:31I think all that was in that moment.
09:33That's some black girl stuff
09:35that goes real deep inside of me,
09:37but I knew I went too far.
09:39Creative director Jay Manuel
09:40insists that Banks' intentions
09:42were not nearly as altruistic
09:44as she would have us believe.
09:46Manuel says that what was shown
09:47doesn't even compare
09:48to the real thing,
09:49and that Banks was escorted
09:51off set afterward.
09:52There was a lot more
09:53that was really said,
09:54and some of the things
09:55that were said
09:56were really not well-intentioned.
09:59I will probably never repeat
10:01the lines that were actually said
10:02in that room that day.
10:03Judge Nolay Marin
10:04recollects lawyers
10:06arriving on the set
10:06as a result of the tirade.
10:08Tyra Banks never visited
10:10Jay Alexander
10:11after his stroke.
10:22The beloved runway tutor
10:24had some questionable methods,
10:26but in a show
10:27that's shockingly harsh
10:28on its contestants,
10:29Ms. Jay was often a bright spot.
10:31In 2022,
10:33Alexander suffered a stroke,
10:34which rendered him unable to walk.
10:44While co-stars Jay Manuel
10:45and Nigel Barker
10:46made the trek
10:47to visit him in the hospital,
10:48Banks never showed up
10:49for her former friend
10:50and colleague.
11:03The trio's firing from the show
11:05in 2012
11:06was a major headline,
11:07but over a decade afterward,
11:09the relationship
11:10still seems strained.
11:11Given how many iconic
11:13top model moments
11:14Alexander is responsible for
11:15and the friendship
11:16that was there,
11:17a visit seems like
11:18the bare minimum.
11:19I don't know whether
11:20he even wanted me
11:20to see him in that way.
11:21I was going to go see him.
11:24And that was just
11:27such a terrible shock
11:28and really upsetting
11:30and horrifying
11:31and scary.
11:32Before we continue,
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11:48Top model is coming back.
11:50A 25th cycle
11:52has been rumored for years.
11:53You guys were demanding it.
11:56The viewers wanted more
11:58and more and more.
12:01At the end of reality check,
12:03Banks drops news
12:04that it's finally happening
12:05and she'll once again
12:07be at the helm.
12:08Given all we've seen,
12:09it almost feels like
12:10a jump scare
12:11at the end of a horror movie.
12:12I feel like my work
12:14is not done.
12:17You have no idea
12:18what we have planned
12:19for Cycle 25.
12:22It highlights something
12:23troubling about
12:24the whole documentary.
12:25No one involved
12:26with the show
12:27thinks they are responsible.
12:29Executive producer
12:30Ken Mock
12:30defends the original
12:31series' practices.
12:33Jay Manuel
12:33kicks all the bad decisions
12:34up to Tyra Banks.
12:47Tyra Banks at one point
12:48blames the viewers
12:49for demanding the show
12:50to take bigger and bigger risks
12:52at the expense
12:53of the model's health.
12:54The big question
12:55is obvious.
12:56After all we know now,
12:58should it come back?
12:59And I thank you for that.
13:01That is the only way
13:03you change.
13:04That is the only way
13:05you get better
13:06is by somebody
13:07calling you out
13:08on your...
13:10It is important.
13:12Did Netflix's
13:13reality check change
13:14how you look back
13:15at Top Model?
13:16Tell us in the comments.
13:21Final thoughts in the comments.
13:22Before I know
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