00:00A 20-year wound in pop culture has been ripped open by the new Netflix doc,
00:04Reality Check, Inside America's Next Top Model.
00:06People are realizing that the most dramatic moment of their childhood wasn't just entertainment,
00:10it was potentially a crime caught on camera.
00:13And while fans are demanding accountability,
00:15the show's creator Tyra Banks and show developer Ken Mock
00:18are allegedly doing something even more shocking than the scandal.
00:24At the center of the storm is Shandy Sullivan.
00:26For two decades, we were told she was a cheater.
00:29But now Shandy is finally telling Rolling Stone the truth.
00:31The now 43-year-old who signed with Trump Model Management after the show
00:35recalls a night in Milan where she was blackout drunk, exhausted,
00:38and allegedly filmed by producers while a man took advantage of her.
00:42But my boyfriend's not here, what am I gonna do?
00:44Shandy states, quote,
00:46Even thinking about it now makes me want to cry, and I mean it's 20 years later.
00:50And now the show's defending itself by saying the cast knew the show was filmed, like a documentary.
00:54And to understand why this is a massive cultural pivot,
00:57you have to realize that from 2003 to 2018, America's Next Top Model wasn't just a show.
01:03It was a global star-making factory.
01:05Because the show didn't just find models, it launched icons.
01:08Take Winnie Harlow, who appeared on Cycle 21.
01:11Hello?
01:12Hey, Winnie. Your Amazon collection just arrived.
01:14The model, formerly known as Chantel Brown Young, went from the house to the global stage,
01:18becoming the definitive voice for Vitilago,
01:20a chronic condition that causes the skin to lose its pigment, resulting in distinct white patches,
01:25and walking for powerhouses, like Victoria's Secret.
01:28Although in 2018, Harlow reportedly told E! News, the show did nothing for her career.
01:34Some of it is just rising down.
01:39Then there's Leo Tipton from Cycle 11, who announced they were queer and non-binary in June 2021.
01:44They parlayed a third-place finish into a massive Hollywood career,
01:48starring in cult classics like Crazy Stupid Love and Warm Bodies.
01:52Cycle 3's Eva Marcille was the winner who proved there was life after the runway.
01:56Whatever God has for you, whatever he's birthing in you, baby,
02:00it is not the timetable of others.
02:03This is your life, designed by God, for you and you alone.
02:06She became a mainstay in acting, starring in shows like All the Queen's Men,
02:10and becoming a legendary peach holder on The Real Housewives of Atlanta.
02:13And finally, Niall DeMarco, the show's first deaf winner,
02:17who didn't just break barriers in Cycle 22, he shattered them,
02:20became a powerhouse activist and high-fashion icon,
02:23who famously walked for Giorgio Armani in 2017.
02:26And while models like Shandy Sullivan are now recounting their traumatized experiences,
02:31DeMarco told People Magazine in 2024 that A&TM was,
02:35quote, an incredible opportunity and a major platform for my career.
02:38But while models like Niall saw opportunity, others saw a nightmare.
02:42To understand the gravity of Shandy's claim,
02:44you have to look at how the 2004 episode was produced.
02:47I just couldn't control myself.
02:49Like, I really couldn't.
02:50He was there, and I had all this tension, and...
02:56Back then, it was framed as the ultimate betrayal.
02:58After a night of heavy drinking,
03:00the cameras followed Shandy, who had a boyfriend,
03:03while she made out with a guy in a hot tub,
03:05and continued some action in the bedroom.
03:07Okay, just tell me.
03:09This is the worst possible thing I could do.
03:11But now, Shandy told Rolling Stone,
03:13if you see somebody that's blackout drunk,
03:15and you see a guy messing with her,
03:17you could have just stepped in and called it a wrap.
03:19And as if things couldn't get any worse,
03:21Shandy allegedly was refused a phone call to her family,
03:24unless she agreed to have her, quote,
03:26confession to her boyfriend filmed.
03:28Meaning, the trauma we tuned in to watch wasn't a mistake.
03:31It was the business model.
03:32Oh, God.
03:34In, like, the next minute or so,
03:35I could completely lose, like, everything.
03:39And beyond the individual stars,
03:41America's Next Top Model refined the blueprint
03:43for the reality TV machine we have today.
03:46Starting in 2003, the show didn't just break boundaries.
03:49It set a dangerous new standard
03:50for how far production could go to capture the truth.
03:53That you embrace...
03:56Oh, my God!
03:57And while shows like American Idol
03:58and The Bachelor were just beginning,
04:00Tyra supercharged the archetypes that started it all.
04:03I was rooting for you!
04:04We were all rooting for you!
04:05Her judges panel turned critiquing
04:08into a high-fashion performance,
04:09a direct precursor to the high cam judging
04:11on RuPaul's Drag Race.
04:13Her dramatic photo call took the elimination ritual
04:15of The Bachelor to a psychological extreme.
04:18And these photos represent the young ladies
04:20that are still in the running
04:21towards becoming America's Next Top Model.
04:23Influencing every rose ceremony
04:25and sashay away that followed.
04:27Then there was the tie-over
04:28that turned physical transformations
04:30into a mandatory mid-season tentpole.
04:34That's awesome.
04:35Come on.
04:36A trope now baked into everything
04:38from the voice to Queer Eye.
04:40But most importantly,
04:41A&TM perfected the villain edit.
04:44That show mastered using the confessional booth
04:46to turn real people into characters.
04:48And Shandy Sullivan was one of the first
04:50major victims of the machine.
04:52Feeling extreme guilt about the fact
04:54that she's cheated on her boyfriend, Eric.
04:56Because while the show framed the incident
04:58as a cheating scandal in 2004,
05:00we now know what was happening
05:02behind the scenes in Milan
05:03was far more calculated.
05:05For Shandy, America's Next Top Model
05:07was her ticket out of Walgreens in Kansas City.
05:09But by the final four,
05:11that dream had become a pressure cooker.
05:12And now Shandy recalls
05:14a perfect storm of exhaustion,
05:15a lack of food,
05:16and heavy alcohol
05:17provided by the production team,
05:19and describes what was supposed to be
05:20a night to chill and relax,
05:22quickly turning into a nightmare.
05:23The winner is going to come and spend
05:25a great, cool evening with me
05:28at my villa.
05:29Shandy admits she blacked out in the hot tub,
05:32and her only remaining memories
05:33are flashes of being pulled off
05:35of a shower floor
05:36and a man having intercourse with her.
05:38So for 20 years,
05:40Shandy carried the weight of that night,
05:41explaining,
05:42my whole feeling for a long, long time
05:44was, quote,
05:45I did this,
05:46I let this happen to me.
05:47Continuing,
05:48but there were people there
05:49watching the whole time.
05:50Someone should have said,
05:51we need to put the cameras down
05:53and just go get her.
05:54After everything,
05:55I just want to go home.
05:57But instead of an intervention,
05:58Shandy says production
05:59facilitated the trauma for ratings.
06:01And when she woke up horrified
06:03and still intoxicated,
06:04the cameras were already there
06:05to capture every tear.
06:07And that betrayal
06:08continued back in the States.
06:09If you talk to Shandy,
06:10I'm going to roll a little clip
06:11that a lot of us remember.
06:13Shandy revealed the producers
06:14ignored her explicit boundaries
06:16during the reunion,
06:17airing the clip of her lowest moment
06:19just minutes after she begged them not to.
06:21And to Shandy,
06:22that was the moment she realized
06:23they didn't respect her,
06:24they only cared about the show.
06:26So how do the architects of the blueprint
06:27defend these choices?
06:29Well, in the 2026 docuseries Reality Check,
06:32executive producer Ken Mock
06:33stands by the footage.
06:34He frames the show not as a competition,
06:36but as a gritty documentary,
06:38explaining,
06:38we told the girls
06:39there would be cameras 24-7.
06:41They were going to cover everything,
06:43the good, the bad,
06:44and everything in between.
06:46Mock claims they even,
06:47quote,
06:48scaled back the scene
06:49in a significant way,
06:50possibly an attempt
06:51to frame the production
06:52as merciful.
06:54Oh my God,
06:54I think we've built a monster.
06:56And Tyra,
06:56when confronted with reality
06:57that night,
06:58her response was much more distant.
07:00Banks effectively brushed
07:01off the allegations,
07:03deferring to the production department
07:04by stating,
07:05it's a little difficult
07:06for me to talk about production
07:07because that's not my territory.
07:09As for the relationship
07:10that became national news,
07:12Shandy and her boyfriend Eric
07:13didn't survive the fallout of the show.
07:15While they tried to make it work initially,
07:16the cheating narrative
07:17and the trauma
07:18of having their private pain
07:20broadcast to millions
07:21proved too much.
07:22Reports state the pair broke up
07:24shortly after the season finished,
07:25leaving Shandy to carry
07:26the villain label
07:27alone for 20 years.
07:29The trauma, however,
07:30hasn't fully faded.
07:31Shandy told Rolling Stone,
07:33my body still feels that trauma.
07:35My skin crawls
07:35when I talk about it.
07:36But she isn't bitter
07:37about the career loss.
07:38In fact,
07:39she told reporters,
07:40she's relieved
07:41her life no longer depends
07:42on her ability
07:43to smize for a panel.
07:44Shandy may have never
07:45got her apology,
07:46but in 2026,
07:47it looks like she's
07:48finally purging the shame,
07:50reclaiming a narrative
07:50the top model machine
07:51tried to write for her.
07:53I haven't really said much,
07:54but now it's time.
07:56But what do you think
07:56of Tyra's
07:57Not My Territory excuse?
07:58Share your thoughts
07:59and follow what's trending
08:00for more pop culture news.
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