- 2 months ago
Welcome to the wild world of competitive modeling, where reality TV went to unexpected extremes. From bewildering photoshoots and emotionally manipulative stunts to blatant insensitivity and jaw-dropping meltdowns, this series delivered drama like no other. Join us as we explore the most controversial, shocking, and downright bizarre moments that kept viewers hooked and gasping. Get ready to revisit the times when the runway was truly wild and the drama was always dialed up to 11.
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00:00I hear Barchini moaning, I feel him like breathing on me, touching me, and it's not comfortable at all.
00:07Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're talking about Top Model's most controversial, shocking, and downright bizarre moments.
00:14I can't stop her, you know, from having someone over. Everybody has to deal with their own sins.
00:21Number 30, Takara's Mistreatment, Cycle 3.
00:25Top Model's track record with so-called plus-sized models speaks for itself.
00:30Unfortunately, the story it tells is bleak.
00:33Cycle 3's Takara Jones found that out the hard way.
00:42During one photo shoot, she was taken to task for her reaction to the absence of any clothes in her
00:48size.
00:49The unfairness was apparent.
00:51Stylist Michelle shamed Jones for her size, and then accused her of being negative.
01:05This was just yet another way the show found to remind Jones she wasn't a sample size.
01:11By the time she was eliminated, the judges realized that the formerly bubbly contestant was completely checked out of the
01:18competition.
01:19We can't imagine why.
01:20Takara has the potential to be a star. For some reason, today she walked in here and gave up.
01:28Number 29, Louise Quits, Cycle 18.
01:31When Kelly Cutrone joined the judging panel, she added a level of vitriol that we hadn't seen since the days
01:38of Janice Dickinson.
01:39British contestant Louise Watts had enough.
01:42My experience with you on the set was you were very condescending and rude to me, which I don't really
01:48care about.
01:48No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You were rude to me.
01:50After enduring three weeks of nasty comments and rudeness, Watts stood up for herself.
01:55Tyra Banks' message that models were lower on the food chain than publicists doesn't sit right.
02:01You are a model. This is a publicist. Do you understand? There is a rank.
02:06I'm giving you a very tough lesson in how to get your career to the next level.
02:11And it certainly doesn't sit right with Watts, who storms off set and quits on the spot.
02:16Watts' anger spills out outside, where she says if she saw Cutrone on the street, she'd knock her out.
02:22I need to go. I need to get my f*** and I need to go home.
02:26And I'm standing here taking f*** off of them and I'm f***ing getting control.
02:30I swear to God, if she was on the street, I'd knock her out.
02:33Number 28. Gaslighting the finalists. Cycle 16.
02:38Tyra Banks and company decided to start the 16th season off with a bang.
02:42You guys know this casting process inside and out.
02:46So you're probably wondering, ooh, when is panel going to happen, right?
02:49Yeah!
02:49Well, you know what? Some tough decisions have already been made.
02:54And some of you aren't going to panel.
02:57An expedited audition episode sees J. Manuel and Miss J. Alexander handing the 28 finalists folders.
03:04The models are led to believe the contestants who don't receive photos in their folders are going home.
03:10Inevitably, the tears start flowing.
03:12You know what? In the world of modeling, there's rejection.
03:17They're difficult times. And for those who don't have a photo, I'm sorry that you feel upset right now.
03:23But this turns out to be a huge lie.
03:25The models who thought they were eliminated actually did make the cast.
03:30That also means the happy 14 who got photos are told that they're actually going home instead.
03:35It's all just a strange, misguided, and manipulative lesson about rejection in the modeling industry.
03:41Unfortunately, you guys have to go home now. But you don't have to go far.
03:49Because you're home!
03:52You guys have to go home now!
03:54Number 27. Janice Dickinson Humiliates Gina
03:58Cycle 6
03:59Gina, get up in the back of the girls now and stand on one foot.
04:02Go stand on one foot.
04:05And jump up and down on one foot.
04:06Oh, God.
04:07I'm not kidding you.
04:08Go on, jump up and down and hysterically laugh and look at me and do it.
04:11Oh, God.
04:11No, no, God, do it.
04:13Gina Cho definitely had a bumpier season than most.
04:16The soft-spoken contestant had a hard time finding her voice.
04:20During what seems designed to be a helpful and informative meal with Janice Dickinson,
04:25the judge and veteran supermodel singles her out, asking Cho to take the seat next to her.
04:31Now, what's really going on back in the house?
04:33Gina.
04:34Yes?
04:35Come on over here, Gina. Come here, baby.
04:38Who's giving you some?
04:39Tell me and I'll go cook their ass.
04:41Dickinson lulls her into a false sense of security,
04:44playing dead mother to get her to admit that she's been having problems with fellow contestant
04:49Jade Cole.
04:50But instead of helping, Dickinson shames her in front of the entire table.
04:55She berates her for ratting out her competitor.
04:58The thing is, I never...
04:59Zip it!
05:00I want to explain myself at that point because it's not fair.
05:03The thing is, though, I never...
05:04There's no thing!
05:05Zip it, bitch!
05:06Zip it!
05:06You're dead in my book.
05:07Number 26.
05:09Karatee Gets Hypothermia, Cycle 7
05:11Top Model quickly found ways to top itself when it came to uncomfortable, dramatic, and
05:17potentially dangerous photoshoots.
05:19So today, we're going to be floating on water.
05:23Floating on your back.
05:25So hopefully you know how to swim.
05:27In Cycle 7, the models were whisked away to Barcelona and asked to pose in freezing water.
05:33Karatee English suffered from hypothermia as a result.
05:37Her shivering convulsions are captured for all the audience to see.
05:41It's truly disturbing.
05:43Rather than comfort her, J. Manuel actually blamed her for pushing herself too far and
05:49not knowing her limits.
05:50As a model, you need to tell people when you're past your limit.
05:55It wasn't just that she was cold.
05:57It wasn't just that her teeth were chattering.
05:59She had reached the moment of hypothermia.
06:01This sentiment was echoed in the episode's critique segment.
06:05This is rich coming from a judging panel that's eliminated models for even showing discomfort
06:10on their faces.
06:11As a model, you have to know your limits.
06:13And you have to know that if you're getting sick and your body is feeling a certain way,
06:17that you have to step away from the situation.
06:20Number 25.
06:21Robin and Shannon Refused to Meet Ebony's Girlfriend, Cycle 1
06:26One model's request that she have her girlfriend over to the model's apartment would barely register
06:31now.
06:32All the way back in 2003, it was a potentially explosive moment.
06:37I don't personally, like, agree with you.
06:38Can you tell me why you don't agree with this?
06:39I mean, just because, you know, I don't agree with, you know, you know, lesbians and gay
06:43relationships.
06:44But, I mean, I can't judge you.
06:46Ebony Haith hosts her girlfriend, Ka, and introduces her to those castmates who were willing
06:51to meet her.
06:52Robin Manning and Shannon Stewart, citing their Christianity, weren't at all interested in
06:58participating.
06:59This is Ka.
06:59Ka?
07:00Ka.
07:00Kissing.
07:01They're going to have a party.
07:02It seemed that Robin and Shannon didn't even want to meet Ka.
07:06They pretty much stayed in the other room.
07:08Years later, Stewart and fellow contestant Adrian Curry challenged how Stewart was portrayed
07:13in the edit.
07:14However, in a TikTok comment, Curry also said that Manning's response to Haith's girlfriend
07:20was accurately presented.
07:22Regardless, it's certainly a fascinating time capsule of the early 2000s.
07:27I really liked her.
07:28She was exactly like I expected.
07:31She obviously loved her a lot.
07:33Number 24.
07:35Unhoused People Photoshoot, Cycle 10
07:37Today we're actually going to put a spotlight on a major issue, and that is homeless youth.
07:44You're going to be posing with homeless partners.
07:47Awareness is a term that's sometimes misused.
07:50But the whole setup of this deeply controversial photoshoot stretches that term to new areas
07:55of inappropriateness.
07:57The models of Cycle 10 were dressed to resemble unhoused people.
08:01Even more curious, the models around them were actual women who experienced homelessness,
08:07dressed in high fashion in a misguided attempt at contrast.
08:11When I got on set, my whole thing was this like really embracing like somebody who's homeless,
08:16where they're at emotionally.
08:18Oh yeah, Dominique's no joke.
08:19She's not playing around.
08:20She's going for gold.
08:21The show did actually partner with a real charity, but that doesn't make it feel any less wrong.
08:27It's about the kind of sensitivity you'd expect from someone who dresses up to experience
08:31one day of homelessness for an episode of her talk show.
08:35This was just a glimpse of what homeless people have to go through every day.
08:39I was heartbroken.
08:40It'd be nice if you guys could just leave for a second and just give me a little time.
08:44Number 23.
08:46Crime Scene Photoshoot, Cycle 8
08:48In another instance of boundary-pushing photoshoot themes, Cycle 8's cast was dressed up as
08:54victims of various methods of death.
08:56You girls are all going to be crime scene victims.
09:01You're all going to be dead in your photo.
09:05And the twist is, you've all killed each other.
09:08The shoot was controversial even at the time, but the years have been even less kind to its
09:13glamorization of violence against women.
09:15If this weren't morbid enough, contestant Dionne Walters, later alleged producers, knew about
09:21her own mother's devastating shooting when they assigned her that particular method of
09:26death.
09:26When I was six years old, my mom was shot by this guy.
09:30He was jealous that she was getting married and she was actually trying to help him get
09:33off of drugs and he ended up shooting her.
09:36That's why mom is paralyzed.
09:38Contestant JL Strauss said that her setup reminded her of a friend's very recent passing.
09:43Executive producer Ken Mock expressed his regret over the shoot in the Netflix docu-series
09:49reality check Inside America's Next Top Model.
09:52That one, I look back and I'm like, you are an idiot.
09:57Number 22.
09:58Kayla's Past, Cycle 15.
10:01Kayla Farrell's discomfort posing with a male model leads her to disclose to J.
10:05Manuel a traumatic event from her childhood.
10:08I, um, was sexually assaulted.
10:11And this whole challenge freaks me out.
10:14I don't want to kiss them.
10:16I don't want to interact with them.
10:18Manuel, while outwardly empathetic, is worried about how it will affect Farrell's modeling
10:23career if she can't pose with other models.
10:26It's a moment that would require the utmost sensitivity.
10:29Top Model is definitely not the show most equipped to handle a moment like this.
10:33If you're saying to me right now, you'll throw away jobs if you've got to kiss a guy,
10:38then you can't go through the rest of your life with this.
10:41You really can't.
10:42You have to deal with this.
10:44The decision to air it at all is questionable, as Farrell explains that not even those closest
10:49to her knew about this.
10:51Manuel celebrated her pushing past what he termed painful memories to get through her commercial.
10:56Kayla really impressed me today because she found a way to push aside, you know, some
11:01painful memories, and she delivered a performance that was believable.
11:06Number 21, Tyra Fakes a Fall, Cycle 6.
11:10Well, you guys are the top nine, so you've gotten this far.
11:14So is it hard walking into the judging room?
11:17Yes.
11:20I've been working so hard, I'm so tired, you guys.
11:22Move over, Ellen DeGeneres.
11:24Host and mentor Tyra Banks was just as good at scaring the hell out of innocent bystanders
11:29as the prank-loving talk show host ever was.
11:31In Cycle 6, Banks decides to introduce the week's acting challenge by putting on a performance
11:37of her own.
11:38Addressing the models, she began to feel lightheaded and collapses in a heap in front of them.
11:43Oh my god.
11:51Just her pull, kick her pull.
11:54Tyra makes a miraculous recovery, only to then shout in their horrified faces that she
11:59was just acting.
12:00But the women are clearly shaken up, with one contestant terrified to the point of tears.
12:07Today you guys are going to learn about acting!
12:09Learn about acting!
12:11Acting, acting, acting!
12:13That was fake!
12:14That was a good job.
12:15That was a good job.
12:16Good job!
12:16Good job.
12:18That was a good job.
12:19That was a good job.
12:20Aw!
12:22Are you okay?
12:24Number 20, Cassandra Quits, Cycle 5.
12:28It's not that I don't feel comfortable sharing things with other people, it's just that I'm
12:32not an emotional person.
12:33The makeover episode is a sticking point for a lot of top model contestants. Tyra Banks and
12:39her team often make dramatic changes to their appearance for the sake of shock value, pinpointing
12:44features that are often very important to the contestants. Cycle 5's Cassandra Whitehead
12:49was not having it.
12:51Obviously I'm still going to be a feminine person because that's how I am. What bothered
12:54me most about the makeover is Jay said, no you can't act feminine anymore.
12:58A lot more kind of mod, a little more edgy.
13:00You have to act edgy.
13:03Her new look was supposed to be a blonde pixie cut somewhat similar to Mia Farrow's in
13:08Rosemary's Baby.
13:09Well I'm going to do the best I can with this hair and I think that they did it for
13:13a reason
13:14so I'm going to try to use it as an advantage.
13:17Banks, dissatisfied with the result, tells Whitehead she'll have to undergo an even more
13:22dramatic cut the next round.
13:24She refuses and is immediately guilted and shamed by Jay Manuel before quitting the competition
13:29entirely.
13:30It marks the first time a model quit the series.
13:33Not complying with this haircut, where does that put you?
13:36And she said, well I guess I'm going to go home.
13:42I have to be myself and I want to walk out of this competition knowing that
13:46I did what I think was right in the long run and that includes not letting people try
13:51and change the way I am.
13:53Number 19, A Message in a Brownie, Cycle 3.
13:57Brownies.
13:58Cassie had made brownies, you know, low carb brownies.
14:01They can only be Cassie's because we eat low carb brownies.
14:04Which are $6 a bag, which is very expensive for a little thing of brownies.
14:09And they were sitting on the counter with all of her stuff out that she used to make them.
14:14Most of the best drama on this show happens in the dorms.
14:17Put a bunch of models together in a house and there's going to be a lot of tension.
14:22Besties and frenemies Eva Marcille and Anne Markley could agree on one thing.
14:26Castmate Cassie Grisham was a messy roommate.
14:29Ah, so is your oil finished?
14:31I will not cook in a kitchen that's dirty.
14:34Like that is disgusting.
14:35This place is so frustrating.
14:37It's disgusting.
14:38Like why is this just lying here?
14:40Yeah.
14:41Yeah.
14:41So we should draw it and put Cassie, clean your dishes.
14:45Is that rude?
14:46No, that doesn't ruin it.
14:47Fed up with cleaning after her, the two decide to leave a message in her brownie dessert.
14:52Their helpful but pointed message to Grisham is petty top model antics at their finest.
14:56Grisham doesn't think it's funny at all, and it sets off a whodunit mystery that ends
15:01with an argument about the maturity level of mutilating someone else's brownies.
15:06Can you read that?
15:07Yes.
15:08Yes.
15:09I should go eat some carbs.
15:12Number 18, Jade's cover girl commercial, Cycle 6.
15:17It's up to you to improvise and sell yourself.
15:19You've seen cover girl commercials?
15:21You know how they go?
15:22I have personality, you know I have style, you know I have class.
15:26And, and I'm just me, and I'm real.
15:29Tasked with walking and talking at the same time, like many of her cast mates, Jade Cole
15:34was stumped by the cover girl commercial challenge.
15:37The prompt seemed simple.
15:39Casually stroll through a party set, improvise some lines, hit a mark, and then give the product pitch.
15:44Party!
15:45Oh my gosh!
15:47The second time I just took my time talking.
15:51Hey girl!
15:51What?
15:53I felt fabulous.
15:54She's a drag queen.
16:00Okay.
16:01Jade is stunningly over the top.
16:03Sure, she doesn't remember a word of the script.
16:06It doesn't matter.
16:07She's fabulous and she believes she's nailing this.
16:10Her complete belief in herself, no matter the circumstances, is endearing and unhinged all
16:15at once.
16:16Even when she fails, the incomparable, unflappable cold delivers comedy gold.
16:21She doesn't quite grasp the fact that she's got to improvise in this scene.
16:27It was 30 seconds of me listening to her heels clop on the concrete.
16:30Number 17.
16:32Rebecca Faints During Critiques.
16:34Cycle 4.
16:35I think you have everything together for her model.
16:39You need to work on your presence.
16:40Facing the judges panel can be nerve-wracking.
16:43For Cycle 4's Rebecca Epley, the stress of it looked like it became too much.
16:48During her critique in week 3, Epley faints and hits the ground with alarming force.
16:53This is a rarity on this list.
16:55It's a crazy top model moment that doesn't seem like the show's fault, as fainting spells
17:00are a symptom of Epley's medical condition.
17:11But according to many contestants, this wasn't the first nor the last time a contestant would
17:17faint during filming due to the stress of the show and its long production hours.
17:23Wait, what is it?
17:24Okay, she's quinking.
17:25She's okay.
17:25I don't understand.
17:26When something like this happens, you can't believe it just happened.
17:30I mean, Becca, she's explained to me that she has a pre-existing condition where she collapses.
17:35She has had tests done since she was three years old, but it's been six or seven years since her
17:39last collapse.
17:42Number 16.
17:44Joni's Dental Work.
17:45Cycle 6.
17:46Good afternoon, Joni.
17:48Tyra has asked to see what we can do to improve on the smile.
17:52Sometimes the early season makeover isn't just some cosmetic trims and cuts.
17:57As competitors Danielle Evans and Joni Dodds found out, this could require extensive dental
18:02work.
18:03Evans refused to get her front tooth gap closed, but she accompanied Dodds while she had 12
18:08hours of extensive work done on her smile.
18:10The cameras aren't afraid to get up close and personal either.
18:23Dodds bleeding, swollen mouth is put on display for us to see.
18:27And despite a sleepless night of surgery, she's not even excused from the challenges and then
18:33has to get even more work done.
18:35It's just another case of beauty-focused reality shows that went a little too far.
18:40And I have to deal with it all day tomorrow.
18:43Look at my teeth.
18:44Number 15.
18:46Alexandra vs.
18:47The Pendulums.
18:48Cycle 14.
18:49This is a challenge, and you girls have to walk through these pendulums.
18:55Oh, my God.
18:57With the perfect timing.
18:59If not, you just may get.
19:02Tyra Banks and Company didn't even give this cycle's cast a chance to work up to one of the
19:07show's deadliest runways.
19:09This segment sees the models of Cycle 14 walking a runway and having to avoid two huge swinging
19:15pendulums crossing their path.
19:17Shockingly, immediate disaster does not ensue.
19:20Most of the models miss getting hit, if only by inches.
19:24Then Alexandra Underwood walks.
19:26Her problems begin almost immediately.
19:28She takes a spill on the stairs long before she even makes it down to the pendulums.
19:33And then everything goes wrong.
19:46Her face isn't right.
19:48Her footsteps are wobbly.
19:49And a pendulum comes and makes her take a top model tumble right off the runway.
19:53When you gave that top model tumble, your confidence just kind of left you.
19:57And then you just walked like he was mad as hell.
19:59You just started marching.
20:01But it wasn't strong and elegant and powerful.
20:03Models fall all the time.
20:05But you get up, you keep going, and you keep selling the clothes.
20:0814.
20:10Lisa Demonstrates the Product – Cycle 5
20:13Lisa D'Amato first became known on the show's fifth season, where she proved that outrageousness was her bread and
20:27butter.
20:28Her antics both on set and in the house made her a fan favorite.
20:32But her most notorious moment has to be when she wore and then used an adult diaper on screen at
20:38the urging of the cast of Jackass.
20:40I'm wearing your guys' underwear!
20:42Why?
20:43Why not?
20:44When I was getting a little bit of attention from Steve-O, Lisa walks in with a diaper on.
20:49Like, she has to try to outshine everyone.
20:51She is so weird.
20:53This moment earned mixed reviews from fans and her fellow castmates.
20:56Most felt it tanked her chances, and Entertainment Weekly accused her of being more interested in becoming a reality star
21:03than a supermodel.
21:05This didn't stop D'Amato from coming back and winning the show's All-Stars edition, though.
21:09Oh my God, that's funny!
21:10She's doing it, dude!
21:12You can totally see her!
21:13No woman of class, especially a supermodel in making, is gonna do something as disgusting as pee on herself at
21:21her jaw.
21:22I feel disgusted!
21:23Number 13, Jada and the Racist Model – Cycle 7
21:28So do you want me to be like that?
21:30No, I don't like it.
21:32We're almost done here.
21:33You what?
21:34You're in fashion?
21:34No.
21:35No!
21:38I don't like it.
21:40Good.
21:41Only 18 years old at the time of filming, Jada Young's time on the seventh season was a rollercoaster.
21:47She was constantly in the bottom when it came to critiques, but her eventual elimination is one of the most
21:52uncomfortable in the whole franchise.
21:55While in Spain, Young was paired with a male model named Nacho for a commercial.
21:59Jada's partner Nacho tells Jada that he doesn't even like black girls.
22:03She's like, are you serious?
22:05No one should be treated like that.
22:07I would hate if I had that guy.
22:09And I'd make out with, like, Amanda before I'd make out with him.
22:13He doesn't want to help me.
22:15Do you like the rabbit?
22:16He doesn't want to help me.
22:17I'm worried about tomorrow's shoot because I have to make out with this guy who's an idiot.
22:20His seemingly unprompted admission that he is not attracted to black women puts Jada off.
22:26The judges blame her for letting her self-consciousness show through, and their insensitive suggestions just drive the unfairness home.
22:33She is eliminated based on her performance, even though her deep discomfort is understandable.
22:39First of all, you can't cry because we don't have time to fix your makeup.
22:41Sorry.
22:42What's the problem?
22:44I just, I can't do this.
22:46I'm crying because I'm frustrated.
22:47I'm frustrated that I have to kiss this guy.
22:49I'm frustrated that I suck really bad at this.
22:51I just hope I don't ever have to go through that again.
22:54Number 12, Conveyor Belt Catwalk, Cycle 15.
22:58There's one trick.
22:59When you're doing it, it will be moving.
23:02That is conveyor belt.
23:04And the conveyor belt will be moving.
23:07Here's what happens when top model meets fear factor.
23:11In this unforgettable episode, Miss J Alexander drops a massive bomb on the models of Cycle 15.
23:17The runway is going to move.
23:19I've never felt more embarrassed at one time in my life.
23:22I'd rather have natural labor again than do this.
23:26As soon as the first contender, Chelsea Hursley, hits the moving walkway,
23:29she stumbles over herself to the entertainment of the gathered onlookers.
23:33It just goes downhill from there.
23:36These models have barely experienced a stationary runway.
23:39Sure, let's slap on some trains and heels on them
23:42and push them onto a fast-moving conveyor belt in front of a gawking audience.
23:45I got on there and my shoe gets ripped right off.
23:48But I still was smiling though.
23:50Yeah, I'm still fierce.
23:51I'm still fierce.
23:54And then Miss J has the nerve to criticize them for not looking comfortable.
23:58It's not the most dangerous or most punishing challenge, but it's awfully close.
24:15In one episode, the models are tasked with choosing a hat to represent their personal style.
24:20The judges expressed surprise that Yaya DaCosta's pride in her African heritage
24:24hasn't translated into her picking the provided fake kente cloth hat.
24:28In response to trying to prove myself as an African, that's just where I come from.
24:33It's very natural to me.
24:35And I did not choose that hat for the very specific reason that it's very cliché.
24:40The fabric that it's made from is very artificial, very cheap, fake kente.
24:45But the sideways comments from the panel are the real outrageous part here.
24:49You need to apologize to the fake kente cloth African hat.
24:54Yaya, it was like you were on this pedestal and this hat smelled like dookie.
24:58Panelist Nole Marin makes a strange comment about riding giraffes.
25:02Yaya, you're, I feel half African, half cowgirl.
25:06Looks like you're about to ride a giraffe.
25:08I think I'm not feeling it.
25:11Guest judge Rebecca Weinberg tells DaCosta that she's constantly throwing her African heritage in their faces.
25:17When the eventual runner-up dares to push back, Tyra Banks chastises her for her defensive tone
25:23and even suggests she should apologize to the hat at one point.
25:27DaCosta has since spoken about the racism she endured on set.
25:30This scene is a blatant example.
25:32Just because we had a talk about, you know, Afrocentricity before and it's kind of misunderstood.
25:38I'm all about, like, expressing yourself and your culture.
25:41But it's still done in a fashion way.
25:43You want your outfit to be, look at me.
25:45And this outfit is, look over there.
25:47Number 10, 50 Cent pushes Jael. Cycle 8.
25:51We met 50 Cent, which was very cool.
25:54He's a supermodel for real.
25:56The cast finds themselves invited to a particularly star-studded party in this wild episode from the show's eighth season.
26:04One person who is not intimidated by her surroundings is the late Jael Strauss.
26:08My mom is black and my dad's a Jew.
26:10I'm blue and she can't hang with that.
26:12She starts treating some of these celebrities like 50 Cent himself, like she's old friends with them.
26:17In fact, she starts to look a little bit like an annoying little sister.
26:21Then there's a jump cut and 50 Cent pushes Jael into the swimming pool.
26:26I asked you to leave.
26:27You're mad.
26:34This turns into an all-out champagne fight and an impromptu swim.
26:38It's a weird moment and there's clearly a lot of footage missing.
26:42So it just looks like 50 Cent pushed Strauss out of irritation.
26:46You know you're at a party.
26:47Yeah.
26:48It's going on all night.
26:49You think you're supposed to impress people.
26:51You do not mess with 50 Cent, first of all, and get up in his face.
26:54And you do not get thrown into a pool.
27:00After that challenge, I realized that this was spreading on my face.
27:04My face is getting worse and I don't know what to do with it.
27:07Michelle Dyton was clearly struggling to make friends in the models' house.
27:11When a rash begins to spread over her face, a call from a fellow model's mother sends
27:16her castmates into a frenzy that it was a contagious and deadly flesh-eating bacteria.
27:21It ultimately became another way of ostracizing Dyton further.
27:24While these models are definitely overreacting, a bunch of models being cut from the world
27:29when a deadly bacteria breaks out sounds like a horror movie we'd totally watch.
27:50Eventually, the rash just turns out to be impetigo, which is contagious but mostly harmless.
27:56Crazily, as you'll see later, this is actually the second most outrageous thing to happen
28:01in this now-hard-to-find episode.
28:03Some kind of disease that eat your skin?
28:06Uh-uh.
28:07Oh, you sure you ain't hear nothing about it?
28:09Uh-uh.
28:09Y'all just get a like.
28:11Mark on something, we need to get a like.
28:13Y'all ain't got nothing to do.
28:14Read a book or something.
28:168.
28:17Elise's Rant – Cycle 1
28:19It's been over 20 years, and we still don't know why Elise Sewell signed up for this show.
28:24That was a really forward thing to do.
28:27I don't believe in God, and it was offensive.
28:30But without her, the show's very first season would not have been such must-see TV.
28:35Frankly, this dress is hideous, and I am so glad that I don't own it.
28:38The med-student turned model can't suffer these other fools.
28:42It's an argument about religion that finally sets her off.
28:45Taking to the janky, low-budget confessional room to unload her deeply held resentments,
28:50expletive-laden and incredibly thorough, Elise tears into her fellow competitors with the
28:56cutting precision of a surgeon.
28:58You know what I think of you?
28:59Foolish is a woman who believes that **** damn tripe.
29:02Giselle, you **** worthless ****.
29:06You are so wasteful, bitchy, stupid.
29:11Not even Miss J is safe from her withering commentary.
29:13Her frustration culminated in one of reality TV's most iconic rants.
29:19Jay, you offended me today.
29:21I know that medical school is hard work.
29:24How could I possibly not be aware of that?
29:26It takes a **** to cover every seat you **** slice.
29:29Number 7, 10-inch heels, Cycle 6.
29:39Beauty is pain, but this is kind of insane.
29:43The models of Cycle 6 are made to strap on some impossibly high 10-inch heels and stomp the
29:48runway for the judges.
29:49Who would have thought this would be borderline dangerous?
29:55Weebles wobble, but they don't fall down.
29:57Even the stars of the competition can't quite manage to look like they're not terrified
30:02of breaking something.
30:03Some are not so lucky.
30:05Danielle Evans takes a nasty spill that sprains her toe and leaves her crawling backstage.
30:10And then there's Tyra Banks, cringing and talking them through it like a birthing coach.
30:15It's almost like she's being forced to watch something she doesn't have total control over.
30:19This is the most nerve-wracking judging test we have ever done.
30:24Oh.
30:26I was holding my breath the entire time.
30:29Just keep her, keep her, her, her, her.
30:33Both my feet were just thriving, they were pulsating.
30:36Okay, the doctor's gonna be here.
30:37I was just like, I don't know how I'm gonna be able to do this.
30:40Number 6, badly timed coffin photo shoot, Cycle 4.
30:47I checked my messages and found out that one of the girls I was very good friends with
30:51when I was a little bit younger, um, had passed away.
30:55Having these models pose in a fresh grave in a real cemetery is questionable enough.
31:00But a personal tragedy for one of them was still fresh when the coffin photo shoot came along.
31:05The top model cast are often sequestered from their daily lives to shoot a season.
31:10News from home can be sporadic.
31:12While she was filming for Cycle 4,
31:14Kaylin Rondo received news that her friend passed away and she had already missed the funeral.
31:20It's kind of like another test for me is to see if I can do this.
31:24I'm just, I'm heartbroken.
31:26The show, her competitors, and the judges frame it as a personal challenge for her to overcome.
31:32Viewers still accuse the show of being insensitive to her grief.
31:35Although Tyra Banks insists the photo show was pre-planned, the timing was just horrendous.
31:41Kaylin.
31:42Kaylin was having a really hard time because she just found out that her friend died.
31:45But she brought it in the picture.
31:47She delivers.
31:48She really delivers.
31:49This is another great one.
31:50Number 5, biracial photo shoot, Cycle 13.
31:54I'm definitely worried about my photo shoot.
31:57Cause I literally feel like my flesh could just fall off right now.
32:00But I know if I just keep trying that it's something I can overcome.
32:04For the annual season trip, the final six of the 13th season were flown to Hawaii.
32:09There, Tyra Banks and Jay Manuel introduced their unconventional photo shoot challenge.
32:14The models are tasked to represent different biracial identities from around the world.
32:19But it's not just clothes they're changing into.
32:22Makeup artists also smear their bodies with colorful body paint, effectively putting them
32:27in brown, black and yellow face.
32:29Think about Egypt.
32:31The people.
32:31What they've been through.
32:32Erin was lost.
32:34I do have a picture that she happened to fall into.
32:37That was great.
32:38But she fell into it.
32:39It was an accident.
32:40Okay, we got it.
32:41This didn't escape the notice of the models themselves.
32:44And it wasn't even uncontroversial at the time.
32:48Now I like your shapes.
32:49Nigel doesn't, but I do.
32:50So I want to see the famous Nicole shapes that you do.
32:52Work it out.
32:53Even in 2009, Banks explained away the problematic nature of the shoot by saying that she was
32:59just trying to celebrate the blending of cultures.
33:02Get up a little more.
33:03A little more relaxed though.
33:05I need to shake.
33:06He's a little too straight.
33:07I really need to relax more.
33:09And I really need to show younger Britney that exists under this very composed mathematician.
33:16Exaggerated even more.
33:174.
33:18Ethnicity Swapping Photoshoot Cycle 4
33:21Now there's a twist.
33:23We are actually going to switch your ethnicities.
33:26We had a lot of time on our hands in 2020.
33:30Some of us decided to start watching Top Model again from the beginning.
33:33And judging from the reaction on social media, a lot of people forgot this Cycle 4 Got Milk
33:40photoshoot.
33:43He's sliding off.
33:44It's not about comfort.
33:45It's about the look.
33:48I'm having to deal with this little person.
33:50It's very challenging and very difficult.
33:51He just didn't want to cooperate.
33:53Look over there.
33:54Look, it's a bird.
33:55For the shoot, the models are made up as women of other ethnicities, holding actual babies
34:00of the ethnic group they were meant to pass as.
34:03There's a lot to unpack here, as the saying goes.
34:06Rediscovering this moment probably did more than anything else to make people re-evaluate
34:11the cultural impact and cultural missteps of a show that defined 2000s and early reality TV.
34:17It's a tight little cute, friend.
34:19Got milk?
34:20Oh, got milk?
34:22I got you, sweetie.
34:23I got you.
34:24You're not gonna go.
34:24A couple more.
34:26Brittany, best shoot to date.
34:30Number 3.
34:31We were all rooting for you.
34:33Cycle 4.
34:35You've been through your grandmother getting her lights turned off to buy you a swimsuit
34:38for this competition.
34:39And you go over there and you joke and you laugh?
34:41This is serious to these girls.
34:43And this should be serious to you.
34:44Looks can be deceiving.
34:46I'm hurt.
34:46I am.
34:47Since it's become a near ubiquitous meme, it's easy to just laugh at Tyra Banks' be
34:53quiet Tiffany rant.
34:54But the original scene is genuinely disturbing.
34:57You know that you had a possibility to win?
34:59Do you know that all of America is rooting for you?
35:02Do you know that?
35:03And then you come in here and you treat this like a joke?
35:05You come in here and look at that and say, I can't read that.
35:07You read 10 times better than half of those girls over there.
35:10You did.
35:11You did.
35:11And you come in here with a defeatist attitude.
35:13I don't have a bad attitude.
35:14Maybe I am angry inside.
35:16I've been through stuff, so I'm angry.
35:18Tiffany Richardson has just been cut.
35:20And the fact that the eliminated contestant isn't offering her tears for the camera seems to
35:25irk Banks to no end.
35:26Stop it!
35:29I have never in my life yelled at a girl like this.
35:33When my mother yells at this, it's because she loves me.
35:36I was rooting for you.
35:37We were all rooting for you.
35:39How dare you?
35:40Learn something from this.
35:42When you go to bed at night, you lay there and you take responsibility for yourself.
35:46Cause nobody's gonna take responsibility for you.
35:48She was rooting for Tiffany after all, but her reaction seems completely outsized to the
35:53moment.
35:54For all the great sound bites, it's actually ridiculous.
35:58What it comes down to is the host is shouting at Richardson for having a completely mature
36:02reaction to her own loss.
36:04You roll in your eyes and you act like this cause you've heard it all before.
36:07You've heard it all before.
36:08You don't know where the hell I come from.
36:10You have no idea what I've been through.
36:12But I'm not a victim.
36:13I grow from it and I learn.
36:15Take responsibility for yourself.
36:21Number 2.
36:22Kenia and the Male Model Cycle 4.
36:26Several times on the set, contestants have been blatantly put in harm's way or even chastised
36:32for speaking up for themselves.
36:33Cycle 4's Kenia Hill stood up for herself when a male model was acting inappropriately
36:39with her.
36:49Voicing her discomfort was treated as unprofessional.
36:53Even though she was told nothing would happen on a professional set, the model continued to
36:58make her uncomfortable, even after she stopped the shoot.
37:02I know that it's not about being comfortable, but there is a line that I feel was crossed.
37:06And I hope that doesn't come out in my picture when I go to the panel.
37:10The judges were similarly unsympathetic.
37:13Nigel Barker and Tyra Banks blamed Hill for not approaching the moment in a more subtle, polite way.
37:18Even worse, this was framed as a normal occurrence on a photoshoot.
37:23There has to be a way that you can handle it.
37:24You know, you have to be able to be in control.
37:27Like with your feminine wiles, like boy you best to back up before I knock you upside the head.
37:31But you do it in a fun way where he knows to back the heck up.
37:34Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified
37:39about our latest videos.
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37:50Number 1. Shandy's Story Cycle 2
38:04Small Town Walgreens employee Shandy Sullivan was a finalist on Top Model's Second Cycle.
38:10But her run on the show was marked by a devastating and disturbing experience.
38:15After a producer arranged party with some male models, the drinks flowed and Sullivan disclosed that she blacked out.
38:22I didn't even feel sex happening. I just knew it was happening. And then I've passed out.
38:30Cameras captured the fallout of her experience during a phone call with her boyfriend who berates her.
38:35The events still haunt Sullivan. The moment received renewed attention and criticism due to its inclusion in Reality Check, the
38:432026 Netflix docuseries.
38:46I think after getting out of the hot tub and, like, whatever happened after that, I think they should have
38:50f***ing, like, been like, alright, this has gone too far. Like, we gotta, we gotta pull her out of this.
38:59Despite executive producer Ken Mock's claim that they shot the show like a documentary, their failure to step in stands
39:06out as one of the show's most terrible missteps.
39:09I'm not head of story, that's Ken Mock. But I did become a master editor. It's important for people to
39:15know that we didn't put everything on TV.
39:17Which of these top model moments do you find most shocking? Let us know in the comments.
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