By Brianna Alleva

Who is Tyra Banks?

Tyra Banks is known famously as an American model and the first African American model on the cover of Sports Illustrated and GQ. 

Scouted at the age of fifteen, Tyra has been a famous figure for years now. She appears as a host, tv personality and even once had her own tv show.

People love her real attitude and advocacy for real body types and women. 

Arguably, though, what boosted her fame and kept her relevant was her show: America’s Next Top Model.

Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model 

Premiering in 2003, America’s Next Top Model, also known as ANTM was a modeling competition that showed what went on behind the scenes, the “real” modeling world.

At the end of each cycle or season, one girl is named America’s Next Top Model.

Airing in the early 2000s, the times were different and the show definitely showed it. Millions tuned in to see what being a model really took, when in reality, the show took so many liberties. 

As we look back on the show itself, a lot of questions pop up.

Who approved the direction of the show? Who came up with the photo shoot ideas? Who thought some of the conversations were even a good idea, to put in the edit at least?

The Controversy Begins 

It took until 2026 for this long awaited retrospective of ANTM to come out. Fans that go back as long as to when the show was airing, knew what was coming. 

The Covid fans tore this show apart, the reviews were shocked at how bad and insanely racist, sexist, fatphobic, etc, etc the show was. 

One of the biggest scandals in ANTM’s history, as shown in the documentary, is the Shandi situation. Cycle 2 shows a model, Shandi, drunkenly being assaulted by a man and having to call her boyfriend and deal with doctors. 

This raises the question of whether documentary cameramen have the right or the responsibility to intervene when something traumatic is happening. We have seen this in scenes of Jersey Shore, where overboard situations, domestic disputes, etc., are allowed to happen in the name of good TV. 

Tyra places the blame on the producers, and the producers try to reason that they told the girls this was a documentary and that they would capture everything. 

On top of this horror, the documentary brought me back to some crazy scenarios that I honestly didn’t see as insanely offensive until now.

Having the models dress up as unhoused people, people who have been affected by smoking, crime scene victims (giving being shot to the girl whose mom was shot), and race-swapping the models?

The infamous makeovers go so far as to change the models’ teeth, giving them a medical procedure, all in hopes of becoming the top model. One girl had four teeth pulled and teeth ground out. It turns out that it was all cosmetic, no actual teeth problems that were fixed. 

The humiliation was in every single shoot, and I have to be honest: I never stopped watching the show during its prime.

The Most Insane Part

All of this aside, the biggest lesson we learned from Netflix’s new documentary was absolutely nothing. 

The minute Tyra came on the screen everyone knew she wasn’t going to take responsibility for anything, and even if she “tries” to it would be fake and performative.

As a producer and editor and creator, all the things Tyra claimed to be, she had say in everything that was done. The network might have put pressure on her and wanted things a certain way but she agreed and knew about everything, no doubt. 

So, for Tyra to dismiss everything as either it was the times (which may be true but still as a TV show you should understand the message you are putting out) or she had nothing to do with production, was a waste of time.

Aside from a weird trip down memory lane, the show did nothing but remind us that if people don’t want to take accountability they will just waste our time. 

Advertise on Streaming: Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model

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Audience Demographics for CTV

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Where to Stream Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model

• Netflix

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