10 Bombshell Reveals from Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model

10 Shocking Reveals from Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model

Freelancer Notes (optional): The fourth entry is particularly upsetting, and I wonder if I erred too much on the side of brand safety instead of honoring what happened to Shandi, but it’s definitely a lot to unpack in only 95-125 words.

Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re exploring the all-new secrets and scandals exposed by Netflix’s three-part “Top Model” docuseries.

Tyra Banks Thought She Was Honoring Diversity in Race-Swapping Photoshoots

One of the lasting impacts of “America’s Next Top Model” is its envelope-pushing and often tasteless photoshoot themes. In particular, challenges in cycle 4 and cycle 13 saw its contestants asked to don makeup and clothing that represented a race or ethnicity other than their own. You can imagine how much of this was done for shock factor. But in “Reality Check,” Tyra Banks herself expressed that she felt these photoshoots honored racial differences. While she cops to feeling differently now, it’s hard to believe that this was about honoring different cultures and not about the shock factor.

Whitney Thompson Wasn’t Given Clothes Her Size

The cycle 10 winner was heralded as a sea change for the show. Whitney Thompson was the first plus-size “Top Model” champion. However, Thompson’s time on the show certainly didn’t honor her groundbreaking run. During the photoshoots, she was rarely given clothes that fit. They would cut and pin garments around her instead of deigning to have size-appropriate clothes. At times, her mistreatment made her weep after filming days. This was not a new phenomenon, either. Hopeful models’ weight was a constant concern for the judges, and they made that known. It seems like an unnecessary and unfair hurdle in the competition to punish models who were not sample size.

Dani Evans Didn't Immediately Agree to Have Her Gap Closed

Cycle 6 winner Dani Evans’ makeover included dental surgery to close the gap between her two front teeth. Although Evans had some concerns on the show, her unwillingness was even stronger than what we saw. Banks’ response in the documentary is measured. She insists that real fashion model agents had her convinced that Evans would never work if she didn’t close the gap. What the documentary does, perhaps for the first time, is let these two stories live side by side in the editing. Evans is clearly not buying what Banks is selling, accusing “Top Model” producers of just trying to make good TV at her expense.

They Didn't Always Choose the Models' Best Shots

One of the standard defining moments on every episode is when host Tyra Banks and the judges’ panel select one photo for each contestant and discuss it. Well, according to longtime fixture Jay Manuel, even the photo selection was calculated. Choosing the best photo was not always the goal. Former contestants and Jay Manuel insist Banks, executive producer Ken Mok, and the team behind the show were often more interested in creating a context for a model’s elimination than showcasing her skills. It’s just one more occasion where generating good TV was more important than finding America’s Next Top Model.

Tyra Banks Knew the Show Wasn’t Taken Seriously

Often presented as almost a boot camp for a modeling career, the show’s lofty promise to find the next top model was a losing battle. “Top Model” was largely seen as an industry joke. Fashion people often excluded models from jobs for even appearing on it. That wasn’t such a shocker. That’s been pretty well known for years, and former contestants have talked about it since. What’s worse is that, according to cycle 6 winner Dani Evans, Tyra Banks told her she knew the show hurt the contestants more than it helped. So much for finding the next big thing in modeling.

They Didn’t Know How to Protect the Models

Several situations, including many that were shown to us the viewers, were a result of a production team that wasn’t sure how to protect its models from harm. Banks admitted as such in “Reality Check.” Looking back on cycle 4 contestant Keenyah Hill’s experience with a male model, Banks regrets that she and fellow producers didn’t know how to handle the misbehavior of the male models they hired. If anyone should know or have the clout to make a photoshoot and a reality show safe for its participants, surely an executive producer, host, and renowned supermodel should.

The Real Story Behind Shandi Sullivan’s “Cheating” Controversy

As we learned, cycle 2’s most infamous moment has an even darker, more sinister explanation. Sullivan tells the “Reality Check” team that she blacked out during the event, and wished the producers would have intervened. The defense from producer Ken Mok is that the show is a “documentary,” and interfering would have ruined the integrity of the show. But a legitimate documentary team wouldn’t set up a scenario where this could have happened. Once again, with a reality show involving non-industry participants, producers have a responsibility to intervene when it comes to personal safety. We’ve seen a swift and uncomplicated response on many shows since, with some even halting production as a result of similar incidents.

The Tiffany Meltdown Was Way, Way Worse

It’s since gone down in reality TV history, but the moment Tyra Banks shouted at Tiffany Richardson was apparently much, much more vicious than could be shown on camera. Banks, of course, reiterates her frustrations at the time. She was simply, in her words, upset to see Richardson not believe in herself. Creative director Jay Manuel insists that Banks’ intentions were not nearly as altruistic as she would have us believe. Manuel says that what was shown doesn’t even compare to the real thing, and that Banks was escorted off set afterward. Judge Nolé Marin recollects lawyers arriving on the set as a result of the tirade.

Tyra Banks Never Visited J. Alexander After His Stroke

The beloved runway tutor had some questionable methods, but in a show that’s shockingly harsh on its contestants, Miss J was often a bright spot. Compared to what these models were often put through, he was . In 2022, Alexander suffered a stroke, which rendered him unable to walk. While co-stars Jay Manuel and Nigel Barker made the trek to visit him in the hospital, Banks never showed up for her former friend and colleague. The trio’s firing from the show in 2012 was a major headline, but over a decade afterward, the relationship still seems strained. Given how many iconic “Top Model” moments Alexander is responsible for and the friendship that was there, a visit seems like the bare minimum.

“Top Model” Is Coming Back

A 25th cycle has been rumored for years. At the end of “Reality Check,” Banks drops news that it’s finally happening, and she’ll once again be at the helm. Given all we’ve seen, it almost feels like a jump scare at the end of a horror movie. It highlights something troubling about the whole documentary. No one involved with the show thinks they are responsible. Executive producer Ken Mok defends the original series’ practices. Jay Manuel kicks all the bad decisions up to Tyra Banks. Tyra Banks, at one point, blames the viewers for demanding the show to take bigger and bigger risks at the expense of the models’ health. The big question is obvious. After all we know now, should it come back?

Did Netflix’s “Reality Check” change how you look back on “Top Model”? Tell us in the comments.