There were outlandish challenges that required models to dodge swinging pendulums on a catwalk or pose inside a giant Greek salad. Other scenes, now infamous, had models appear in blackface and endure extreme temperatures or dangerous conditions that even caused them to faint. They were also subjected to “Ty-rades.”
For 15 years, “America’s Next Top Model” pushed contestants to the edge of what it took to win a reality television show. The audience, primarily young women, gobbled it up without hesitation, learning how to “smize” from the host and model Tyra Banks, but “make it fashion.”
In the years since it went off the air in 2018, the show has become equal parts meme candy and ripe for criticism as fans have re-examined the scenes on social media with a fresh perspective: Did the show reflect the harsh realities of the modeling industry, or make the experience worse? “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model,” a new documentary from Netflix, may finally lift the curtain on the show’s legacy.
Banks has largely avoided addressing pointed criticism of the show, but she told the “Today” show in 2020 that she had apologized for some of her decisions. In the trailer for the documentary, she admits that the show was “very, very intense,” adding: “But you guys were demanding it. And so we kept pushing more, and more, and more.”
Here’s a look at some of the show’s defining moments and characters.
‘We are actually going to switch your ethnicities.’
The show, which aired in the early 2000s, had a new group of amateur models each season (called a cycle) participate in weekly photo shoots or runway shows that usually involved a twist — a bathing suit spread in frigid temperatures, for example; a catwalk four stories above the ground; or even a shoot inside a glass coffin underground. The challenges were judged by a panel of industry experts and, of course, Banks. The show’s tagline cut to the point: “You wanna be on top?”
One of the more infamous moments came in Cycle 4, which aired in 2005. Contestants were being photographed for a “Got Milk?” ad campaign when Jay Manuel, the creative director of the show, informed them that the producers were “going to switch your ethnicities.”
The women were instructed to portray other races or ethnicities, using makeup, hair and clothing, while holding a child of the race or ethnicity they were portraying. On the episode, a white woman portrayed a Black woman, wearing blackface and an Afro, and a Black woman portrayed a Native American woman. Hulu, which streams the series, removed the episode.
Four years later in Cycle 13, race swapping was once again the central theme of the challenge. The models were tasked with dressing up as different biracial identities from around the world, and they were made to wear makeup that made their skin appear darker.
“Think about Egypt, the people, what they’ve been through!” Banks says from behind the camera, during the episode, as she photographs a white, blonde woman who is dressed and painted to look like someone of Tibetan and Egyptian descent.
And yet again, in the All-Stars Cycle 17 in 2011, fan-favorite models from previous cycles posed as Michael Jackson through the years and darkened their faces.
‘We were all rooting for you!’
Banks had already eliminated two models in an episode in Cycle 4 when the episode earned its title: “The Girl Who Pushes Tyra Over the Edge.”
Tiffany Richardson said in a 2022 interview that she had already come to terms with being eliminated, after a few bumpy challenges, when Banks unleashed what would become known as a Ty-rade. She berated Richardson for having a “defeatist attitude,” refusing to let Richardson explain herself. “I was rooting for you; we were all rooting for you. How dare you!” Banks screamed.
Banks and other judges would often give pep talks to struggling contestants, but audiences said some went too far.
Models on the show routinely faced criticism before the judges’ panel and during photo shoots, including a Cycle 5 session dedicated to highlighting each model’s perceived physical “flaw.”
‘Do something about that snaggletooth.’
A smile is worth a thousand words, but is it worth 18 hours in the dentist’s chair? In Cycle 6, the show sent the contestants to a dentist before a shoot. Manuel told the contestant Joanie Dodds that the dentist would “do something about that snaggletooth,” and said that Danielle Evans, another contestant, would have her gap tooth addressed. Evans refused.
Banks told Evans that her smile was not “marketable,” only for the show to have another contestant, in Cycle 15, have her gap widened to look more like the model Lauren Hutton. The only thing more important than smiles to Banks was “smizing,” a verb she coined to mean smiling with your eyes.
Makeovers, many of which were dramatic transformations that were unwanted by the contestants, became standard on the show. Terra White, a contestant on Cycle 15, was eliminated after being very unhappy with new short hair.
Greek salad, but make it fierce.
“Top Model” never shied away from setting perilous obstacles: posing underwater in the ocean and over water posing as fish; walking in a bubble on water; walking down a runway as large pendulums swung in front of the models; or even walking with their hands on fire. Some challenges ended in hospital visits — including for one model who developed hypothermia during a pool shoot — or with fainting spells.
Perhaps one of the more ridiculous challenges came toward the end of the series in Cycle 17. No one knew tomatoes, cucumbers, olive oil, feta cheese and lingerie could mix so well until they didn’t. During a trip to Greece in the All-Stars season, contestants were asked to pose in an oversized bowl of horiatiki salad.
Remy Tumin is a reporter for The Times covering breaking news and other topics.
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