The 2000s were basically the Wild West for reality television, which gave us iconic moments, but without guidelines, they weren’t always the most politically correct. The renewed interest in all things Y2K has brought these skeletons out of the closet for celebrities and reality personalities alike.
The most obvious being the America’s Next Top Model documentary, Reality Check, released earlier this year. For years, the show’s contestants have spoken out about negative experiences that have fallen on the shoulders of the show’s creator and producer, Tyra Banks. The contestants got real about her “mean girl” antics and tantrums that contributed to their trauma from the show. The 90s supermodel took part in the documentary that, in some ways, tainted her image more than it already was by addressing it instead of running from it.
Now, she’s suing Netflix for defamation. Banks’ lawsuit alleges only 16 minutes of her three-and-a-half-hour interview made the edit, presenting a “defamatory” narrative “unrelated to what she actually expressed.”
Humiliation was the point of shows like ANTM, The Biggest Loser, and The Swan, among many others. TV networks’ shamelessness served up trauma and disordered eating on a silver platter for young people to indulge in.
Why the Most Iconic Reality Shows of the 2000s Would Never Air Today
The Biggest Loser premiered in 2004 with a premise that people deemed to be overweight would participate in a program to shed weight. Whoever lost the most would be deemed “the biggest loser.” It became a cultural phenomenon—a stark contrast to the prevalent eating disorder culture of the period. Season 15 winner Rachel Frederickson weighed just 105 pounds at the time of the finale, sparking an outcry on social media and ultimately leading to its cancellation after Season 17.
Longtime trainer Jillian Michaels spoke on the documentary last October, standing firmly behind her methods. “If you say it’s unrealistic, I totally agree,” she told Women’s Health. “But if you say it’s unhealthy, I’d disagree, and I have the data to back it up.”
However, she disagreed with Frederickson’s drastic weight loss, which led Michaels to leave the series.
“I was deeply disturbed when she walked out on the stage that day, and I never went back,” she explained. “There was just a limit in regard to what the platform could bear as times change and evolve, and in regard to my control of my image on the platform.”
These harmful practices would never air on television nowadays with Gen Z’s insatiable quest to hold everyone accountable. However, that clashes with the varying critiques of millennials/Gen X. Yes, it never should’ve aired, but many can’t help but rewatch the train wreck in the name of nostalgia. Really, that’s what it comes down to—the networks fed on a gap in the market for shock-jock and trashy reality, but audiences ate it up, showing that there was a market for it.
And one day, this same conversation will be had for the shows and creators that Gen Z platformed.
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