for years, America’s Next Top Model Defined an era of television. It wasn’t just a competition, it was a cultural phenomenon that shaped reality TV in the early 2000s. From the emotional transition to the dramatic finale, the show has kept millions glued to their screens for over a decade. And now, Netflix’s upcoming documentary Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model It promises to uncover what was really going on behind the scenes.
“We kept pushing…”
At the center of it all was supermodel Tyra Banks, who, although she wasn’t present in every one of the show’s 24 seasons, largely defined its identity. Now Tyra, 52, looks back at the show’s legacy and addresses its most controversial moments in a new documentary.
“I knew I had gone too far. It was very, very intense, but you guys were demanding it, so we kept pushing it more and more,” Tyra admits in the trailer, as clips of some of the show’s most infamous moments unfold.
About Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model
Produced by EverWonder Studios and Wise Child Studios and directed by Mor Lushi and Daniel Sivan, the three-part Netflix series features exclusive interviews with former contestants, judges and producers. It aims to tell the untold story of how ANTM It became an unprecedented and deeply polarizing show.
In the last few years, America’s Next Top Model It has faced increasing criticism for problematic challenges and commentary on contestants’ bodies, including a now-infamous photoshoot where contestants were asked to adopt races and ethnicities outside their own. While the show was praised for promoting diversity at a time when the fashion industry was far less inclusive, some moments have since turned sour under modern scrutiny.
“20 years ago I made a show…”
Tyra, who has previously addressed the controversy, spoke about the show’s complex legacy while accepting the Luminary Spotlight honor at the ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Awards in February. “20 years ago I created a show called America’s Next Top Model,” Banks said. “And you guys have no idea how hard we fought to bring diversity to that television show at a time when it didn’t exist; to showcase different beauties at a time when the world was like, ‘What? You’re casting this?’ There was a time when people in the fashion industry were asking me, ‘You’re including girls in your shows?'” she said.
She added, “I was wondering, ‘Why can the girl in the trailer park become a supermodel, but not the girl freezing in the park in a hood?’ And we struggled and we fought and we made it happen.”
“Did we do it right? Absolutely not. I said some stupid things,” she said, drawing laughs from the crowd. “But I refuse to think of my legacy as something cobbled together on the Internet when there were 24 cycles of change going on in the world. And I’m so excited that I, and so many of us, have opened that door for others to follow.”
Former judge Nigel Barker, J. With contributions from Alexander, Jay Manuel and many past contestants, the series promises to take a raw look at how ANTM evolved and where it went wrong. Watch the show on Netflix on February 16.