10 Times ‘America’s Next Top Model’ Was Very Problematic

TRIGGER WARNING: This article discusses sensitive topics that may upset readers.

You wanna be on top? Created by super model Tyra Banks, pop culture sensation America’s Next Top Model ran for 24 seasons, or cycles as they’re called. Tyra and a panel of rotating judges seek to find the next “It” girl (or guy in the later cycles) in the fashion industry. The model contestants are put through a variety of challenges and photo shoots – ranging from serious runways to fun commercials to interview-like “go-sees” with designers – in the attempt to crown a winner.

No doubt about it, America’s Next Top Model has produced some amazing and memorable photo shoots throughout its long run. However, being this beautiful comes with a cost, and ANTM has been less than appropriate in its treatment of contestants. The series especially attracted more scrutiny when viewers revisited old episodes during the pandemic, with many fans questioning how ANTM got away with certain behaviors. This is nowhere near a comprehensive list, but here are some of the most problematic moments in America’s Next Top Model history.

10

The Highest of Heels

Cycle 6, Episode 4

Under the guise of “testing” their models, America’s Next Top Model frequently put contestants on dangerous or humiliating catwalks, but it often felt like bullying. From mental torture like Cycle 6’s cockroach runway and Cycle 20’s vertical runway – hopefully the models weren’t scared of bugs or heights! – to physical impossibilities like the conveyor belt of Cycle 15 or the swinging pendulums that took out Alexandra Underwood in Cycle 14 – twice! – ANTM challenged their models in ridiculous ways. Most of the time, the judges could be seen in the audience laughing at the contestants’ struggles. They have made vision-impaired models walk dimly lit runways, and hearing-impaired models do photo shoots in the dark.

Multiple runways and challenges featured dangerous walks for the models – a moving carousel (Cycle 17), water orbs (Cycle 16), and a wobbling platform on water (Cycle 7) – so there was bound to be an injury or two. During the panel in Cycle 6, Episode 4, the models were made to wear extremely high heels and walk for the judges. Most of them struggled and many fell, all while the judges giggled from their seats. Contestant Danielle Evans fell and twisted her ankle so badly that she came back to judging with crutches. Despite her injury, Danielle remained poised and professional.

9

Just an Inch?

Cycle 5, Episode 4

Extreme makeovers were a staple of ANTM, and the show liked to use them to instigate drama. From a Cruella De Vil look to a fauxhawk, Tyra knew how to push the contestants’ looks and boundaries. There have been rashy weaves, weird fake beards, and extensions that have been put in and immediately taken out. In Cycle 5, Cassandra Jean Whitehead was Tyra’s target. With a background in pageantry, Cassandra had long, brown hair that she was reluctant to cut. If a model mentioned a worry or concern of theirs, Tyra was sure to sniff it out.

For her makeover, Cassandra was devastated when she was given a short, blonde pixie cut, breaking down in tears. She was subsequently ridiculed by the judges for not being a better sport about her haircut; they implied she should be grateful and embrace her new look. At the next photo shoot, when Jay Manuel told Cassandra that she’d be getting another inch or two cut off, she refused. Jay, shocked about being told no, kicked her off the set, but Cassandra chose to leave the show on her terms. If an inch wasn’t a big deal, as Jay kept insisting, then she should’ve been allowed to keep her current style. Tyra, as she often does, used this as a “teaching moment” for the other models, reinforcing the idea that their bodies were owned by the show.

8

Bare It All, or Leave

Cycle 2, Episode 1

America’s Next Top Model was known for pushing the models outside their comfort zones, often resulting in varying degrees of emotional distress. One common way to weed out models who are “not willing to compromise,” was through a nude or implied-nude photo shoot. In Cycle 1, they held off until the top few contestants, but in Cycle 2, they used this tactic in Episode 1, when the contestants were brought to a “Garden of Eden”-inspired shoot for contact lenses. Ironically, the contact lenses couldn’t even be seen in the final product.

Anna Bradfield, a wife and mother, felt uncomfortable with the body paint and implied nudity in the shoot, which also featured a nude male model, and expressed her concerns to photographer and judge Nigel Barker. He tried to coerce her into the shoot, but she stood her ground and Nigel kicked her off the set. That same day, another model overslept and arrived late, but she did participate in the shoot. At panel, the judges gave both girls a verbal lashing, with most of the vitriol directed at Anna, who remained steadfast in her morals. Needless to say, Anna served as a warning to the other girls that body autonomy is not prioritized in the series.

7

A Gap-Toothed Hypocrisy

Cycle 15, Episode 3

Changing your hair for ANTM is one thing, but altering your body or teeth? It seems absurd, and it did to Danielle in Cycle 6 as well. The judges implored her to close the gap between her front two teeth, telling her that it would not help her be a Cover Girl. Danielle stood firm and refused to get the work done, stating that it added to her personality and look. The judges chastised her and used their passive aggressiveness to express their disappointment in her. However, Danielle stuck to her guns and left with the Cycle 6 ANTM crown.

This whole scenario is especially hypocritical given model Chelsey Hersley‘s makeover in Cycle 15. Her unique smile, including a gap between her front two teeth, was praised by the judges. For the makeover episode, they asked her to widen the gap, so she went off to the dentist. First, the judges wanted Danielle to have no gap, and then they wanted Chelsey to have a wider gap. The secret seems to be: stay true to yourself and don’t change in an industry with fickle beauty standards. And even after all of that, Chelsey didn’t even win her cycle (but she was runner-up).

6

Fat-Shaming

Cycle 4, Episode 9

The modeling industry has always been problematic in terms of weight and appearance, and ANTM was no different. The series has praised extremely thin women like Ann Ward in Cycle 15, raising concerns over potential eating disorders. The judges gushed over her during casting, noting her impossibly small waist (Mr. Jay could fit his hands entirely around it!). Cassie Grisham, in Cycle 3, suffered an eating disorder while on the show, revealed it to Tyra, refused to get help, and got eliminated. And the series describes models as “plus-sized” when they are decidedly smaller than the average American woman. Weight is clearly a big issue for models.

While it’s always been weird to see normal-sized women described as plus-sized on ANTM, the fat-shaming was brought to new levels in Cycle 4. Keenyah Hill was repeatedly told in panel that she was overweight, or not slim enough. The model explained that she eats when she’s stressed or under pressure, which naturally comes with the competition series. The judges humiliated Keenyah by assigning her “Gluttony” in a seven deadly sins shoot. And, in Episode 9, Mr. Jay designated her the elephant during an animal-inspired shoot. During panel, Tyra made a point to bring up how much photoshop the editors used on Keenyah to hide “her gut.” Although Tyra did acknowledge that the modeling industry has tough standards, and she believed in Keenyah, sending her through to the next week, the underlying message was clear.

5

Tragedy = Ratings

Cycle 8, Episode 4

America’s Next Top Model has put two contestants through extreme emotional turmoil with photo shoots focusing on death. In Cycle 4, Episode 8, model Kahlen Rondot got a phone call informing her of her high school friend’s passing in a car accident. The following day’s photo shoot featured the models embodying the seven deadly sins, and from the bottom of an 8-foot actual grave – in a coffin. Kahlen’s turmoil was clear but, despite almost quitting the show, she was given the sin of “Wrath” and was able to let out her emotions and pain. Mr. Jay claims he didn’t know about the situation before he asked the other models on the day, and the panel awarded Kahlen with photo of the week.

In Cycle 8 of ANTM, a similar thing happened with contestant Jael Strauss. After a painful and unsuccessful makeover (a long weave was put in for over eight hours, and immediately removed), Jael got the news that her close friend had passed away due to a drug overdose. That same episode, the challenge was a crime scene photo shoot, for which the models had to pose as corpses. Jael was assigned a strangulation death and found it understandably difficult to concentrate. She was criticized for letting her emotions overwhelm her, and, unlike Kahlen, landed toward the bottom of the pack. This situation was made more ominous when, in 2018, Jael passed away after battling breast cancer.

4

Just Kidding!

Cycle 17, Episode 12

ANTM has always judged the models for their pasts and personal lives, even when claiming not to. Cycle 2’s Anna was mocked and eliminated for being too “pure” due to her being married and having a child. Cycle 4’s Tiffany Richardson – in the most quoted scene in Top Model history (“We were all rooting for you!”) – on the other hand, was humiliated by Tyra, with the judge cruelly bringing up Tiffany’s troubled past with drugs and her not being able to support her baby. In a grim display of the “virgin/whore” hypocrisy, models were severely judged by their personal lives, sometimes more so than their modeling skills.

Angelea Preston is a clear case. Coming just shy of making Cycle 12, Angelea was up front about her troubled past, but her tenacity brought her back and got her officially cast in Cycle 14. Despite doing extremely well on her season – she got six top-three call-outs at panel, and won the go-see challenge – she got eliminated before the finale. Angelea again fell on hard times and resorted to sex work, which she told the ANTM team before being cast in Cycle 17’s All-Star iteration. Apparently not an issue, Angelea won the title that cycle, but was disqualified after the fact for her honesty about her previous work as an escort. In a hypocritical move, the finale was reshot to crown Lisa D’Amato the winner, with Angelea nowhere in sight.

3

Transphobia

Cycle 11, Episode 1

While America’s Next Top Model featured many LGBTQ+ contestants over its many cycles, those participants were not always treated well. Kim Stolz in Cycle 5, for example, was given the side-eye by the hetero models, with several of them making insensitive comments about not wanting to be hit on by other women. Kim was also questioned by Tyra during her initial casting audition, with Tyra implying Kim should tone down her pride, and in panel Kim was called “unapproachable.”

Model Isis King first appeared as a background model for the Cycle 10 contestants, and stole the spotlight in the final photos. Coming back as a contestant herself in Cycle 11, Isis was the first openly transgender model in the series and faced many microaggressions from other models and Tyra herself. In Episode 1, Isis’ gender identity was questioned by the other models, and Tyra got personal in asking about Isis’ transition. It was nice to see future actor Analeigh Tipton bond with Isis during her hormone injections in Episode 2, but when a model pushed Isis away from her in the pool that same episode, the prejudice was apparent. Isis showed class and growth during her brief stint on Cycle 11, coming back as an All Star in Cycle 17.

2

Consent Was NOT Given

Cycle 15, Episode 8

ANTM has a history of not helping the models when they feel uncomfortable around male models. For example, all the way back in Cycle 1, eventual winner Adrianne Curry was assaulted on her go-sees in Paris, with the camera crew doing nothing to help. Keenyah from Cycle 4 had an issue with a male model she had to pose with. He was whispering sexual things in her ear and touching her inappropriately. After tolerating it for a moment, Keenyah explained her frustrations to Mr. Jay, who told her to suck it up and continue modeling. Then, at panel, the judges chastised her for making the situation worse by speaking up for herself. Similarly, Jaeda Young (who had a boyfriend) from Cycle 7 had to have a kissing scene with a model who had degraded her verbally the night before, even though she tearfully told Mr. Jay she was uncomfortable interacting intimately with a racist.

But one of the worst moments of ANTM letting their models down in this regard was during a commercial shoot with Kayla Ferrel, who had previously addressed her discomfort with male models in an angel photo shoot in Episode 3. In the new commercial for a fake ANTM water, Kayla had to recite her lines while rollerskating, and then end by kissing a male model. A member of the LGBTQ+ community, Kayla was already uncomfortable with the entire interaction, but she had also been sexually abused in her past. When she tearfully revealed to Mr. Jay about how her trauma was affecting her. He defaulted to telling her to push through her discomfort and maybe get some therapy. Instead of adjusting the trajectory of the commercial by simply removing the kiss (which was superfluous anyway), ANTM essentially made Kayla relive her trauma, and then judged her for it.

1

Racism

Cycle 4, Episode 5

For a series spearheaded by Tyra Banks, a woman who has made history several times as a Black supermodel, it is especially questionable when racist behavior was displayed. Sometimes these microaggressions were targeted at specific contestants, like Cycle 3’s Yaya DaCosta. In Episode 8’s panel, the models had to select a hat to model. When Yaya didn’t pick the stereotypical African hat, calling it cheap, the designer took offense, and told Yaya that her “African-ness is overbearing.” Cycle 21’s Chantelle Young (now known as Winnie Harlow) was continuously called “panda” (due to her vitilligo) by creative consultant Yu Tsai. When Chantelle expressed her concerns over the term and how it might affect viewers, Yu Tsai got defensive and said that she didn’t “deserve the nickname” anyway – he’d instead call her “porcupine,” completely missing her point (no pun intended).

Cycle 4’s notorious fifth episode, dubbed the “race swap” photo shoot, included all the contestants in its problematic behavior. While 2005 was “a different time,” it was still apparent to viewers and some of the models that essentially getting blackface to pose as a person of color, and vice versa, was not okay. Several participants in the shoot have since come forward with varied views; some were just modeling as usual, not thinking it was that deep, while others now look at it through a new lens and cringe. ANTM brought the idea back in Cycle 13 for a biracial shoot; the models would be dressed as two ethnicities combined. This shoot again saw lighter complexions get darkened with makeup, darker women get their skin lightened, and attire that reinforced stereotypes. While the series has argued that they were trying to celebrate cultures and differences through the shoots, fans have strong opinions about these problematic photos, even all these years later.

Keep Reading: The Best ‘America’s Next Top Model’ Photoshoots From Each Cycle