For more than a decade, the modelling competition led by Tyra Banks became a global cultural force.
However, the hit series also produced a string of controversial and uncomfortable moments that are now being re-examined in a new Netflix documentary.
Ask fans of America’s Next Top Model to name its most memorable scene, and many will point to the explosive exchange between Banks and contestant Tiffany Richardson.
“I was rooting for you. We were all rooting for you! How dare you!” Banks shouted after eliminating Richardson, in a clip that later became a viral meme.
The moment, from a show that debuted in 2003 and ran for 24 cycles, resurfaced widely during the 2020 pandemic as viewers revisited old episodes.
Seen through a modern lens, several scenes were criticised as insensitive and problematic. Banks later acknowledged the backlash, writing online that some past moments were “off choices”.
According to the BBC, a podcast titled Curse of: America’s Next Top Model was released last year.
It is now followed by a three-part documentary, Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, which premieres in the last week of February.
The series examines controversies that unfolded both on camera and behind the scenes, often affecting young women who joined the competition hoping to launch modelling careers.
Sociologist Danielle Lindemann, author of True Story: What Reality TV Says About Us, says that despite its harsh elements, the programme helped shape pop culture.
At its peak, the franchise reportedly attracted about 100 million viewers across 170 countries.
The show was praised for placing a Black woman at the centre of a major television franchise and featuring prominent queer figures such as runway coach Miss J Alexander and creative director Jay Manuel.
Alongside a diverse group of contestants, it offered representation rarely seen on mainstream television in the early 2000s. Some critics argue it helped open doors for programmes such as RuPaul’s Drag Race.
However, the documentary revisits troubling aspects of the show.
Judges’ critiques sometimes became deeply personal, targeting contestants’ bodies.
Several photoshoot themes drew heavy criticism, including a “switching ethnicities” shoot involving blackface, a homeless-themed shoot using real homeless people, and crime scene concepts where contestants posed as murder victims.
Among other misconduct allegations, former contestant Dionne Walters alleges producers asked her to act as if she had been shot, despite knowing her mother had previously been shot and paralysed.