Why people are calling out "America's Next Top Model"

Brut America

"America's Next Top Model" offered aspiring models a chance to break into the industry. Now, years later, the reality TV show is under fire for perpetuating a toxic culture.  A former contestant explains what went on behind the scenes ...

Transcript

00:00Tyra Banks is once again trending for her crimes against humanity when she was on America's Next Top Model.

00:04The modeling industry is extremely toxic, especially back then.

00:07But there's absolutely no defending what she did to the girls behind the scenes.

00:21And it's crazy because I used to love this show, and I didn't even realize the comics they were making were toxic.

00:25But looking back, I'm like, yo, Tyra and her little crew, they were hella problematic.

00:29The car looks better than she does. If the body could just slim down 150 pounds, that would be good.

00:48They definitely orchestrated it to keep us slightly off-kilter at all times.

00:54Slightly sleep-deprived, slightly hungry, slightly just unsure of what was about to happen at all times.

01:01Which I think is conscientious because that produces a high emotional state, which then makes for the type of TV that they were trying to make.

01:11Oh, Danielle, you went to the dentist, but you refused to have your gap closed.

01:27Do you really think you can have a CoverGirl contract with a gap in your mouth?

01:30Yeah, why not?

01:31This is all people see. Easy Reads Beautiful CoverGirl. It's not marketable.

01:35What is the most heinous photo shoot America's Next Top Model ever did?

01:40Your black sisters are going to shave you in the streets.

01:43Nana, I want to see some of that African stuff.

01:47And Noelle, we're making you into a traditionally African woman with a head wrap.

01:52The audition process was crazy and I'd never experienced anything like it.

01:57They really make it as close to a cattle call as I've ever seen.

02:03But the initial sort of culling is just based on something like, well, that's what we're going to do.

02:09And they're like, you're going to do it?

02:10And I was like, yeah.

02:13And they're like, we're going to make it as close to a cattle call as I've ever seen.

02:18But the initial sort of culling is just based on someone staring at your face, which I think

02:22is why people try out over and over again.

02:25They actually did a physical exam, they did drug testing, hair strand testing, urine testing,

02:38blood testing, hours of personality fill-in-the-blank testing, which I now think might have been

02:44Myers-Briggs.

02:45The next day, they had us all meet with a psychiatrist for an hour-long session.

02:49It's some pretty intense psychological testing, and I think they're trying to find the right

02:55mix of crazy.

02:56You have to provide all of your medical records, all of your family's contact info, and they

03:03really sort of ask for your whole life story.

03:06He goes, Lisa, I just want you to know that you're doing really great in this competition,

03:21but you need to calm down.

03:23And I'm like, you want me to calm down?

03:26If you want me to calm down, then why don't you stop antagonizing me and stop bringing

03:33up all my childhood stuff?

03:36You know, at the time, I didn't know that it was called gaslighting.

03:39I definitely remember her being painted as a wild child and kind of not all there.

03:43Come to find out she was dealing with childhood trauma for being S8 at a very young age.

03:48How low do you have to be to get someone to talk about something so traumatic just for

03:52views on your show?

03:53The girls and boys had to sign contracts that said that if they said anything about

04:06production publicly or to each other, they can get sued for millions of dollars.

04:11The part that was a little bit more difficult is they sat us in conference rooms for days

04:16on the cruise ship.

04:17We were never allowed to go out.

04:19We weren't allowed to go to the bathroom or get water without asking permission.

04:22We weren't allowed to talk.

04:23So we would have to sit there for hours and then sit with the producers and lawyers while

04:28they basically went over the contract with us.

04:30Tyra won't ever let me talk about it.

04:32She's always got that $5 million confidentiality agreement that doesn't let me talk.

04:39Right, Tyra?

04:48The rules were that they were not allowed to film us in the bathroom or the shower,

04:52but only if we were alone.

04:54So if there was more than one of us in the bathroom or the shower, they were allowed

04:57to film.

04:58No idea that there was a song in this whole number because they kept making us scream

05:02so loud that we couldn't hear it.

05:03And they had to do like eight or nine takes, so by the end of it, we were like...

05:06I look at my grocery list, look at my receipt, check to see if I got everything I needed.

05:19Why is my cereal bar box already open?

05:22When people start messing with, you know, food and things like that, it's going to get

05:26really ugly.

05:27We were given a $38 a day cash stipend that we then used to pay for food.

05:33We were not paid anything at all.

05:35So we would have this cash stipend, which we would use periodically.

05:40They would have us write out our grocery lists, like for the week.

05:45They'd be like, okay, we're doing a grocery shop.

05:46What does everybody want?

05:48And so we would write it out and they would bring it to us.

05:51We never talked about it though.

05:52It wasn't like we ever really had that much time to sort of process like, this is crazy

05:59that we're not getting paid.

06:01Never even really occurred to me.

06:06People see content over and over again and they don't know that you've apologized and

06:11I don't fault them for that.

06:12It's not their fault, but it's my job to say, yes, I've apologized for it and we're going

06:17to apologize again and keep apologizing because it was wrong.

06:33I know that a lot of people are legitimately traumatized by what happened on the show and

06:37they had a very different experience than I did.

06:39And I think that their stories are really important and should be heard.

06:43But I just, I don't want to speak to them because they're not mine.

06:47They're not mine.

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