If you ever needed another reason to hate reality-TV: Netflix’s documentary about Tyra Banks’ Top Model-show is here. It is painful to watch for sure. Infuriating and upsetting at times. But, how fair is it to judge a 25 year old program with today’s eyes?
“Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model” doesn’t merely revisit a reality-TV phenomenon it exposes how casually cruelty was repackaged as empowerment in the early 2000s. And I am ashamed to say this show was once my favourite. In hindsight “America’s Next Top Model” was a horrendous show full of racism, body shaming, sexual harassment, humiliation and coercive challenges, and a host and judges who were willing to do anything for higher rates. How could we not see through to this?? Is it unfair to judge when looking back at the program today? No matter what, the moments once dismissed as “good TV” and “reality” is shocking when watched with today’s eyes, as it reads as a blueprint for how entertainment went on to normalize mobbing.
The show was pitched as Tyra Banks’ mission to “change the world of fashion,” that bold statement alone being a testament to the inflated ego of a woman who had managed to claw her way to the top and become somewhat of a pioneer. She may have managed to make us more aware regarding the lack of diversity in the business, but I mean, we are talking one of the most conservative money-driven businesses on the planet here. It was not going to change because of an American TV-show.
Anyway, the initial idea got lost as the show went on, and frequently blurred the line between mentorship and exploitation, turning insecurity into spectacle and vulnerability into ratings. Perhaps the worst deception was how young, inexperienced contestants were encouraged to reveal personal fears and trauma through confidential questionnaires supposedly designed to protect them, only for those same vulnerabilities to be weaponised later as narrative devices on camera. Just another testament to the fact this show had very little to do with modelling or fashion, and everything to do with television. And don’t get me started on the judges. While girls were being filmed in their most vulnerable states it is also extremely thought provoking that the 3 judges on the show – Miss J Alexander, Jay Manuel, Nigel Barker – to this day seem to have been most traumatized over being fired from the show due lack of ratings. Seriously? That was the worst part of their experience?
With few winners achieving lasting modelling success, the programme’s claim to authenticity feels increasingly hollow, while genuine accountability from those who profited most remains conspicuously absent. In the end, America’s Next Top Model wasn’t about creating stars, it was about manufacturing drama, and the girls were simply the raw material. And no matter how many doors Tyra Banks claimed to have opened for diversity in the modelling world with her show, it still feels absurdly shameful to watch.
