America’s Next Top Model was a show created by Tyra Banks in 2003. Since it’s genesis, there have been 24 seasons launching the careers of dozens of people. The show has featured well known models, runway coaches and photographers including Janet Dickson, Nigel Barker and Miss J. Over the last three months, there have been a lot of articles written aimed at exposing the normalized hostility, abuse and poor working conditions that played out on ANTM. As a kid, my access to television was limited, so I watched ANTM for the first time this year when 10 seasons were added to my streaming platform and I was shocked.
There were moments I loved, scenes that made me laugh, memes that finally made sense and moments that were straight up cringey, especially by today’s standards. As I watched season after season, a feeling of discomfort began to emerge. While the show is scripted and manufactured by producers, in many ways America’s Next Top Model tells a lot of truths about the United States of America. Let me start by telling you what I saw.
The main features of the show that stood out to me was the (1) normalization of cruelty and (2) masking reality to distort perceptions of what is normal, what is beautiful and what is permissible. Tyra Banks and the judges would regularly make disparaging comments about the models. I can’t imagine being told I took the “worst picture in ANTM history” or that because I’m 27 that I’m “too old to be beautiful,” in front of the whole world, my fellow contestant and industry icons cast as judges. Some women reported “wanting to die,” after being in the bottom 2 or hearing harsh feedback. As I watched these moments, questions were stirring inside of me.
- Is this bullying? Is this normal for the modeling industry?
- Does that make it okay?
- If normal is “harmful,” is it our duty to transform “normal” into “healthy”? ( I think so)
As leaders in the industry, it’s questionable to put people through hell because you’ve been through hell. Cruelty is not a quality of strong leadership so why was it normal to haze these women so tactlessly publicly ? Can competition be healthy?
In addition to these issues, after doing some research about the working conditions these contestants faced. Many scenes in the show were filmed at the house where contestants stayed. Sometimes there were not enough beds for all the contestants and even when models traveled, they stayed in very meager accommodations including a capsule hostel. What we didn’t see on the show was how long the modeling shoots were, former contestant reported it taking 12-14 hours to shoot and about 7-10 hours of judging/elimination. Models were not paid during their time on the show except for $40 meal vouchers for all three meals. In early seasons, the women were publicly weighed and forced to exercise.
The show spent a lot of time conflating humility with obedience. Women who weren’t willing to obey certain rules were ostracized, harshly judged, even slut shamed. For example, one contestant in season 3 was told to humble herself because she wouldn’t swallow an unfamiliar food that she didn’t like. I understand how that could be rude to the client, but I also think it’s unfair to be forced to consume something that you don’t like. It’s okay to dislike things, it’s okay to have a contrary opinion and that doesn’t mean you are prideful, it means you have boundaries, which are very healthy. Similar feelings emerged when contestants got their makeover. Some women felt really vulnerable, skeptical and nervous for their new looks but women who were vocal about these feelings were gaslit, manipulated and ostracized for not being “open minded.” Watching this in 2022, felt like an obvious imposition to mostly women contestants. There was also a lack of empathy and support for people who had difficulty changing their look so drastically. Women were told the only way to be a top model was to be passive, not to question the decision made FOR them (versus WITH them) and to smile whether they liked it or not. Women were taught the path to being successful was disembodiment, loss of agency and that strength was “grinning and bearing it,” versus speaking up and advocating for self. Unfortunately, this left me questioning what it meant to be America’s Next Top Model. Does it mean being a doormat? Does it mean you have to lose your identity? Does it mean you lose your voice?What does that model for young people interested in modeling ? A lot of times these models reported serious mental anguish.
I felt like I often liked the women who left on their own terms, being themselves, a lot more than ANTM contest winners. I loved watching Yaya DaCosta be regal, intelligent and thoughtful. Her poise, potential for growth and authentic personality stood out to me in a real way. I also really understood why Keenya felt so connected to the continent. Her cast mates ridiculed her saying “south Africa doesn’t have special meaning because you’re Black,” or saying “Keenyah didn’t even know who Nelson Mandela was before today.” However, I really empathized with her, American educational curriculum is white washed, very little is taught about Black history. Being Black and having spaces where Black history and the struggle for racial justice is centered, is a special feeling. I remember the first time I heard someone say Haiti in a history class. I’d only heard my country’s name at home, although I traveled every summer to see my family just off of Miami, mention of my heritage was erased. Often times Black women were told to be more personable, or told they were too “hoochie,” “angry,” or “ghetto,” and it felt rooted in racist controlling images.
Even with Tyra Banks being a Black woman, the show was fraught with racist micro-aggressions, cultural appropriation and stereotypes. For example, in one season, contestants were asked to dress up as “a race.” Some models were put in Blackface and others told to model with cultural symbols that would cause outrage today. I also noticed a lot of the racial issues stemmed from anti-Blackness. For example, from seasons 1-4, judges couldn’t help comparing brown skinned Black girls to Tyra Banks, often there wouldn’t even be any constructive feedback, just “wow, you look like Tyra.” In one episode a publicly conservative contestant was slut-shamed for not wanting to be photographed nude. Tyra and Jay went out of their way to embarrass this contestant by saying she showed her breasts to Jay, so she should be able to show them to the world, which didn’t actually make sense.
Another area that felt especially cruel was the ways disabled people were treated. One contestant hid their Lupus for several episodes but once she disclosed, no accommodations were made, especially considering the lengthy days. Another contestant was legally blind and wasn’t allowed to look at the runway before hand so she wouldn’t have an advantage, but they failed to realize, she was already at a disadvantage and should have the support to safely compete. Lastly, Nyle, the second male winner of ANTM, is deaf and was woefully unaccommodated in photoshoots and runways where hearing was a key component to success and having community in the house. It was hard to see disabled people being treated like an afterthought on multiple seasons. The notions of fairness or giving an unfair advantage was an ableist logic that showed the producers didn’t understand what fairness was. Fairness doesn’t mean equal, it means equitable, that people have an adequate baseline to start from. While Nyle was amazing and won his cycle, he suffered a lot and it was hard to watch people justify inaccessibility.
The last thing I noticed as I watched the show was the presence of Miss J. I loved seeing them, especially on such a popular primetime show. Often time people pretend like LGBTQI+ people, especially Black LGBTQI+ people are in the shadows, removed from success, prominence and stature. Miss J taught Tyra how to walk and is one of the best walking coaches in the world. However, I found the show to tokenize them in some ways. There is never any discussion of Miss J’s identity, but rather reactions, which feels a bit unsafe. While most participants expressed respect and awe to be taught by such an iconic person, some were very homophobic and it was never really addressed. After watching 6 seasons, several different pronouns have been used and there was no space to name and honor Miss J’s identity. As a long standing member of the cast, it would’ve been nice to have basic information about what Miss J likes to be referred to.
In a lot of ways, ANTM tells a lot of hard truths about who America is, what she values and what sells. America is infatuated with race, controlling women and praises codependency. Race played a major role in the photoshoots, the judging comments, the friendship pairings and perceptions by viewers/housemates. I also noticed America’s pattern of normalizing controlling women. As our Supreme Count plans to overturn Roe v. Wade, I see parallels on the show where women are stripped of autonomy and agency and told codependent dynamics are a path to success. Codependency tells us it’s okay to sacrifice ourselves, our opinions, our desires, our identities and more in service of other relationships. As I watched these women make themselves small, sacrifice food, dignity and control, I realized they were a model of every wound I hope to heal. America needs to do a better job of talking about diversity, especially around race, class, gender and sexuality. We do a better job of it now than we did from 2003-2010 but there’s room to normalize asking people who they are and respecting them fully. This also shows the way our culture has grown and some major pitfalls that we still have some growing up to do.
When I saw ANTM on my hulu and that there were 10 seasons, I thought, “perfect! now I have a show to binge watch for the next few weeks.” Unfortunately, after about two weeks, I couldn’t take it. Our collective notions of beauty are shifting as new faces lead the industry but it’s important to think about what a model is to imagine what modeling could be. Newer seasons have featured men and gender expansive people and don’t force contestants to exercise. I hope these changes help transform modeling to grow from these gaps, rather than glorying resiling through them. There are a lot of lessons and insight on our nation that can be gleaned by watching the show through the lens of hindsight. What will we watch next?