8 Reality Competition Shows Better Than America’s Next Top Model

From Project Runway's artistry to RuPaul's Drag Race's ingenuity, there are plenty of reality competition shows better than America's Next Top Model.

By Shealyn Scott

14 of the most uncomfortable moments on 'America's Next Top Model'

Tyra Banks poses with cast members from "America's Next Top Model" in 2007. Evan Agostini/Getty Images "America's Next Top Model," which debuted in 2003, has come under fire for its controversial moments. On more than one occasion, the models were asked to wear makeup that resembled blackface. A new Netflix documentary spoke with former judges and contestants about the show's dark side. When "America's Next Top Model" premiered over 20 years ago, it quickly became a cultural phenomenon that catapulted multiple careers and redefined reality television. However, the show has also come under fire over the years for its many controversial moments, culminating in the newly released Netflix documentary series "Reality Check: America's Next Top Model," which explored the darker side of "ANTM." From insensitive photo shoots to the mistreatment of contestants, what once aired as entertainment now reads as deeply uncomfortable, racist, fat-shaming, and insensitive. Here's a look back at 14 of the most uncomfortable moments in "America's Next Top Model" history. Business Insider reached out to CBS, the studio that produced "ANTM," Tyra Banks, and Ken Mok for comment, but didn't receive a response. On more than one occasion, the models were asked to wear makeup meant to make them appear to be of a different ethnicity. One contestant's skin tone looked significantly darker during the photoshoot. The CW In Cycle 4, which aired in 2005, multiple white contestants posed as Black women while wearing makeup that was significantly darker than their own skin tones. While one of the contestants was getting her makeup done, she said she looked like "a Black woman with a nose job." In Cycle 13, which premiered in 2009, the models were asked to pose in a "biracial" photo shoot, wearing makeup and costumes meant to suggest two different ethnicities. Multiple contestants wore thick makeup that darkened their skin tone. The incidents have since come under fire for being racially insensitive and examples of blackface. The photo shoot's creative director, Jay Manuel, later addressed the backlash, saying it made him uncomfortable at the time. "Many times when you're working in an environment like that, you have to listen to your executive producers, and ultimately the two voices at the top were Ken [Mok] and Tyra [Banks]," Manuel told Variety in May 2020. "I was so, so, so uncomfortable with this. …I was basically told that I had to execute the creative, and it made me very uncomfortable." In a now-deleted tweet addressing the controversy in May 2020, Banks said, "Been seeing the posts about the insensitivity of some past ANTM moments, and I agree with you. Looking back, those were some really off choices. Appreciate your honest feedback and am sending so much love and virtual hugs." The show's co-creator, Ken Mok, also apologized to viewers in May 2020, tweeting, "I look at some of those moments and cringe. Just a FYI — the entire creative team made the choices on those shows — not just Tyra." Manuel disputed this in his interview with Variety, saying Mok and Banks made the final decisions. In "Reality Check," Manuel also spoke about how deeply uncomfortable he was with doing the shoot and said that he tried to avoid it altogether, but was told to show up and "do his job." In another photo shoot, the models were dressed as "homeless women," while actual unhoused women posed in the background in high-end clothing. Models posing in one of the photoshoot on "America's Next Top Model." The CW/Hulu The Cycle 10 photo shoot, which aired in 2008, tasked the contestants with posing in drab clothing while unhoused women stood in the background in more glamorous outfits. One of the actual homeless women in the shoot, Isis King, was scouted to apply for the following season, after which she became one of the franchise's most famous contestants. In one scene at the photo shoot, contestant Fatima spoke about living in a shelter when she was younger. When asked what she was thinking about during the shoot, she said, "She's wearing beautiful clothes," pointing to one of the background models. "I'm homeless, wishing I was in her shoes." Viewers have since described the photo shoot as "out of touch" and disrespectful. Contestant Jael Strauss suffered through one of the worst makeover mishaps in "Top Model" history when she was given a weave that took over eight hours, only to have it removed. Jael cries during her makeover on Cycle 8 of "America's Next Top Model." The CW/Hulu It's no secret that many of the "America's Next Top Model" contestants had to undergo extensive, and sometimes painful, makeovers at the start of their seasons. Jael, a contestant on Cycle 8 of the show in 2007, was given brown extensions. However, after having them installed in an eight-hour, extremely painful process, she was told they would have to remove them and cut her hair short because they weren't elevating her look. "As my hair is being cut off, I just feel kind of traumatized," she said in a scene from the show. "I have never had to go through that ordeal of getting my hair done," Whitney, a Black contestant, said of the makeover. "Having to get it taken out the same day you get it put in — that's absolute hell." Jael was also told she would be modeling in a death-themed photo shoot a week after learning her close friend had died of an overdose. Jael during a photoshoot. The CW/Hulu After learning that her friend had died from an overdose, Jael took part in a photo shoot where the models had to depict different ways of being murdered, from being strangled to having their organs forcibly removed. She struggled to get through the photo shoot and was even criticized for letting her emotions "overwhelm" her, leaving her unable to get a good shot. Some viewers have since said the photo shoot glamorized violence against women. Jael Strauss died in 2018 following a battle with stage 4 breast cancer. Another contestant in Cycle 4, Kahlen, also had to pose in a grave shortly after learning a friend had died. Kahlen posing in a grave during the "deadly sins" photoshoot. The CW/Hulu The same week that Kahlen learned a close friend had died, the models were asked to do a photo shoot in which they portrayed the seven deadly sins. They were lowered into graves in coffins, which was unsurprisingly difficult for Kahlen to process after receiving such heartbreaking news. Before the photo shoot, Kahlen was seen breaking down and struggling with the idea of the photo shoot. "Don't act it, be it," Manuel told her as she posed, screamed, and looked visibly distressed while portraying the sin of wrath. "It was really hard, but I'm glad I stuck through it and didn't just give up on myself," Kahlen said after the shoot. Cycle 2 contestant Shandi Sullivan was filmed having intercourse while blacked out drunk, and producers failed to intervene. Shandi Sullivan attends a launch party in 2004. Peter Kramer/Getty Images In the extremely hard-to-watch episode, Sullivan and the other contestants go on "go-and-sees" in Milan and later invite the Italian men who drove them to and from each designer to their shared apartment to socialize. In "Reality Check," Sullivan said the night began to spiral out of control as everyone drank more and more wine. She herself drank two bottles alone, she said in the documentary series. "I just remember little bits and pieces," she said. Sullivan said that her memory stopped right about the point when she and her fellow contestants got in the hot tub with a few of the men, and she began kissing one of them. "I think after getting out of the hot tub, and whatever happened after that, I think they should have been like, 'All right, this has gone too far. Like, we got to pull her out of this,'" she said. Sullivan said she came to briefly and remembered someone being on top of her. She later learned they had sex without her informed consent, and was only told she could call her boyfriend back at home when she threatened to quit the show. Distraught and traumatized, she was taken to a nearby doctor. Sullivan and her boyfriend reconciled but eventually broke up amid the intense public backlash. In "Reality Check," executive producer Ken Mok said the contestants knew that film crews and producers were told to capture everything, 24 hours a day, with very few exceptions, such as contestants using the bathroom. He also said that the scene with Shandi and the Italian man was scaled back tremendously due to regulations over what you could show, but also called it one of the series' "most memorable moments." "I do remember her story. It's a little difficult for me to talk about production, because that's not my territory," Banks said of the incident. "I'm not head of story, that's [executive producer] Ken Mok. But I did become a master editor. It's important for people to know that we didn't put everything on TV." In one infamous moment from Cycle 4, Tyra Banks yelled at a contestant during the judging panel. Tyra Banks infamously yelled at one contestant on "America's Next Top Model." The CW/Hulu In one of the most talked-about scenes from "America's Next Top Model," Banks raised her voice at an eliminated contestant, Tiffany Richardson, whom she accused of being too flippant and seeing the competition as a joke. "I was rooting for you! We were all rooting for you! How dare you?" Banks yelled in the clip. "Learn something from this! When you go to bed at night, you lay there, and you take responsibility for yourself. Because nobody's going to take responsibility for you. You rolling your eyes ... It's because you've heard it all before." Richardson had previously spoken about how much her family had sacrificed to help her enter the competition. "You don't know where the hell I come from," Banks added. "You have no idea what I've been through, but I'm not a victim. I grow from it, and I learn. Take responsibility for yourself!" The incident has since become a pop-culture meme, although the scene was uncomfortable. Banks addressed the viral moment in "Reality Check," saying she "lost it." "It was family, friends, society, Black girls, all the challenges that we have, so many people saying that we're not good enough. I think all that was in that moment," she said in the documentary, adding that she went too far. Richardson also released a statement calling Banks a "liar" and a "bully." "You know how you treated me the whole time off and on camera," Richardson said in a since-deleted Instagram post, The Huffington Post reported. "You treated me like s*** and said the nastiest things about me and my son. That is not how the argument went but YALL EDITED TO MAKE IT LOOK LIKE YOU CARED." "ANTM" judge Jay Manuel later described the incident as the "most difficult moment on set I had ever experienced," saying "production staff literally just took Tyra off set" once filming was underway. "Some of the things that were said were not well-intentioned. I will probably never repeat the lines that were actually said in the room that day," he added. In Cycle 5, Tyra Banks implied that gay contestant Kim should tone down her sexuality. Kim in a scene from "America's Next Top Model." The CW/Hulu "I'm gay, and I'm really proud of it," Kim Stolz, who is a lesbian, told Banks and the other judges during her audition. Banks replied, "I think there's a certain thing of being proud. Like, I'm Black and proud, you know what I mean? But I'm not walking down the red carpet: 'I'm Black. I'm Black.'" "No, I certainly won't walk down the red carpet and try to kiss girls on the way. That's not what I'm going to do," Stolz responded. Jay Manuel later criticized the incident, saying he felt uncomfortable about Banks' remarks. "I was in the room, and I was sitting right next to her. I remember feeling a little uncomfortable with the statement," he told Variety in 2020. "I could see Tyra trying to draw the parallel and what she was trying to illustrate, and I was confused by it." Cycle 6 winner Danielle Evans was encouraged to close the gap in her front teeth. Danielle in a scene from "America's Next Top Model." The CW/Hulu When Evans was sent to the dentist, she refused to have the gap between her teeth closed. Banks later asked why she chose not to, telling her that a gap tooth wasn't "marketable." In the end, Evans partially closed her gap. Banks has since faced backlash over the incident, with social media users criticizing how she and runway coach Miss J. Alexander handled the situation. Evans spoke about the incident in an Instagram video in May 2020, saying, "It doesn't matter if you have a gap, stacked teeth, straight teeth, it matters not." She added, "It doesn't matter if you're Black, brown, white, indifferent, other. What makes you beautiful is in here." Jay Manuel applauded Evans in the comments, saying, "Yes ... speak your #truth!" On Instagram Live, Miss J. Alexander also called Evans' statement "brilliant." Eight cycles later, a white contestant named Chelsey was told to widen her gap tooth. Chelsey on "America's Next Top Model." The CW/Hulu To make her look more edgy and "high-fashion," Banks suggested that Chelsey widen the gap between her teeth. She went through with the procedure and was the runner-up in her season. Some viewers said encouraging Chelsey to widen her tooth gap was hypocritical and had racist undertones, considering their past conversations with Danielle about her teeth. "It's definitely not coincidental that the fashion industry seems to love gap teeth on a white girl and find them 'ratchet' on a black girl," one Reddit user commented. In a 2020 video interview with judge Jay Manuel, Chelsey said she couldn't "speak for Dani and her cycle, or where Tyra's vision was then, or if I feel like fashion was in a different direction." "I had no problem [widening my gap], nobody forced me," she said. "It was Tyra's idea, but I felt very comfortable if I wanted to say no." "I think it was a really good idea," she added. "They probably could've even widened it a bit more." Contestants on Cycle 11 of "America's Next Top Model" made transphobic comments about the show's first transgender contestant, Isis King. Isis King on "America's Next Top Model." The CW/Hulu In the first episode of Cycle 11, multiple contestants made disparaging and transphobic comments about Isis King, the first transgender woman to ever compete on "America's Next Top Model." When a few contestants made comments about the size of King's breasts, they called her over to address rumors that had come up in conversation. "Are you all female?" one contestant asked, to which King replied, "Physically, was I born female? No." While some contestants defended King's right to be in the competition, others made transphobic remarks. Isis spoke to Hello magazine in 2021 about what it was like to watch her season years later. "As hurtful as so much of that was to watch for me back then, if I was to change any of that back then, I might not have had the strength I needed 14 years later to be who I am now," King told the publication. "I had to go through that, unfortunately, but it helped push the conversation forward on a global scale," she added. "That is a moment in history, and it all started with me believing in myself and following my heart." Another contestant on Cycle 11 came under fire from another contestant for calling herself a "stereotypical white girl." Hannah on "America's Next Top Model." The CW/Hulu Hannah White, who came from a small town in Alaska, was confronted by fellow contestant Joslyn, who took issue with White calling herself a "stereotypical white girl" while in the hot tub with her fellow contestants Brittany, who is Black and Native American, and Sheena, who is Asian American. White was also criticized for pushing away fellow contestant Isis King in a hot tub after she felt like her personal space was being invaded. She was then asked by Joslyn, another Black contestant, if she was "prejudiced," causing White to break down in tears. "Am I a racist? No," Hannah answers, before calling the accusations "not very nice." Business Insider reached out to White for comment, but she declined. The show received backlash after runway coach Miss J. Alexander showed how his hands could completely wrap around Cycle 15 winner Ann Ward's narrow waist. Miss J wraps his hands around contestant Ann Ward's waist on "America's Next Top Model." The CW/Hulu During her season, Ward received comments on her thin, tall frame. She was over 6 feet tall and, in one scene, runway coach Miss J. Alexander showed how his hands could completely wrap around the model's narrow waist. Tyra Banks also commented on Ward's body, saying, "You have the smallest waist in the world. Look at that waist," upon first seeing Ward. Banks later said, "There's something about her I quite like." "As a leader in celebrating and promoting healthy body image, I must admit that I regrettably didn't see this clip before it was released to the public," Banks said in a statement to People. "But on behalf of the Top Model team, these were not the intentions, and we truly apologize for any confusion, anger, or disappointment it may have caused." Former contestants on "America's Next Top Model" spoke in "Reality Check" about the high pressure to keep their weights low during the competition, and said that some girls developed disordered eating habits while on the show. Former contestant Keenyah Hill, who appeared on Cycle 4, spoke on "Reality Check" about the comments she heard from judges about her body and the weight she gained during the season. In the documentary, Banks apologized and admitted that standards around body size and shape were different when the show was airing, and previous comments don't reflect her attitude about body positivity now. Some criticized the show for being ableist and insensitive after its first and only deaf winner, Nyle DiMarco, was made to do a photo shoot in pitch darkness. Nyle during a photoshoot on "America's Next Top Model." The CW/Hulu During one photo shoot, DiMarco, who speaks American Sign Language and relied on a translator and his phone to communicate, had no idea when his photo was being taken because he couldn't hear the director calling out when to pose. Even using a flashlight to signal when to pose didn't work, as DiMarco said he didn't always know the order, and the camera's flash left him blinded. In the end, the director had to bang on the elevated platform DiMarco was standing on in order to alert him when to pose. DiMarco ended up in the bottom two in the episode. Some social media users called it exploitative of his disability. "This shoot only existed so they could create drama around Nyle's disability and then put him in the bottom two for suspense," one Reddit user commented. "Nyle was competent and deserved to be there, and they tried to always give him more obstacles to 'overcome' instead of just treating him like a human and giving him reasonable (actually useful) accommodations." DiMarco admitted that not being able to use American Sign Language with the other contestants and those around him was difficult throughout the season. "The inability to use my language, American Sign Language and the lack of communication, information access, and the general connection to the world was difficult," he told People in 2015. "It truly did take a toll on me mentally ... I even cringe now when I watch myself on 'ANTM' being all alone." Read the original article on Business Insider