Shocking Revelations: The Untold Truth Behind America’s Next Top Model Unveiled

Reports from past contestants of America’s Next Top Model paint a starkly different picture from the glamorous image of high fashion, citing severe hunger, sleep deprivation, physical scars from extreme makeovers, and allegations of ‘psychological warfare.’

Given these long-standing criticisms, it’s no wonder that Tyra Banks, the show’s executive producer and judge, is finally addressing these issues. In a new three-part Netflix series titled Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, the show’s controversies are explored through interviews with notable figures like runway coach J Alexander (Miss Jay), creative director Jay Manuel, photographer Nigel Barker, and executive producer Ken Mok.

The resurgence of interest in America’s Next Top Model during the pandemic has led to renewed scrutiny from a younger audience. Banks acknowledges that this revival has generated both joy and outrage among viewers.

Reflecting on her time on the show, Banks, now 52, admits she “knew [she] went too far” during its run from 2003 to 2018 on networks like UPN, CW, and later VH1. She explains that her intent was to continually push boundaries to meet fan expectations.

However, some former contestants remain skeptical of her explanations.

Among those is cycle one winner Adrianne Curry, who was left physically scarred by her experience on the reality show.

Tyra Banks addresses controversial moments in the new Netflix series, Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, which premiered on February 16

Banks, 52, admitted that she ‘went too far’ at times on the show, including a scene in which she shouted at Tiffany Richardson: ‘We were rooting for you’

Speaking exclusively with the Daily Mail, Curry, now 43, recalled how the models ‘were weighed every single morning’ and claimed she was ravenous on set.

‘We would have to wait all day for catering to come to any set. We were so f*****g hungry all the time. I’ve never been so hungry,’ she said.

‘We wouldn’t be allowed to go to sleep until after elimination, which sometimes would last until three in the morning. And then they’d have a personal trainer run in and wake us up at like 5am.’

Curry, who was 20 at the time, explained that she was ‘so hungry’ because they ‘were always in a hurry.’

‘There was no time to have breakfast, there’s no time to have lunch,’ she said. ‘Catering was always “on the way.” And now I know that it was psychological warfare. I think they knew that the more sleep deprived and hungry and f****d up we were, the better television would be.’

Some ten years later, Marvin Cortes appeared on the first co-ed season in 2013, and now claims to have had a similar experience.

‘We would have food on set but, for some reason, they would specifically bring you the food right before you’re supposed to shoot… and they would let you know as you’re eating, “Oh be ready in ten or 15 [minutes],”‘ he said.

‘Every model knows you’re not supposed to eat right before a shoot, so we would basically not eat … they would give us stuff at the worst possible time. I don’t know if that was coordinated.’

Former contestant and winner of cycle one, Adrianne Curry, spoke exclusively to the Daily Mail out about how she was left physically scarred after appearing on the show at age 20

‘We would have to wait all day for catering to come to any set,’ she said. ‘We were so f*****g hungry all the time. I’ve never been so hungry.’ (Curry pictured top second from left with her cycle one cohort)

Cortes, now 33, who finished second to winner Jourdan Miller, said it was torture watching the judges and members of production eating. And in the event that there were leftovers, he claimed the contestants weren’t allowed to take it back to the hotel.

‘They’re like, “No, you can’t bring any food on the bus,”‘ he told the Daily Mail. ‘I’m very resourceful, I come from a big family. I’m like, “Oh I could eat all of this stuff later, put it in the fridge. Heat it up for lunch. I could save money there” but they didn’t want you bringing any food back.’

Cortes said they were given a daily food allowance of $60 but, because they were not paid for appearing on the show, contestants would often sacrifice food in a desperate bid to save the money to cover bills and rent back home.

‘All they gave us was $60 per day and we would have to pay for everything ourselves,’ he said. ‘They would send people to the grocery store; we would have to give them a list and money.

‘I would save, so I really wouldn’t eat. I’m like, well, I’m not making any money and we’re not getting paid anything. [I still had bills at home], so that’s why I was saving that money. I need at least two grand by the time I’m out of here because that’s [what’s] due when I get back. They don’t even ask like, what’s your monthly rent? You just have to figure it out yourself. It felt very cheap of the CW.’

Then there were the drastic makeovers. Some of the transformations left contestants scarred for life – as did the emotional turmoil they endured during challenges.

Curry, who refused to participate in the new series, recalled how she was left with painful open sores on her head after she had six inches of hair chopped off for a ‘razored bob’ – only to then be fitted with a weave.

‘I don’t have hair that supports a weave, so it permanently damaged my head,’ she said. ‘I had like open sores, and my skin was crawling off my body. I was so uncomfortable the entire time.’

Calling it ‘psychological warfare,’ Curry, now 43, believed those running the show thought ‘the more sleep deprived and hungry and f****d up we were, the better television would be’

Curry recalled how she was left with horrifically painful open sores on her head after she was given a ‘razored bob’ only to then be fitted with a weave. She now lets her gray hair grow over her fear of hair salons

Today, she still views hair salons as ‘torture chambers.’

‘I just let my gray hair grow out now,’ she said. ‘I don’t even go to beauty salons. I get a haircut once every five or six months.’

But she wasn’t alone in getting an extreme makeover. 

In her memoir last year, former contestant Sarah Hartshorne, who appeared on the show during cycle nine as a plus-sized model, claimed producers attempted to coax a reaction out of her after cutting her tresses into a blonde pixie.

‘Are you worried it’s going to look masculine?’ one producer allegedly asked her. ‘Are you worried that this will make you look even curvier? That maybe you’ll look more plus-size?’

She also claimed that a producer pressed her about a racy photoshoot she did on the show, asking if she was ‘worried, as a plus-size contestant, about baring [her] stomach.’ 

Meanwhile, cycle 15 finalist Chelsey Hersey had a dentist shave 0.25mm off each tooth to widen her gap tooth at the behest of Banks, who got cycle six contestant Dani Evans to close the signature gap between her front teeth. Evans’s peer Joanie Dodds was forced to undergo dentistry hell for her ‘snaggle tooth’ with the wannabe model losing four teeth and having others shaved down.

Another model, Michelle Deighton, contracted impetigo, a highly contagious bacterial skin infection on her face, which required medical attention on set.

Though Curry persevered, others were eliminated or left of their own volition for not wanting to alter their looks or pose nude.

Cortes claimed contestants were often pushed to their limits in challenges which he suggested were orchestrated to force them to face their most terrifying fears – all in the name of TV.

One particularly controversial challenge saw contestants switching ethnicities, while another came perilously close to a medical emergency when wannabe model CariDee English was pulled from a body of water with hypothermia.

‘They make us fill in these questionnaires that have us reveal every little thing,’ Cortes said, recalling how contestant Don Benjamin, who had anxiety, was tasked with a shoot in which he was underwater despite bosses knowing he feared closed spaces and being submerged.

‘Surprise, surprise, when we do the challenge, [contestants] would freak out,’ Cortes said. ‘They would do that with everybody. They would try to figure out – are you afraid of roaches? Are you afraid of spiders? OK, let’s do a spider challenge. It just became, how much can we rattle these people to get the best TV possible?’ 

In her memoir last year, former contestant Sarah Hartshorne (right), who appeared on the show during cycle nine as a plus-sized model, claimed producers attempted to coax a reaction out of her after cutting her tresses into a blonde pixie 

Marvin Cortes, now 33, appeared on the first ever co-ed season of the show in 2013

Cortes, now 33, who finished second to winner Jourdan Miller, said it was torture watching the judges and members of production eating 

He claimed they preyed on his emotions, accusing bosses of making sure he was the last to learn he had secured a spot on the show as ‘they knew I was already very emotional and they’re like, “Let’s just give him the last slot so that he’s thinking he won’t get in [to the house], and then he’ll get in and we’ll get the reaction we want.”‘

Cortes also claimed producers did little to tackle signs of racism, once tried to force him to ‘out’ people during a challenge with Perez Hilton and showed little to no interest in his wellbeing post-show.

‘The therapist by contract was supposed to reach out to us and check in,’ he said, recalling one particular incident. 

‘She called me [in] the car, while she’s in traffic, like not even paying attention, like, “Oh, you made it really far. You should be proud. Are you OK like mentally and everything?” and I was like, “Well, kind of but you know…” and she was like, “Well, great. OK, well I just needed to check in on you and have a good one and you should feel proud.”‘

He continued: ‘They never reached back out to me, and I was basically told I shouldn’t be bothering them… It just felt like [bosses] didn’t give us any resources that they obviously had available and only when they needed something would they be all kind.’

Those who survived and won what Curry has dubbed ‘Game of Thrones’ would typically receive a feature in a magazine and a contract with a modeling agency, among other prizes.

But for Curry, she claimed showrunners ‘lied’ about what the prize was and that the Revlon campaign she was promised turned out to be a ‘humiliating’ moment in which she sat in a boardroom with five top editors while a makeup artist applied product to her face.

In addition, 40 percent of her $10,000 prize was given to her Wilhelmina modeling agency, plus the money taken out for taxes and to pay her mom ‘who kept me afloat to live in New York’ in the ‘$2,000 to $3,000 per month’ apartment she was told to live in and shared with six other models.

Curry, who now leads a private life in Montana and is one of the top Avon sellers, said ‘you cannot trust any of these people’ in the modeling industry and that ‘nothing they say is real.’

‘Pretty much everyone’s face in the land of entertainment is a ladder rung for someone to put their foot on to hoist themselves up,’ she insisted, while adding that those in charge are ‘driving around in a Bentley laughing’ since they ‘don’t give a s**t about you and about body shaming.’

Former judge Kelly Cutrone told the Daily Mail that the experience was ‘like Willy Wonka’ and if you win, it was like getting ‘the golden ticket’ (Cutrone, left, is pictured with Banks and actor Rob Evans at the cycle 19 premiere in 2012)

Stylist Ty-Ron Mayes called Banks a ‘true artist’ in a chat with the Daily Mail and suggested some of the contestants were ‘less than gracious’ (pictured walking in the Blue Jacket Fashion Show on February 4 in New York City)

Former judge Kelly Cutrone, 60, who was asked to appear in the series but declined, insisted she ‘never once saw a model being abused.’

The PR maven, who was a judge from 2012 to 2015, defended the show, telling the Daily Mail that it serves an ‘important’ purpose, acting as ‘a bird call’ to inspire the next generation who might want to go into the fashion industry.

For those who came out on top, she said, ‘It really is like Willy Wonka. You got the golden ticket.’

Meanwhile, stylist Ty-Ron Mayes who was a fashion consultant on the reality series, called Banks a ‘true artist’ and said that the show was just ‘pushing the envelope.’

‘Just remember this when you’re watching a documentary – some of these less than gracious models coming across like disgruntled employees… fashion is very brutal.

‘Tyra is not the reason that you did not make it in the industry, and the ones that did make it are not complaining,’ he told the Daily Mail ahead of walking in The Annual Blue Jacket Fashion Show earlier this month.

‘I think it’s just about time because what happened was we saw the power of social media and that they were really dragging [Banks] for some old competitions that were 20 years ago,’ he said. He did, however, admit that the race swapping challenge was ‘controversial’ and ‘didn’t age well.’

America’s Next Top Model was on air for 24 seasons – from 2003 until 2018 – and featured judges Jay Manuel, J Alexander (aka Miss J) and Nigel Barker

Janice Dickinson (pictured with Manuel) lasted four cycles before she was fired by Banks and replaced by Twiggy

Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model features interviews with catwalk coach J Alexander (pictured), creative director Jay Manuel, photographer Nigel Barker and executive producer Ken Mok

Although Cortes had a ‘very positive experience’ with Banks – who he claims ‘would treat the guys a lot better’ and do ‘as much as she could to protect us’ – he is suspicious of the timing of the series.

It aligns neatly with Banks’ promotional tour for her ice cream SMiZE & DREAM, as well as Manuel’s new press run for his 2020 book (The Wig, the B***h, and the Meltdown).

It also comes amid rumblings of a potential new ‘cycle.’ After all, he claimed, ‘Tyra doesn’t do stuff without a plan.’ 

‘For sure, it was never an accountability thing,’ he said, speculating that Banks is ‘trying to bring the show back and get a little interest.’ 

‘Netflix probably saw that it did really well during the pandemic and that there’s interest. It’s all an orchestrated thing to get cycle 25.’

The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for Banks and Netflix for comment.