{"id":2283972,"date":"2026-02-16T12:00:34","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T12:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2283972"},"modified":"2026-02-16T12:00:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T12:00:34","slug":"reality-check-americas-next-top-model-directors-on-tyra-banks-takeaways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/reality-check-americas-next-top-model-directors-on-tyra-banks-takeaways\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Reality Check: America’s Next Top Model’ directors on Tyra Banks, takeaways"},"content":{"rendered":"

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At its heart, \u201cAmerica\u2019s Next Top Model\u201d was Tyra Banks\u2019 show. She originated the canonical reality series\u2019 concept, assembled its core cast and anchored its production for 23 cycles, which first aired on UPN before it became the CW. <\/p>\n

But \u201cReality Check<\/a>,\u201d a new Netflix docuseries now streaming that examines \u201cANTM\u201d and its checkered history through the accounts of those who were a part of it, is not affiliated with Banks. In fact, the supermodel turned media personality wasn\u2019t invited to take the hot seat until well after production on the docuseries began, said Daniel Sivan, who co-directed \u201cReality Check\u201d with his wife, Mor Loushy. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like, \u2018Hey, this can be a great addition, but definitely not a necessity,\u2019\u201d Sivan said. Luckily for the directors, Banks eventually agreed to an interview, which Loushy said clocked in at about four hours and wound up giving the series a richer texture. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople talking trash about her is very easy to find,\u201d Sivan said. \u201cBut having her passion, bringing this program to life, is something that only she could tell.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Sivan and Loushy, whose filmography leans sociopolitical, the pop-culture-centric \u201cReality Check\u201d seems a departure. But Loushy said that she stewarded this project with the same care that she did the duo\u2019s acclaimed 2025 docuseries \u201cAmerican Manhunt: Osama bin Laden<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt the journey is more or less the same because there were difficult issues. There were things that were sensitive and important for me,\u201d Loushy said, from the harassment \u201cANTM\u201d contestants endured to the insecurities that \u201cto us as women, are sitting tight and hard every day on our heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Sivan, the allure of \u201cANTM\u201d as a documentary subject lay in the tragic arc of Banks and her fellow crew members, whom the director said set out with positive intentions to empower women and promote representation for other marginalized people in the fashion industry. Then, he said, as the show evolved, \u201cthese misfits became bullies.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, was it a force of good, or was it a force of evil? I hope people keep debating that,\u201d Sivan said. <\/p>\n

\u201cReally, the doc doesn\u2019t end with the credits,\u201d he added. \u201cIt ends with the conversations it will spark.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here are seven takeaways from \u201cReality Check\u201d that are sure to drive those conversations. <\/p>\n

Shandi Sullivan implies she was sexually assaulted<\/h3>\n

The penultimate episode of \u201cANTM\u201d Cycle 2 dedicates much of its runtime to a plotline that is framed as contestant Shandi Sullivan cheating on her boyfriend Eric with a male model during a visit to Milan.<\/p>\n

The way Sullivan explains it in the first and second episode of \u201cReality Check,\u201d the then-21-year-old was under the influence of alcohol. The night began with drinks and led to a group hot tub dip, where she and the male model started getting physical. Later, footage shows the two in the shower and in bed, but Sullivan says that she had \u201cblacked out,\u201d the cameras kept rolling and \u201cno one did anything to stop it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter getting out of the hot tub and whatever happened after that,\u201d Sullivan says, \u201cI think they should\u2019ve … been like, \u2018All right, this has gone too far. Like, we got to, we got to pull her out of this.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

The show\u2019s executive producer Ken Mok says their job was to capture, not to intervene: \u201cWe treated \u2018Top Model\u2019 as a documentary, and we told the girls that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similarly, when Cycle 4 contestant Keenyah Hill informed the judges that a male model had groped her repeatedly during a photo shoot, Banks encouraged her to learn to stick up for herself. <\/p>\n

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\u201cAmerica\u2019s Next Top Model\u201d Cycle 1 contestants, clockwise from far left, Nicole Panattoni, Adrienne Curry, Elyse Sewell, Kesse Wallace, Robin Manning, Giselle Samson, Shannon Stewart and Ebony Haith in \u201cReality Check.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Courtesy of Netflix)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

Eating disorders were rampant on set and contestants were pressured into cosmetic work<\/h3>\n

Hill was also repeatedly shamed about her weight and physical appearance, with former supermodel Janice Dickinson instructing her to better hide her stomach during photo shoots. Dickinson was known to share strong opinions that veered negative and even mean-spirited on the judging panel.<\/p>\n

Like Hill, many other girls were criticized for their weight and advised to restrict their eating to better approximate a model\u2019s physique; thus, eating disorders were common among contestants, says Bre Scullark, who appeared in Cycle 5, in the documentary. After a fainting spell, model Heather Kuzmich was told by a medic that she had to eat the next day. \u201cI think I just pushed myself way past my limit,\u201d she said in a confessional. <\/p>\n

Producers also pressured Cycle 6 contestants Joanie Dodds and Dani Evans into undergoing invasive dental procedures that focused on cosmetic rather than health improvements. Evans strongly protested removing her signature tooth gap but gave in when Banks essentially gave her an ultimatum: Get rid of the gap or go home. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe girls were awarded and applauded for putting their health on the backburner,\u201d journalist Zakiya Gibbons says in the documentary. <\/p>\n

In kind, the docuseries shows Mok during an appearance on \u201cThe Inner View\u201d saying \u201cthe biggest disaster ever is always the best thing. People have 104-degree temperature. They\u2019re throwing up. They need IVs. That\u2019s the best news I could ever have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Producers mined models\u2019 files to create drama<\/h3>\n

When Cycle 8 contestant Dionne Walters was a child, her mother was shot and paralyzed from the waist down. Nonetheless, during her season\u2019s crime-themed photo shoot \u2014 one of the series\u2019 most controversial shoots, alongside the \u201crace-swap\u201d photo shoots during Cycles 4 and 13 \u2014 Walters was memorably portrayed as a shooting victim, sporting a bullet wound in her head. <\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was a coincidence at the time, but I don\u2019t think it was,\u201d Walters says in the documentary, adding that her mother\u2019s accident was in her application. The model was critiqued by the judging panel for not exhibiting much emotion in her photos. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just glad they didn\u2019t get the reaction that I feel like they were hoping to get,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

Mok in the documentary concedes, \u201cI take full responsibility for that shoot. That was a mistake\u2026 That one, I look back and I\u2019m like, \u2018You were an idiot.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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Fashion photographer Nigel Barker was one of the original judges on \u201cAmerica\u2019s Next Top Model.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Courtesy of Netflix)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

Banks\u2019 rant at Tiffany Richardson became a meme, but it was not funny<\/h3>\n

In the years since it aired, Banks\u2019 infamous tirade<\/a>, \u201cI was rooting for you! We were all rooting for you!\u201d, directed at model Tiffany Richardson, has been parodied by countless users online and even on \u201cRu Paul\u2019s Drag Race.\u201d<\/a> But the day it happened, former \u201cANTM\u201d judge and fashion photographer Nigel Barker said no one was laughing. <\/p>\n

\u201cTyra really scared all of us. We literally jumped out of our seats,\u201d Barker said. After shooting the scene, production staff escorted Banks off set, \u201cANTM\u201d alum Jay Manuel added. Banks admits she \u201cwent too far. You know, I lost it.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Manuel, not everything Banks said that day was televised and Nol\u00e9 Marin, a stylist and judge on the show, says lawyers were brought to set after that. <\/p>\n

Banks and \u2018The Jays\u2019 didn\u2019t end on good terms<\/h3>\n

Over time, Manuel said he began to feel uncomfortable with Banks\u2019 insistence that \u201cANTM\u201d needed to constantly reinvent, even at the expense of their original mission to uplift young models. <\/p>\n

When the media personality finally worked up the courage to quit, he said Banks gave him the cold shoulder. Even though he ended up staying on another 10 cycles, the pair\u2019s relationship never recovered. In the documentary, Banks declined to speak about Manuel, insisting instead that she should call him on her own. (To Sivan and Loushy\u2019s knowledge, she still hasn\u2019t.)<\/p>\n

Years after Manuel tried to leave \u201cANTM,\u201d he was cut along with Barker and J. Alexander, after the head of the CW network told Banks and Mok they needed to make a change. While the three men still keep in touch, Banks is no longer in their orbit. And after J. Alexander, who also goes by Miss J, suffered a life-altering stroke, she never paid him a hospital visit. <\/p>\n

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\u201cI miss being the queen of the runway. I\u2019m the person who taught models how to walk. And now I can\u2019t walk. Not yet,\u201d J. Alexander said. (Netflix) <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\"A <\/picture>\n

When Jay Manuel tried to leave \u201cANTM,\u201d he said, \u201cthere was a warning that strikes the fear of God in you. You know, people talk about being blacklisted.\u201d (Netflix) <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

Winners rarely found success in the industry after the show<\/h3>\n

Banks promised models a jump-start into the fashion industry. Yet even \u201cANTM\u201d winners rarely managed to sustain modeling careers after exiting the show.<\/p>\n

Evans, the contestant who was coerced into closing her tooth gap, said a fellow model once relayed to her a conversation with her agent, where she was told, \u201cWe have to treat Dani differently because she came from \u2018Top Model.\u2019\u201d Later, Evans learned Banks for years stood idly by as the young model was passed over for opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always rode the fence with you,\u201d Evans recalled Banks confessing to her, adding, \u201cThey built a whole empire, a multi-million dollar brand, known as \u2018America\u2019s Next Top Model\u2019 off the backs of every girl\u2018s dream that did that show.\u201d<\/p>\n

Banks says she is not done yet with \u2018ANTM\u2019<\/h3>\n

Despite everything, from the years of backlash to the personal confrontations she\u2019s had with former contestants, Banks in the documentary still had her mind on rebooting \u201cANTM.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like my work is not done,\u201d Banks said. \u201cYou have no idea what we have planned for Cycle 25.\u201d<\/p>\n

No new seasons of the show have been announced as of the documentary\u2019s release. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n