{"id":2327436,"date":"2026-03-14T01:36:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T01:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2327436"},"modified":"2026-03-14T01:36:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T01:36:18","slug":"dirty-rotten-scandals-goes-harder-on-antm-than-netflix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/dirty-rotten-scandals-goes-harder-on-antm-than-netflix\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Dirty Rotten Scandals’ Goes Harder On ANTM Than Netflix"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Just when you thought \u201cAmerica\u2019s Next Top Model\u201d had faded from the spotlight again, here comes a new docuseries to dissect the global modeling phenomenon all over again.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Last month, Netflix reignited conversation around Tyra Banks\u2019 groundbreaking competition series with the release of \u201cReality Check: Inside America\u2019s Next Top Model<\/a>.\u201d As I argued, the three-part docuseries felt less like the reckoning the controversial modeling show needed and more like a reminder of how problematic reality TV, the modeling industry and our broader social climate used to be. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But with E!\u2019s investigative \u201cDirty Rotten Scandals\u201d series, viewers finally get a more pointed expos\u00e9 of the 2000s staple, a show that helped shift industry standards as much as it often fell victim to them.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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This week, the network aired back-to-back episodes about the \u201cdark side\u201d of \u201cAmerica\u2019s Next Top Model,\u201d speaking with former contestants<\/a> and winners \u2014 including Lisa D\u2019Amato, Angelea Preston, Ebony Haith and Keenyah Hill (the latter two also appeared in \u201cReality Check\u201d) \u2014 and former judge Janice Dickinson. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Unlike Netflix\u2019s docuseries, which leaned heavily on interviews with numerous \u201cANTM\u201d insiders to indulge in nostalgia for the show \u2014 including Banks and executive producer Ken Mok \u2014 E!\u2019s two-part special relies on commentary from cultural critics and media experts, who take a far more critical view of what unfolded on Banks\u2019 show. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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They help call out everything from what one contestant described as \u201cpsychological warfare\u201d to the show\u2019s lack of sensitivity around issues of race, sexual harassment and assault, as well as the overall exploitation of contestants\u2019 personal circumstances.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In Part 1, D\u2019Amato \u2014 who first appeared in Cycle 5 and later won Cycle 17 \u2014 alleges that the modeling series \u201cweaponized\u201d her childhood trauma during her first season. At her original audition, she revealed, Banks and the judges repeatedly questioned her about her relationship with her abusive mother, saying, \u201cThey just fucked with me emotionally.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cTyra made me look absolutely crazy on purpose,\u201d she adds in an interview.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Lisa<\/p>\n

Lisa D’Amato is among the former “ANTM” contestants interviewed in E!’s “Dirty Rotten Scandals.”<\/div>\n
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Another instance comes in Part 2, when Cycle 24 contestant Jeana Turner \u2014 who has lived with alopecia since she was 10 \u2014 recalled feeling blindsided after learning that her season\u2019s sponsor was a hair company rather than a makeup brand, which was the usual partnership for \u201cANTM.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Turner also remembered Banks pressing her to talk about her condition during her casting audition, moments after Turner had revealed she once posed for Playboy to rebuild her confidence.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cAs soon as I said that, she looks at me and goes, \u2018Now tell me about alopecia.\u2019 While I\u2019m mid-breakdown,\u201d Turner recalls in the docuseries. \u201cNone of the conversation about Playboy and why I was crying like that was ever shown.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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She adds, \u201cThat was the very first way that they manipulated my emotions to get a certain scene.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cDirty Rotten Scandals\u201d digs into several other unsettling claims about the legacy of \u201cANTM\u201d \u2014 from Cycle 1 winner Adrianne Curry saying she never received the $100,000 contract she was promised, to the all-stars season controversy that stripped original winner Preston of her title over past escort work.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Together, these scandals emphasize how \u201cANTM\u201d ultimately fell short of being the positive industry disruptor Banks had purported it was when the show premiered in 2003. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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That\u2019s not to say the series wasn\u2019t daring or at all impactful. It did change the conversation around diversity<\/a> and representation in modeling and also exposed generations of young people to worlds that had never been shown on TV in that light before. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But somewhere along the way, \u201cANTM\u201d lost sight of its purpose and, eventually, the plot, as evidenced by some of its scorned contestants.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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At the beginning of \u201cDirty Rotten Scandals,\u201d a clip plays from Banks\u2019 speech at the 2025 Essence Black Women in Hollywood Awards, where she was honored. In it, she says, \u201cYou have no idea how hard we fought to bring the diversity to that television show, at a time when the world was like, \u2018What? You\u2019re casting that?\u2019\u201d And that much is true.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But at the end of the day, that same diversity was often exploited, manipulated, sensationalized and commodified for the sake of making an entertaining television show. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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That\u2019s not what these contestants believed they were signing up for. Many thought they were entering a space that would offer mentorship, exposure and real opportunities to launch their modeling careers. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Instead, as \u201cDirty Rotten Scandals\u201d suggests, the show\u2019s historic success was built on a lot of false promises.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cYou promised me you were going to do it different,\u201d culture critic Rae Sanni says of Banks\u2019 vision for \u201cANTM\u201d at one point in the docuseries. \u201cSo why didn\u2019t you do it different?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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If \u201cANTM\u201d really is poised for a comeback \u2014 as Banks seemingly teased in \u201cReality Check\u201d \u2014 that may be the question she needs to wrestle with. Because the last thing her show\u2019s legacy needs is another scandal.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cDirty Rotten Scandals\u201d airs on E! and is available to stream now on Hulu.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.celebrity.land \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just when you thought \u201cAmerica\u2019s Next Top Model\u201d had faded from the spotlight again, here comes a new docuseries to dissect the global modeling phenomenon all over again. Last month, Netflix reignited conversation around Tyra Banks\u2019 groundbreaking competition series with the release of \u201cReality Check: Inside America\u2019s Next Top Model.\u201d As I argued, the three-part […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2327437,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[350016,345395,24122],"class_list":["post-2327436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-america","tag-documentaries","tag-reality-tv"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Dirty-Rotten-Scandals-Goes-Harder-On-ANTM-Than-Netflix.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2327436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2327436"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2327436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2327438,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2327436\/revisions\/2327438"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2327437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2327436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2327436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2327436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}