Tyra Banks, creator of global hit America’s Next Top Model (ANTM), has still not taken accountability for the conditions on set. It comes after the release of two documentaries, where contestants have come forward to talk about what really happened behind the scenes.

Content warning: Sexual assault and harassment is mentioned in this article.

OPINION

Tyra Banks is back in the limelight, but for all the wrong reasons. 

In less than a month, two separate documentaries about America’s Next Top Model have caught the world’s attention – and reignited the ANTM controversy that’s been building since 2020.

Netflix’s Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model premiered on February 16 and it pulled in more than 14 million views that week. Then E!’s Dirty Rotten Scandals aired on March 11, which covered ANTM in two episodes with other contestants and judges not included on the Netflix doco.

Former contestants have spoken to camera about body-shaming, coerced medical procedures, girls getting hypothermia on set and medics being called because contestants were fainting from not eating. They even aired moments of sexual assault (more on that later). 

The show’s previous judges Jay Manuel, Miss J Alexander and Nigel Barker talked about their fractured friendships with Tyra, and how production crew prioritised ratings over the wellbeing of young women. One of the most shocking details of it all: The winners largely didn’t even get modelling careers out of it.

While Tyra Banks declined to comment on the E! documentary, she sat for interviews on the Netflix one. It should have been her chance to clear the air and take accountability – instead, she spent the majority of the three episodes blaming the viewers (apparently, the teenage versions of ourselves wanted it?), that it was “the culture at the time”. She also blamed network executives and the fashion industry at large.

It’s quite a hard pill to swallow, realising the icon that many of us millennials adored growing up – the one who taught us how to smize, walk down a runway (or at least pretend to at home) and strike the fiercest look in front of the camera – also perpetuated the exact harmful stereotypes and behaviours she claimed to be fighting against.

Where It Started Vs Where It Ended Up

Tyra started her modelling career being rejected because she was black, and when she did get booked, she was paid less. Yet she was able to rise above all of that. When she created ANTM, it’s because she wanted an inside look into the making of a model, and largely, to change the fashion industry. To represent beauty as beyond white and skinny, to show there’s a space for all different bodies and races. 

But somewhere along the way, the show just got out of hand. The photoshoots became more extreme and over the top. The models couldn’t even use their bizarre shots to apply for agencies. The culture was quite toxic – body shaming women on camera? As journalist Zakiya Gibbons says on the documentary: Tyra wants to challenge the fashion industry’s ideals around what is beauty, but is also still upholding the ideologies and attitudes that oppressed her.

Case in point, Cycle 4 and 13 had a photoshoot challenge where models had to “swap ethnicities” which has since been condemned as blackface, yellowface and brownface. Contestants were pressured into dental surgery and cosmetic changes so they fit ‘beauty standards’ and could get hired.

Danielle Evans. Photo: Netflix

Joanie Sprague. Photo: Netflix

Danielle Evans, the Cycle 6 winner, was told to close the gap in her teeth. In the same cycle, Joanie Sprague underwent a significant dental procedure, where four teeth were removed and teeth shaved for veneers. On camera, she says she still experiences ongoing issues with her teeth.

What Happened to the Women of ANTM

Then there are other darker stories that go beyond bad taste, and certainly shouldn’t have aired on TV:

Shandi Sullivan

Photo: Netflix

Shandi was 19 years old in Cycle 2 when a film crew captured the aftermath of a sexual encounter in Milan. The episode was titled “The Girl Who Cheated” but that’s not how Shandi recounts it. In the documentary, she says she was blackout drunk, “didn’t feel the sex was happening, but knew it was happening”, and then passed out. She describes it as non-consensual. (Because, repeat after me, blackout drunks means you cannot give consent!)

The cameras kept rolling. They filmed her emotional breakdown the next morning and her devastating phone call to her boyfriend – who called her a “stupid bitch” for all the world to hear.

When Tyra was asked about Shandi’s experience on Reality Check, she distanced herself, saying it was difficult for her to discuss production decisions because that wasn’t her territory. (Says the creator and executive producer of the show.)

To add fuel to the fire, Shandi appeared on The Tyra Banks Show years later and she explicitly told the production team she has never seen that footage, and does not want to see it. Tyra played it anyway, in front of a live studio audience, while Shandi was visibly distressed. 

Keenyah Hill

Photo: Netflix

Keenyah was on Cycle 4, when a male model was physically inappropriate with her during a photoshoot. She asked herself, what would Tyra do? She thought speaking up for herself would be the right choice – so she stopped the whole shoot, and politely expressed how uncomfortable the male model made her feel. 

Keenyah was shocked by their response, the crew seemed visibly annoyed that she had disrupted their production rather than backing her up and ensuring the right steps were taken to respect her boundary. Then the “best shot” from that session was one of which the male model was grabbing her leg. During her judging, she brings this up to the panel. Then Nigel Barker tells her she needs to learn “to handle it”, “be in control” and that she needs to learn how to speak up. (She did though and no one did anything?). On top of that, Tyra kept scrutinizing her weight. 

Angela Preston

Angela won Cycle 17’s All Stars season but was retracted weeks later over a morality clause, because she was “engaging in sex work”. She alleges in the E! Documentary that casting crew already knew about her background before they put her on the show. Tyra declined to comment. 

After all of that, here’s what Tyra Banks said at the end of the Netflix documentary about the public calling her out:

“I thank you for that. That is the only way you change. That is the only way you get better is by somebody calling you out on your shit. It is important. And I wanna let you know that I want you guys to be just as open as I am now about getting called on my shit for when somebody calls you out on yours. Because that day will come.”

The filmmakers cut straight from that speech to Cycle 6 winner Danielle Evans, who said: “Girl, that is absolutely ridiculous.”

So Where’s Tyra Banks Now? 

If you’re wondering where Tyra Banks has been this entire time – she’s just across the ditch, living in Sydney since 2023. Most people had no idea (myself included) until she rocked up on the red carpet at the Freakier Friday Australian premiere in 2025, posing with Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis. 

She built an ice brand called SMiZE & Dream – yes named after the smize – which now has a flagship store in Darling Harbour and sells, among other things, “hot ice cream” – a “liquid version” of ice cream. (I’m still genuinely confused about it. Is it not just a glorified Mcfloat? Or a milkshake?)

In December 2025, she released a dance track and music video under a new holiday character “Santa SMiZE” – which is her, wearing a yellow wig. You could not make this up.

And now, at the end of the Netflix documentary, she was hinting at a Cycle 25, saying her work isn’t done.

Banner Photo: Netflix

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About the Author:

Vivien Beduya is a video journalist and content creator at Capsule. She’s most passionate about inclusive storytelling that centres underserved communities, women’s health, mental health, travel, food and the ways technology shapes our everyday lives. She made a bold (and terrifying) career switch to journalism in her late 20s after years across banking, insurance and travel.

She’s worked for NewstalkZB and TVNZ’s youth news platform Re: News, and has also been published on 1News, NZ Herald, and Stuff. She was selected by the Asia New Zealand Foundation as an emerging journalist for the Splice Beta 2025 delegation in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Vivien lives in Auckland with her partner, close(ish) to the beach, and is always on the hunt for Auckland’s best affordable eats.

You can read other stories by Vivien here or email her here.