Created, produced and hosted by veteran supermodel Tyra Banks, ANTM taught millennials how to extend the neck, angle their face for the camera and \u201csmize\u201d (smile with the eyes).<\/p>\n
Who is to blame?<\/p>\n
Those who held creative power on the show deliberately distance themselves from Banks in the documentary. Banks herself participates for seemingly no other reason than to soft launch a new season<\/a> after eight years off air, and boldly justify her mistreatment of contestants.<\/p>\n Jay Manuel, ANTM Creative Director and judge \u2013 and consultant on this new documentary \u2013 claims \u201creality TV is a bitch. If it doesn\u2019t bleed and lead it doesn\u2019t work\u201d. This is fundamentally untrue<\/a>. There are many shows that don\u2019t rely on the \u201cvillain edit\u201d.<\/p>\n As an ex-participant on The Bachelor<\/a> New Zealand, I have experienced first-hand the negative physical effects<\/a> of being on such a show \u2013 as well as the fear of legal persecution and financial penalties for speaking out.<\/p>\n Documentaries that revisit old reality shows ought to be spaces for former contestants to share their experiences. That doesn\u2019t happen here. There is no honest critique or reflection on the part of the production team. Instead, we see producers once again exerting their own narrative to counter contestant testimonials.<\/p>\n Last year\u2019s Fit For TV: The Reality of The Biggest Loser<\/a> was similarly problematic. Instead of explaining, apologising and taking accountability, the crew reasserted their power by using \u201cit was a different time\u201d as an excuse.<\/p>\n Banks offers no sincere apologies in Reality Check. At one point, she describes an apology in the past tense, and it\u2019s not clear whether it was directly given to the contestant. \u201cI have actually apologised for the issue with Dani,\u201d she says, regarding past behaviour that coerced 2006 contestant Dani into getting dental surgery for a tooth gap.<\/p>\n In another \u201capology\u201d, Banks doesn\u2019t refer to the victim, Keenyah, by name: \u201cBoo Boo. I am so sorry.\u201d Tyra had fat-shamed and lectured Keenyah in a 2005 episode after Keenyah politely called-out on-set sexual harassment by a male model.<\/p>\n Who, then, does Banks think is responsible for the harm inflicted on contestants?<\/p>\n Across three episodes, we hear \u201cgen Z\u201d, \u201csocial media\u201d, viewers \u201cthat were demanding it\u201d, co-creator Ken Mok, judge Janice Dickinson, UPN network President Dawn Ostroff, CW President Mark Pedowitz, CBS CEO Les Moonves, the fashion industry, the reality TV industry, \u201cthe culture at the time\u201d and the contestants.<\/p>\n She blames everyone but herself.<\/p>\n Tyra Banks and lateral violence<\/p>\n In the documentary, Banks says her intention with ANTM was to respond to an industry that constantly demonstrated abuses of power throughout her career: \u201cI wanted to fight against the fashion industry [\u2026] for this show to represent not all white, not all skinny, but just showing all the differences, and all the different types of beauties. I had a feeling that I was going to change the beauty world. This was my way to get back.\u201d<\/p>\n Whether it was her ethnicity<\/a>, weight<\/a>, forehead<\/a>, or media-fuelled rivalry<\/a> with Naomi Campbell, only once Banks was \u201cestablished\u201d could she speak of her experiences of mistreatment.<\/p>\n Despite this intention, Reality Check shows us how, once Banks accrued her own cultural capital, she took her frustration out on contestants rather than the industry. As journalist Zakiya Gibbons, an independent voice within the documentary, points out: \u201cTyra wants to challenge the fashion industry\u2019s ideals around what is beauty, but is also still upholding ideologies and attitudes that oppressed her.\u201d<\/p>\n What Gibbons captures here is an example of lateral violence<\/a>: when someone directs their rage at their own minority group, rather than their oppressor.<\/p>\n ANTM became Banks\u2019 own sub-industry in which to dole out her harshest verbal and emotional violence on Black contestants. Her chosen forms of violence included body shaming, fat shaming, coercion into medical surgery, and verbal and emotional abuse.<\/p>\n A public relations project<\/p>\n Social media now allows former reality TV participants an unfiltered opportunity to speak their truth, despite the threat of non-disclosure agreements.<\/p>\n In 2023, former Real Housewives participant Bethenny Frankle banded together with other ex-Housewives in a \u201creality reckoning<\/a>\u201d against American TV network Bravo \u2013 exposing how even non-eliminating shows are unethical.<\/p>\n That same year, we saw the launch of the UCAN<\/a> Foundation, a support and advocacy foundation for people on reality TV.<\/p>\n These were steps in the right direction. Reality Check is an example of a major platform giving airtime and an opportunity for redemption to the perpetrators of violence: it\u2019s a step backwards.<\/p>\n There are already accusations that former ANTM contestants were not<\/a> compensated<\/a> for appearing in the docuseries.<\/p>\n Live appearances, social media<\/a>, and documentary expos\u00e9 are the few remaining spaces where reality TV contestants can share experiences. They should not be reclaimed by producers.<\/p>\n This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\nTyra Banks may have aimed to challenge fashion\u2019s harsh standards, but she often reinforced them (Photo: Sitthixay Ditthavong\/AAP)<\/p>\n