The hit reality TV series, America’s Next Top Model, starring supermodel, Tyra Banks, has taken off in views and controversy since the early 2000’s. The release of the new documentary Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, releases all of the juicy, unseen, and controversial details from the old show.
With the release of the documentary, fans of the original reality series are on the edge of their seats waiting to hear the unheard of, behind the scenes action. That action including, but not limited to, body shaming, manipulation, documentation of sexual assault, abuse of power pertaining to contestant’s trauma’s, and more.
The reality series ANTM, consisted of a group of aspiring models sharing a house, competing in challenges and photoshoots each week, then one girl being eliminated each week. While viewers did see the tension and conflict within the girls living in close quarters for eight weeks, they didn’t see the manipulation and malevolent tactics behind the scenes until now
In the documentary, previous host and executive producer of ANTM, Tyra Banks recalls her experiences and tries to defend her reasoning for poor human-decency towards her contestants. Certain contestants return as well, including Keenyah Hill, and memorable Shandi Sullivan, among others.
Hill, a 19-year-old contestant, was featured on Season four of ANTM and controversy has been brought up since her original appearance. Hill had become one of the last three contestants of the season and had been flown with the other contestants to South Africa. Throughout the show, she had given verbal reports of sexual harassment and hurtful comments from judges and competition about her weight and race, with one photoshoot having Hill pose as gluttony to portray the Seven Deadly Sins–a passive aggressive dig at her weight from Banks.
While in South Africa, Hill was directed to complete a photoshoot with three male models who were to dance around her to the beat of a drum. Hill, visibly uncomfortable with the other models, was worried her discomfort would appear on her film, though one of the male models was groping her waist. “By the time we got to the set, I was already uncomfortable. While I was in hair and makeup, Bertini was like, ‘You’re so beautiful, I want to date you, I want to come to America and find you, I want to be with you,’ trying to get my phone number. I’m telling him, ‘No.’ Three times, I turned him down,” Hill said.
As the shoot continued, the male model did as well. Hill reported him grunting in her ear and standing uncomfortably close to her. When being judged at panel by Banks, Nigel Barker, Janice Dickinson, and Nole Marin, Hill voiced her concerns about her experience. Instead of calming the situation professionally, Banks had blamed Hill for not keeping the model in place. “You [push back] in a fun way, where he knows to back the heck up, but it doesn’t really put static in the air, because then it makes you uncomfortable,” Banks said. Years later, on the documentary, “I really wish that my feelings would’ve been taken into account, that should’ve been squashed there on set, and the focus at panel should’ve been my photo and not that moment,” Hill said.
When Banks was asked about Hill’s experience on the documentary, she blamed it on the television etiquette at the time and claimed that the adults running the reality series didn’t know how to handle such a serious situation. “I was trying to empower her with the information that I had, I felt like that was empowering her based on the information I had. I thought that was the best advice, but it should have been, ‘Stop,’ down. And that’s what would happen today,” Banks said. “We all now understand the protections that women need, so I say to Keenyah, boo boo, I am so sorry. None of us knew. Network executives didn’t know, and I did the best that I could at that time. But she deserved more. She did,” Banks said.
Sullivan, a 21-year-old contestant, was featured on Season two of ANTM. Many fans consider Sullivan to be the most controversial appearance of a contestant from the entire series. Sullivan dealt with exploitation, humiliation, framing, and sexual assault. While in Milan, Italy with her competition, Sullivan and the other contestants were directed to do a photoshoot with some other male models. After the shoot, when the female models were back at the hotel, they called the male models over to hang out, drink, and talk. Production was in charge of keeping track of who went in and out of the hotel and all new visitors were okayed by Banks, who many speculate was behind this debacle. Sullivan had been blacked out from intoxication when pursued by a male model. Production and other staff workers were in charge of intervening, but instead they kept the cameras rolling and documented the sexual assault that Sullivan had faced from the other model while inebriated. After sobering up, Sullivan’s competition had gossiped and production was framing the assault as a cheating scandal, with the episode even being titled, “The Girl Who Cheated.” Documenting her emotional warfare, production recorded Sullivan’s tear-filled call to her boyfriend, Eric, explaining the situation, even though Sullivan had demanded several times to stop filming. Later on, Sullivan had even blamed herself for what had happened. “No one tried to pull me aside and say, ‘Hey, what are you doing?’ But you know what? I don’t expect them to, because I should be able to take care of myself. I did this. It’s my fault,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan was a controversial and heated topic for years in the early 2000’s on the show and in person (dealing with harassment and name-calling), before ANTMhad another spurt of popularity in the 2020’s for all of the wrong reasons. Fans had gone to the internet outraged about the treatment of Sullivan and demanded answers. When asked about that night on the documentary, Sullivan gives her truth. “I don’t think I’d eaten anything at all or had any sleep. I remember getting in the hot tub. I remember [fellow contestants] April and Mercedes getting in the hot tub. And then I just remember the guy looking at me, and I looked at him, and I was pretty drunk at that point. Everything kind of after that is just a blur. All I remember is just like, just like remember him on top of me. I was blacked out. No one did anything to stop it. And it all got filmed, all of it,” Sullivan said.
When Banks was instructed to recall what happened to Sullivan, she did nothing less than avoid taking the blame for the lack of professionalism and protection toward the young girl. “I do remember her story. It’s a little difficult for me to talk about production because that’s not my territory,” executive producer Banks said.. Banks did not apologize, though she was responsible for where the cameras went, what they kept in the show, and the well-being of the contestants. Fans all around the world are outraged with Banks and will not forget how Sullivan was treated, or how Banks is treating her now.
