Everyone is obsessing over Tyra Banks right now. Fans have ‘reality check’ with America’s Next Top Model
America’s Next Top Model is all over social media right now. And, fans are reevaluating their views of Tyra Banks.
Netflix dropped Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model onto an unsuspecting public this week. Folks are absolutely shook to be revisiting the hit reality show after so many years. It’s hard to believe that Tyra and the prospective stars walked across our TV screens for 15 years. (322 episodes to be exact.) The show has its fair share of viral moments and meme callbacks today. But, the series host has gone through a lot of cultural reevaluation as people get their hands on the documentary.
Banks looms over the entire America’s Next Top Model enterprise, and it’s not hard to see why. Despite her successful career as a model herself, Tyra’s role in shaping the experience for the girls has come under fire multiple times in recent years. Our culture simply was in a terrible place 20 years ago, and it’s not hard to find multiple examples of things going sideways in various episodes of ANTM. Fans are also really disappointed by the stories of judges like Miss J and Jay Manuel. Talking to TUDUM, Manuel shared that she basically went no contact once he decided to pursue other creative endeavors.
“I remember getting the email, and my heart went into my throat when I saw her name come up,” Manuel explained. “The email had no salutation — nothing. It just said, ‘I am disappointed.’ That’s it. And then she never spoke to me again.”
What are people saying about America’s Next Top Model now?
Years since the show’s end have featured multiple takes on the fatphobia, racism, colorism, and general nastiness of the entire America’s Next Top Model experience. The documentary does little to battle back those critiques. On Threads, @veganroyalty spoke for a lot of folks. She said, “Tyra is the type of woman whose friendship I hope misses me like a spam call that goes straight to voicemail.” @angelaelai chimed in with “Tyra apologizes like an abusive, neglectful, emotionally immature parent.”
@gelpenclub dropped this banger as well. She shared, “I’m not even five minutes into this America’s Next Top Model documentary and Tyra’s already blaming the pandemic for why the show suddenly became ‘problematic.’” Just like so many others who loved reality TV in the 2000s, we can assure the former host that these discussions were being had at the time. Maybe the time inside in 2020 helped speed that along. But, it’s totally true that people were looking around suspiciously in the previous decade.
How involved is Tyra Banks in the documentary?
TUDUM caught up with the producers and the filmmakers behind Reality Check. They were very thankful to Banks for even agreeing to be a part of the documentary. Especially when she doesn’t come off that well in the aftermath. Sometimes that access can be hard to navigate. But, the filmmakers really didn’t pull their punches this time around.
“Tyra’s perspective was always important to the series, but it was just as important that her involvement was as an interview subject only,” executive producer Vanessa Golembowski said. “She afforded us the same level of trust as everyone else who participates in the documentary. She never asked to have any creative input or control, and she’s seeing the footage for the first time alongside the rest of the world.”
(featured image: Netflix)
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