Netflix Documentary Revisits 'America's Next Top Model' — Former Contestants Describe Manipulation and Abuse

The fluorescent glare of a television studio can flatten anything — ambition, dignity, even memory. For the young women who competed on America's Next Top Model between 2003 and 2018, the show promised a launchpad into the fashion industry. What many say they received instead was something closer to a controlled environment designed to produce drama at their expense. That is the central contention of Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model, a three-part Netflix docuseries that began streaming on February 16 ‘America’s Next Top Model’ Netflix Doc: An On-Camera Sexual Assault, Tyra Banks’ Firing Her Cast, Miss J’s Stroke — and Everything Else We Learnedvariety.com·Secondary“America’s Next Top Model,” created by supermodel Tyra Banks, premiered in May 2003, and ran for 24 seasons on three different networks. Banks’ initial conception — as recounted in “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model,” a three-part docuseries streaming on Netflix on Feb. 16 — was for the competition aspect of “American Idol” to be mated with the communal living documentary treatment of “The Real World,” set within the world of fashion..

Directed by Mor Loushy and Daniel Sivan, the documentary assembles an extensive roster of voices: host and creator Tyra Banks, executive producer Ken Mok, creative director Jay Manuel, photographer and judge Nigel Barker, runway coach J. Alexander — known as Miss J — and dozens of former contestants ‘America’s Next Top Model’ Netflix Doc: An On-Camera Sexual Assault, Tyra Banks’ Firing Her Cast, Miss J’s Stroke — and Everything Else We Learnedvariety.com·Secondary“America’s Next Top Model,” created by supermodel Tyra Banks, premiered in May 2003, and ran for 24 seasons on three different networks. Banks’ initial conception — as recounted in “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model,” a three-part docuseries streaming on Netflix on Feb. 16 — was for the competition aspect of “American Idol” to be mated with the communal living documentary treatment of “The Real World,” set within the world of fashion.. Created by Banks, the show premiered in May 2003 on UPN, the least-watched of the broadcast networks, after every other network passed on the concept. Banks had pitched a hybrid combining the competition format of American Idol with the communal living documentary treatment of The Real World, set in the world of fashion ‘America’s Next Top Model’ Netflix Doc: An On-Camera Sexual Assault, Tyra Banks’ Firing Her Cast, Miss J’s Stroke — and Everything Else We Learnedvariety.com·Secondary“America’s Next Top Model,” created by supermodel Tyra Banks, premiered in May 2003, and ran for 24 seasons on three different networks. Banks’ initial conception — as recounted in “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model,” a three-part docuseries streaming on Netflix on Feb. 16 — was for the competition aspect of “American Idol” to be mated with the communal living documentary treatment of “The Real World,” set within the world of fashion..

The show became a watercooler hit, eventually running for 24 seasons across three different networks. Banks coined the term smize, which entered the cultural lexicon. Yet the show never launched an actual supermodel into the world, though it did provide early opportunities for figures like model Winnie Harlow, actress Yaya DaCosta, and Nyle DiMarco, who won both ANTM and Dancing With the Stars ‘America’s Next Top Model’ Netflix Doc: An On-Camera Sexual Assault, Tyra Banks’ Firing Her Cast, Miss J’s Stroke — and Everything Else We Learnedvariety.com·Secondary“America’s Next Top Model,” created by supermodel Tyra Banks, premiered in May 2003, and ran for 24 seasons on three different networks. Banks’ initial conception — as recounted in “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model,” a three-part docuseries streaming on Netflix on Feb. 16 — was for the competition aspect of “American Idol” to be mated with the communal living documentary treatment of “The Real World,” set within the world of fashion..

During the COVID lockdowns of 2020, the show found a new audience binge-watching at home, but this time viewers watched through a different lens. The casual and often cruel way judges had critiqued young women's bodies drew renewed scrutiny, as did photoshoot themes involving crime scenes and racial costuming that resulted in blackface ‘America’s Next Top Model’ Netflix Doc: An On-Camera Sexual Assault, Tyra Banks’ Firing Her Cast, Miss J’s Stroke — and Everything Else We Learnedvariety.com·Secondary“America’s Next Top Model,” created by supermodel Tyra Banks, premiered in May 2003, and ran for 24 seasons on three different networks. Banks’ initial conception — as recounted in “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model,” a three-part docuseries streaming on Netflix on Feb. 16 — was for the competition aspect of “American Idol” to be mated with the communal living documentary treatment of “The Real World,” set within the world of fashion.. This latter-day reckoning became the impetus for the Netflix documentary.

Banks is interviewed for the docuseries and states at the outset that she has not said much publicly but that the time has come. However, according to both Variety and the Hollywood Reporter, she does not take meaningful accountability for the show's controversies . In the documentary's final moments, she tells the audience she hopes they are as open to being called out as she is. The filmmakers immediately undercut this by cutting to Cycle 6 winner Danielle Evans, who dismisses Banks' remarks as ridiculous ‘America’s Next Top Model’ Netflix Doc: An On-Camera Sexual Assault, Tyra Banks’ Firing Her Cast, Miss J’s Stroke — and Everything Else We Learnedvariety.com·Secondary“America’s Next Top Model,” created by supermodel Tyra Banks, premiered in May 2003, and ran for 24 seasons on three different networks. Banks’ initial conception — as recounted in “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model,” a three-part docuseries streaming on Netflix on Feb. 16 — was for the competition aspect of “American Idol” to be mated with the communal living documentary treatment of “The Real World,” set within the world of fashion..

Evans' own account is among the documentary's most compelling. She describes being pressured by Banks and the production to visit a dentist and close the gap in her front teeth, or face elimination from the competition. Photographer Nigel Barker acknowledges he found the demand inappropriate at the time. Evans emerges from the documentary as one of its most authoritative and compelling voices, offering measured but firm pushback against the show's practices ‘America’s Next Top Model’ Netflix Doc: An On-Camera Sexual Assault, Tyra Banks’ Firing Her Cast, Miss J’s Stroke — and Everything Else We Learnedvariety.com·Secondary“America’s Next Top Model,” created by supermodel Tyra Banks, premiered in May 2003, and ran for 24 seasons on three different networks. Banks’ initial conception — as recounted in “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model,” a three-part docuseries streaming on Netflix on Feb. 16 — was for the competition aspect of “American Idol” to be mated with the communal living documentary treatment of “The Real World,” set within the world of fashion..

The Hollywood Reporter takes a more skeptical view of the documentary overall, describing it as a grueling and self-serious treatment that risks turning a reality television show into something approaching a cultural indictment Netflix’s ‘Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model’: The 7 Most Shocking Revelationshollywoodreporter.com·SecondaryWe were rooting for you, Reality Check, we were all rooting for you! But alas, Netflix‘s documentary about the rise and fall of America’s Next Top Model is a rather grueling and self-serious affair which attempts to turn the reality hit that ran for 24 seasons into a cultural war crime.. The review notes that anonymous TikTok commentators are deployed throughout as a kind of chorus, editorializing on controversial clips rather than allowing viewers to form their own conclusions. One such commentator reportedly attributes a decades-long eating disorder to a single Top Model clip Netflix’s ‘Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model’: The 7 Most Shocking Revelationshollywoodreporter.com·SecondaryWe were rooting for you, Reality Check, we were all rooting for you! But alas, Netflix‘s documentary about the rise and fall of America’s Next Top Model is a rather grueling and self-serious affair which attempts to turn the reality hit that ran for 24 seasons into a cultural war crime..

That said, the Hollywood Reporter concedes that much of the show's content is genuinely cringeworthy, represents significant lapses in editorial judgment, and would never make it to air by contemporary standards Netflix’s ‘Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model’: The 7 Most Shocking Revelationshollywoodreporter.com·SecondaryWe were rooting for you, Reality Check, we were all rooting for you! But alas, Netflix‘s documentary about the rise and fall of America’s Next Top Model is a rather grueling and self-serious affair which attempts to turn the reality hit that ran for 24 seasons into a cultural war crime.. The documentary revisits numerous specific incidents that support this assessment.

The first season, shot on a minimal budget in a New York City hotel, already revealed the tensions that would define the show. Executive producer Ken Mok recounts how CBS head Leslie Moonves — who would be ousted in 2018 over allegations of sexual misconduct — vetoed the casting of a Latina contestant. Banks describes her own furious reaction, while Mok recalls begging her not to torpedo the show before it even reached the airwaves ‘America’s Next Top Model’ Netflix Doc: An On-Camera Sexual Assault, Tyra Banks’ Firing Her Cast, Miss J’s Stroke — and Everything Else We Learnedvariety.com·Secondary“America’s Next Top Model,” created by supermodel Tyra Banks, premiered in May 2003, and ran for 24 seasons on three different networks. Banks’ initial conception — as recounted in “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model,” a three-part docuseries streaming on Netflix on Feb. 16 — was for the competition aspect of “American Idol” to be mated with the communal living documentary treatment of “The Real World,” set within the world of fashion..

Season 1 contestant Ebony Haith, who was openly queer at a time when that was rare on American television, alleges that Banks outed her on camera by announcing her sexuality and asking how she felt about expressing it on national television. Haith says she was ultimately comfortable with being out on the show, but a botched makeover that left her with three bald spots prompted her to protest — at which point, she says, Banks told her she had been presenting herself poorly. The judges described Haith as old, aggressive, angry, and harsh. In her interview for the documentary, Haith becomes emotional, saying her heart was breaking while she was on a national show, believing the world would be proud of her ‘America’s Next Top Model’ Netflix Doc: An On-Camera Sexual Assault, Tyra Banks’ Firing Her Cast, Miss J’s Stroke — and Everything Else We Learnedvariety.com·Secondary“America’s Next Top Model,” created by supermodel Tyra Banks, premiered in May 2003, and ran for 24 seasons on three different networks. Banks’ initial conception — as recounted in “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model,” a three-part docuseries streaming on Netflix on Feb. 16 — was for the competition aspect of “American Idol” to be mated with the communal living documentary treatment of “The Real World,” set within the world of fashion..

Among the most disturbing revelations is the account of contestant Shandi Sullivan, who describes what she characterizes as a sexual assault that occurred on camera during an overseas trip in the show's second cycle ‘America’s Next Top Model’ Netflix Doc: An On-Camera Sexual Assault, Tyra Banks’ Firing Her Cast, Miss J’s Stroke — and Everything Else We Learnedvariety.com·Secondary“America’s Next Top Model,” created by supermodel Tyra Banks, premiered in May 2003, and ran for 24 seasons on three different networks. Banks’ initial conception — as recounted in “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model,” a three-part docuseries streaming on Netflix on Feb. 16 — was for the competition aspect of “American Idol” to be mated with the communal living documentary treatment of “The Real World,” set within the world of fashion.. The documentary treats the incident as emblematic of a production culture that prioritized dramatic content over contestant welfare.

Behind the camera, the documentary chronicles fractured relationships. Jay Manuel recounts sending Banks a polite email after the eighth season explaining that he wanted to leave because he no longer liked what the show was becoming and felt it was eroding his sense of self. Banks' response, arriving three days later, expressed disappointment. After that, the network pressured Manuel to stay, but he says he was effectively forbidden from speaking with Banks off-camera, an experience he describes as psychologically tormenting. When asked about the split on camera for the documentary, Banks declines to comment ‘America’s Next Top Model’ Netflix Doc: An On-Camera Sexual Assault, Tyra Banks’ Firing Her Cast, Miss J’s Stroke — and Everything Else We Learnedvariety.com·Secondary“America’s Next Top Model,” created by supermodel Tyra Banks, premiered in May 2003, and ran for 24 seasons on three different networks. Banks’ initial conception — as recounted in “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model,” a three-part docuseries streaming on Netflix on Feb. 16 — was for the competition aspect of “American Idol” to be mated with the communal living documentary treatment of “The Real World,” set within the world of fashion..

Perhaps the documentary's most emotionally resonant thread involves Miss J, who reveals that he suffered a debilitating stroke on December 27, 2022. He spent five weeks in a coma and was hospitalized for a year and a half. He has had to relearn how to speak and, as of the documentary's filming, remains in a wheelchair. He describes the experience as deeply emotional and says he is not ashamed to have cried. The documentary reveals that Banks has not visited him, though she communicated a desire to do so via text message ‘America’s Next Top Model’ Netflix Doc: An On-Camera Sexual Assault, Tyra Banks’ Firing Her Cast, Miss J’s Stroke — and Everything Else We Learnedvariety.com·Secondary“America’s Next Top Model,” created by supermodel Tyra Banks, premiered in May 2003, and ran for 24 seasons on three different networks. Banks’ initial conception — as recounted in “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model,” a three-part docuseries streaming on Netflix on Feb. 16 — was for the competition aspect of “American Idol” to be mated with the communal living documentary treatment of “The Real World,” set within the world of fashion..

The critical divide over the documentary points to a broader question it raises without fully resolving: how to evaluate cultural products of an earlier era through contemporary standards . Several participants note that norms were different in the early 2000s, with one former model observing that body shaming was pervasive but that the industry and society operated differently 25 years ago Netflix’s ‘Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model’: The 7 Most Shocking Revelationshollywoodreporter.com·SecondaryWe were rooting for you, Reality Check, we were all rooting for you! But alas, Netflix‘s documentary about the rise and fall of America’s Next Top Model is a rather grueling and self-serious affair which attempts to turn the reality hit that ran for 24 seasons into a cultural war crime.. Others, including Evans and Haith, reject the premise that temporal distance excuses what they experienced ‘America’s Next Top Model’ Netflix Doc: An On-Camera Sexual Assault, Tyra Banks’ Firing Her Cast, Miss J’s Stroke — and Everything Else We Learnedvariety.com·Secondary“America’s Next Top Model,” created by supermodel Tyra Banks, premiered in May 2003, and ran for 24 seasons on three different networks. Banks’ initial conception — as recounted in “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model,” a three-part docuseries streaming on Netflix on Feb. 16 — was for the competition aspect of “American Idol” to be mated with the communal living documentary treatment of “The Real World,” set within the world of fashion..

For defenders of the show's legacy, Banks' early insistence on diverse casting — including plus-size contestants and, in later seasons, transgender models — represented genuine progress in an industry resistant to change. Both Mok and Banks emphasize in the documentary that the show's diversity was groundbreaking for its time ‘America’s Next Top Model’ Netflix Doc: An On-Camera Sexual Assault, Tyra Banks’ Firing Her Cast, Miss J’s Stroke — and Everything Else We Learnedvariety.com·Secondary“America’s Next Top Model,” created by supermodel Tyra Banks, premiered in May 2003, and ran for 24 seasons on three different networks. Banks’ initial conception — as recounted in “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model,” a three-part docuseries streaming on Netflix on Feb. 16 — was for the competition aspect of “American Idol” to be mated with the communal living documentary treatment of “The Real World,” set within the world of fashion.. The Hollywood Reporter, while critical of the documentary's prosecutorial tone, acknowledges that it documents genuine problems alongside the show's undeniable cultural contributions Netflix’s ‘Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model’: The 7 Most Shocking Revelationshollywoodreporter.com·SecondaryWe were rooting for you, Reality Check, we were all rooting for you! But alas, Netflix‘s documentary about the rise and fall of America’s Next Top Model is a rather grueling and self-serious affair which attempts to turn the reality hit that ran for 24 seasons into a cultural war crime..

The question of accountability remains the documentary's central tension. Banks participates but, by multiple accounts, declines to engage with specific incidents or accept responsibility for particular production decisions. Whether that posture will satisfy audiences — or the former contestants who shared their stories — is the question Reality Check ultimately leaves for viewers to answer. The broader implications for the reality television industry, which in many cases still operates without meaningful duty-of-care frameworks for participants, may prove to be the documentary's most lasting contribution to the conversation.