5 Things We Learned From The 'ANTM' Documentary On Netflix
Miss Jay’s Stroke + 5 Things We Learned From The ‘ANTM’ Documentary On Netflix
- Miss Jay, a beloved ANTM judge, suffered a stroke but Tyra didn't visit him in the hospital.
- Contestant Dani was pressured to close her gap teeth, despite Tyra's claims it was for her career.
- Contestant Shandi was sexually assaulted on camera, but it was portrayed as cheating on her partner.
Netflix’s ‘Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model’ hit the streaming service on Monday and social media has erupted with reactions. The documentary comes amid criticism of the show, production and particularly Tyra Banks. While it’s clear the show was a reflection of the time, the three-part docuseries exposed the downside of the modeling and reality TV industry. From colorism to sexual assault, reality check peeled back the veil and it wasn’t all a pretty picture.
Here’s what we learned from ‘Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model’:
Miss Jay Had A Stroke
One of the biggest standout moments from the documentary was when Tyra Banks’ longtime friend, runway coach and oeriginal ‘ANTM’ judge Miss Jay, revealed he had a stroke in December 2022. He spent five weeks in a coma and the icon known for teaching supermodels like Tyra Banks how to walk, couldn’t. But the most chilling part about it all was Tyra didn’t visit him in the hospital. (Though she did text him with the intention to). Miss Jay’s fellow judges and friends Jay Manuel and Nigel Barker visited him. The trio, who were ultimately fired from the show due to declining ratings, reunited on camera in an emotional sit down where they took a selfie.
Jay Manuel and Tyra Fall Out
As Tyra Banks’ makeup artist Jay Manuel was there from the inception of ‘ANTM,’ often lending his ideas and creative direction to many of the memorable photoshoots in the beginning cycles. However, Manuel grew tired as the shoots got more and more elaborate and less moral, and he soon told Tyra he no longer wanted to do the show, to which she responded with three words,” I am disappointed.” Despited his hesitation, Manuel agreed to do another cycle of the show for contractual obligations but despite their on-camera chemistry, the former friends weren’t speaking behind the scenes. During her taping, Tyra refused talk about it, and instead offered that she needed to have a personal conversation with him.
Close The Gap
One of the most controversial moments on ‘ANTM’ was during cycle 6 when winner Danielle “Dani” Evans was given an ultimatum to close the gap in her front teeth. She initially refused but felt pressure to adhere to the judges if she wanted to move forward in the competition. The moment also marked a new normal on the show, undergoing intense makeovers from shaving their heads to extreme dental work. Evans was a prominent voice in the documentary and called Banks and the producers out for making her close her gap and then celebrating it on a white contestant in the next season.
According to Banks, She says, “There were agents that would tell me she will not work with those teeth, it’s just not going to happen. That’s what they told me. And again, I could’ve just been quiet and let them handle it, but hindsight is 20/20 for all of us. It just so happens that a lot of the things that are 20/20 for me happened in front of the world.”
Evans disagreed, calling it “bullsh*t,” “Me getting my gap closed is not opening any doors for me. You knew what you were doing for the show. You were making it good for TV, at my expense.”
Sexual Assault
If you watched ‘ANTM’ during it’s peak era, you unknowingly watched a sexual assault before your eyes during Cycle 2 when contestant Shandi Sullivan suffered a sexual assault on-camera. However, it was presented as she had simply cheated on her partner. According to Sullivan, “I remember him on top of me,” but she was intoxicated. “I was blacked out. No one did anything to stop it. And it all got filmed, all of it.”
According to Sullivan, she had about two glasses of wine that she can recall. “He threw me in the shower and then just sitting in the shower. And then we’re in the bed. I was blacked out for a lot of it. I didn’t even feel sex happening. I just knew it was happening. And then I passed out.”
And cameras caught it all even when she broke the news to her boyfriend. Despite the couple trying to make it work, strangers would approach her and call her names, which ultimately led to their failed relationship.
“I’d be walking with Eric down the street and somebody would recognize me and call me a slut to my face,” Sullivan revealed. “It made me hate myself.”
“We Were All Rooting For You”
One of the most famous moments of ‘ANTM’ came when Tyra lost her cool on contestant Tiffany Richardson. In speaking about the iconic clash, when Banks yelled, “I have never in my life yelled at a girl like this. When my mother yells like this, it’s because she loves me. I was rooting for you! We were all rooting for you!”
In hindsight, Banks reveales she lost it. “It was probably bigger than her. It was family, friends, society, Black girls, all the challenges that we have. So many people saying that we’re not good enough. I think all that was in that moment,” she explained. “That’s some Black girl stuff that goes real deep inside of me, but I knew I went too far.”
