entertainment

America’s Next Top Model docu-series highlights the true dangers of reality TV

Published 11:13 17 Feb 2026 GMT

Kat O'Connor

America’s Next Top Model docu-series highlights the true dangers of reality TV

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Netflix's America's Next Top Model docu-series is an uncomfortable watch

America's Next Top Model was a must-watch during the noughties, but I forgot just how toxic the reality show was until watching the Netflix docu-series, Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model.

We may have come so far from the heroin chic days, but Tyra Banks clearly doesn't recognise the damage her reality show caused, or even care about America's Next Top Model's toxic legacy.

The docu-series is an incredibly uncomfortable watch as we are met with the outdated and toxic attitudes that were glamourised on Top Model. I remember the show being controversial, especially as I look back with the healthier attitudes and opinions we've developed since the heroin chic days, but seeing all those moments, the degrading comments, and outlandish challenges play out on screen, all while the producers and judges dodge the blame, made me feel nothing but uneasy.

Tyra Banks, in particular, comes across the worst in this docu-series, with her air of ignorance and total denial about the damage she caused with this show. We meet many former contestants throughout the three-part docu-series, all of whom agree that the show took advantage of them and mistreated them.

However, Tyra brushes it off in such a flippant way and uses the empty excuse that it was of the time. Of the time to film someone being sexually assaulted? To body-shame a woman for not having a flat stomach? To glamourise eating disorders, domestic abuse, and gun violence in photoshoots? To have contestants swap races? The lack of ownership Tyra, Ken Mok, and the others take is incredibly uncomfortable and comes across as nothing but crass. She didn't care then, and clearly doesn't care now.

Tyra Banks' total lack of accountability is vapid and an uncomfortable thing to watch

Some of the judges, like Jay Manuel, Jay Alexander, and Nigel Barker, take some accountability, but spend most of the docu-series pointing the finger at someone else to turn the spotlight away from them.

This Netflix docu-series looks back at the show's legacy and focuses on the outrageous success of a show that was rejected by many networks, but is it a legacy we should be celebrating at all?

Tyra may admit to taking things too far at times, but there's a total lack of empathy or heart in any of the 'apologies' she offers. She almost seems robotic as she rattles off the fact that "This was 25 years ago - things are different now."

The docu-series will leave a sour taste in your mouth and a lot of gratitude for how much things have changed since the days when millions tuned in to watch America's Next Top Model, because there's no way a show like that would ever make it to air today.

Tyra Banks may not be able to see just how harmful the show was, but society has at least made strides in the years since Top Model was the most popular show in the world.

The docu-series features new interviews with Tyra Banks, Ken Mok, former judges Jay Manuel, J. Alexander (aka Miss J), and Nigel Barker. Former contestants and winners — including Whitney Thompson, Giselle Samson, and Shannon Stewart. Shandi Sullivan, Dani Evans, and Keenyah Hill will also appear.

Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model is on Netflix now.