And if you thought that was bad, according to Manuel, the uncut rant was even more brutal – going so far that Banks eventually had to be escorted off set. “There was a lot more that was really said, and some of the things that were said were really not well-intentioned,” he says in the documentary. “I will probably never repeat the lines that were said in the room that day.”
What did Banks have to say for herself? “I just saw all that [work] going down the drain. I saw her just not believing in herself and giving up and not just giving up on a modeling competition but deeper … I went too far. You know, I lost it. It was probably bigger than her … That’s some Black girl stuff that goes real deep inside of me.” Given the fact that this is one of the only moments in the documentary that Banks offers a full apology, we’re inclined to believe Manuel’s account of this one.
The sketchy dental work
ANTM’s makeover episodes gave us some of the show’s most memorable scenes, from contestants’ tears over pixie cuts to many questionable weave installations. But those girls got off easy compared to the contestants who were sent to receive dental work.
In cycle six, Dani Evans was forced to get the gap in her teeth closed, while Joanie Dodds was given the opportunity to get her snaggletooth removed. At first, Dodds was overjoyed to be receiving the procedure, but it quickly went awry, leaving her with misshapen teeth and orthodontic issues that persist to this day. “I’ve still got a crazy bite issue, and those problems will never be resolved,” she says. “It was fucked up, but at the end of the day, I was a grown adult woman with teeth I thought I would never fix, so I felt like I’d won the lottery.”
The judges’ fall out
Most ANTM viewers will already be familiar with many scenes in the documentary. What we were less privy to when the show first aired, however, was how the judges felt about each other behind the scenes. As the cycles went on and the environment intensified, we learn that Manuel began to feel uncomfortable with “what the show was becoming,” and sent an email to Banks explaining that he’d like to leave. For three days, he was met with silence, until Banks replied with a typically blunt and pass-agg message: “I am disappointed.” Manuel was eventually persuaded to stay by the television network, but his relationship with Banks was forever changed. “It was clear I was not allowed to speak with her outside [being on camera],” he says in the documentary. “It was like psychological torture, I felt broken.”
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And it seems like Banks isn’t close with any of the other former judges either. When runway coach Miss J had a life-altering stroke in 2022, he explains that while he received visits from Manuel and fellow judge Nigel Barker, Banks didn’t turn up to his bedside like his other co-stars – although she has more recently reached out to arrange a visit. “I miss being the queen of the runway. I’m the person who taught models how to walk and now I can’t walk,” says Miss J in the documentary. His most famous client? A teenage Tyra Banks.