Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model spoilers ahead.
For any Gen Z amongst us who were too young to remember, the noughties were a TIME to be a woman. More specifically, a bad time. If you think diet culture is rife now, what with the rise of weight-loss drugs and social media exacerbating toxic beauty standards, then let us harken you back to the year 2003, when thin truly was in.
Around this time, Kelloggs’ Special K ‘Drop a Jean Size’ campaign launched, with many of the women in our lives subsisting solely on the cardboard-like cereal for sustenance, in a desperate bid to get thinner. Weight Watchers made nearly $1 billion in revenue. ‘Heroin chic’ was still prevalent in fashion and beauty, with brands like Topshop using Kate Moss as their ambassador — a person who was once quoted as saying “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels”. Oh, and the TV show America’s Next Top Model was hard-launched, a series that later developed a reputation for its scandals on set — something that’s dived into in the new Netflix docuseries, Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model.
It’s hard to describe what a pop culture behemoth ANTM truly was. It gave us killer moments that are used as memes even today — “I have never in my life yelled at a girl like this!” and “I was rooting for you, we were all rooting for you!”. And who can forget that time that Tyra Banks dramatically fake fainted while chatting to the girls in cycle six?
Amongst all the hilarity, though, a culture of toxicity and bullying was reportedly rife behind the scenes, something that often crept its way onto camera, with the hosts verbally lashing out at the girls and putting them through extremely distressing situations. Remember in cycle 4 when Michelle cried from the pain of an allergic reaction to the peroxide used to bleach her hair (which later prompted an impetigo outbreak)? In retrospect, a lot of the behaviour wasn’t as funny as the hosts made out at the time.
Despite all of the show’s downsides, the documentary — which is currently the number one most-watched show on Netflix in the UK — tells us there were moments worth celebrating, too, and it turns out that most of the former winners of TV’s most chaotic modelling contest seem to be doing great these days.