‘America’s Next Top Model’ Documentary Exposes Industry's Dark Truths Behind the Glitz and Glamour

Netflix’s three-part docuseries Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model is pulling back the curtain on one of reality TV’s most influential — and polarizing — franchises. And as former contestants revisit their experiences, the glossy world Tyra Banks built is facing renewed scrutiny.

America’s Next Top Model ran for 24 cycles between 2003 and 2018, becoming a cultural juggernaut known for high-drama judging panels, meme-worthy meltdowns and controversial challenges. But Reality Check zeroes in on a murky space where production decisions, vulnerable contestants and high-stakes storytelling collide.

The most harrowing segment centers on Cycle 2 finalist Shandi Sullivan and a night in Milan that was originally framed as infidelity. In the docuseries, Sullivan — now in her 40s — recounts blacking out after drinking and says she remembers “just like remember him on top of me. I was blacked out. No one did anything to stop it. And it all got filmed, all of it.” The episode aired at the time under the title “The Girl Who Cheated.”

The docuseries stops short of labeling the incident sexual assault but raises pointed questions about consent and production’s failure to intervene. Sullivan recalls crew members apologizing after filming her emotional phone call with her boyfriend, yet no one stepped in.

Banks, who participated in the documentary, told filmmakers it was “a little difficult for me to talk about production because I’m… that’s not my territory.” Executive producer Ken Mok said, “We treated Top Model as a documentary.”

The fallout hasn’t been limited to the doc itself. Former winner Eva Marcille addressed Banks’ on-screen apologies during an appearance on CBS Mornings on Thursday, February 19, saying, “There is no sorry… that’s big enough to truly feel and heal that kind of hurt,” per People. While she credited Banks for changing the modeling industry and launching her career, Marcille added, “That environment could not exist without producers aiding and abetting what was going on.”

Other alums have been more blunt. Cycle 5 and 17 winner Lisa D’Amato wrote on Instagram that the Netflix series was “sugar coated” and claimed, “It was wayyyyyy worse for so so many of us.”

Cycle 1 winner Adrianne Curry took a different stance, saying she respected Banks for not apologizing to the “people trying to struggle session” her. ​​“She is not sorry. She is not apologizing,” Curry said in an Instagram video. “She will not bend the knee. And I respect that.”

Tiffany Richardson, whose elimination sparked Banks’ infamous “I was rooting for you!” moment, accused the host in a social media post of bullying and manipulative editing.

Beyond individual grievances, the docuseries prompts larger industry questions. The lack of clear accountability — whether among producers, network executives or on-the-ground crew — remains the most unsettling takeaway.

Two decades after ANTM redefined reality competition, Reality Check suggests the glamour came at a cost at least some contestants are still paying.