Tyra Banks Admits She Went 'Too Far' While Hosting 'America’s Next Top Model': 'It Was Very, Very Intense'

Tyra Banks has some regrets about her time hosting America’s Next Top Model.

In a new trailer for the Netflix docuseries Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model, the supermodel, 52, admitted she made mistakes during her time on the show, which aired from 2003 to 2018.

"I knew I went too far. It was very, very intense, but you guys were demanding it, so we kept pushing it, more and more and more," Banks said in a trailer for the documentary, which drops on February 16.

Fans did not seem to approve of her commentary.

“Throwing your blame of the actions on your audience is crazy,” one YouTube user wrote, while another raged, “Tyra is a villain, point blank.”

Controversial moments from the series have gone viral over the years, including one season’s “race swap” episode. Models were sent into hair and makeup to transform into a race other than their own, and the decision to utilize “blackface” caused an uproar online.

“How is she not canceled?” one person asked about Banks on TikTok, while another said, This is not ok ahhhh wtf.”

“I’m rewatching the series and it’s honestly shocking how out of touch even cycle 20 was,” a third expressed. “But this is horrid. Shows how much society can still grow!”

Banks addressed the controversial history of ANTM at the ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Awards in February 2025.

“Over 20 years ago I created a show called America’s Next Top Model,” she started. “And you guys have no idea how hard we fought to bring the diversity to that television show at a time when it didn’t exist; to show different beauties at a time when the world was like, ‘What? You casting that?’ A time when people in the fashion industry were telling me, ‘You putting the girls from the hood on your show?’”

Banks continued, “I was like, ‘Why can the girl from the trailer park become a supermodel but the girl that’s chilin’ in the park in the hood can’t?’ And we fought and we struggled and we made it happen.”

The Victoria’s Secret Angel is well aware that the series was much-disputed.

“Did we get it right? H--- no. I said some dumb s---,” she admitted. “But I refuse to have my legacy be about some stuff linked together on the Internet when there were 24 cycles of changing the world. And I am so excited that I, and so many of us, have opened that door for others to follow.”