“Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model” is more than a docuseries into a wildly successful competition show and its ultimate demise. The show was a look into who we were as a nation in the 2000s, a time filled with wild reality television. The early 2000s were a time of “Jersey Shore,” “Temptation Island,” “American Idol,” and “16 & Pregnant.” The Netflix documentary brings accountability to the people who create the culture of “America’s Next Top Model” and the harm it caused countless women through its 24 cycles.

Let’s dig into the documentary that peeled back the curtain on the show that launched reality television, and the social media maelstrom of today.

“Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model” is a necessary watch

“Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model” is a look behind one of the most popular reality competition shows. It dives into a terrifying escalation of challenges and production-manufactured drama at the expense of the contestants. The show interviewed Tyra Banks, Jay Manuel, Miss J, Nigel Barker, and an array of contestants from over the years.

Contestants, including Giselle Samson, opened up and shared gut-wrenching stories of their time on the show. Samson, the first Latina, was on Cycle 1. She remembers that the judges’ and their body shaming left her with no confidence and no job prospects after the show. Being on the show ended her career before it really started, a common story among the women who participated in the show.

One of the most heartbreaking stories was of Shannon “Shandi” Sullivan. The contestant from Cycle 2 was from Kansas City, Kansas, and worked at the local Walgreens. During her season, the show was filmed in Milan, Italy. She and the rest of the women threw a party one night, and she admits that she drank too much. One of the Italian men from earlier in the day took advantage of Sullivan’s intoxication, and what ensued was the production crew capturing an alleged sexual assault on camera.

People have a lot to say about Banks

The docuseries doesn’t do Banks any favors to the general public. The overwhelming takeaway from viewers is that Banks was part of the toxicity that existed within ANTM. Furthermore, she actively instigated the drama and true harm happening to the women on the show. From body shaming to racial tropes, the docuseries shows how Banks was not only complicit but active in fostering dramatic storylines.

Yet, with the producers asking questions and showing moments, Banks seems to avoid all accountability. There is never a moment when she truly acknowledges what that show did. Instead, she continuously pointed to how she was beholden to higher powers, and the culture was something she couldn’t change.

It wasn’t just the contestants who were mistreated. The three men who helped make Banks’ dream a reality for 18 seasons before they were fired reflected on their own experience. Jay Manuel opened up about the infamous ethnicity-swapping photoshoot that put models in blackface and brownface for the photos. Manuel tried to stop the photoshoot but was quickly shut down by Banks.

This made Manuel start re-evaluating his own commitment to the show and started to look for ways out. Instead, he was convinced to stay on at a lower capacity that lasted for years more than he wanted. Then, Manuel, Miss J, and Barker were let go, and the story “leaked” before an agreed-upon joint press release. The whole thing left them stunned and saddened that Banks could turn so heartless.

The docuseries is a mirror to who we were at the time

At the time, reality television was about shock value and pushing boundaries. Taboos were in, and conventionality was out. Another major reality show at the time was “The Swan.” It ran for two seasons from 2004 to 2005. The premise was giving women full makeovers, including plastic surgery, for them to compete in a pageant.

Whether or not Banks takes accountability, ANTM contributed to a culture that put “good television” and ratings ahead of people’s well-being. The reality competition show was exposing who we were as a culture and perpetuating that behavior through fashion. The show was built around negative comments, body-shaming, and prodding for drama. The show was feeding on how we felt about women and women of color at that time.

It is also who we still are, just smaller screens

Social media is a smaller, yet larger, iteration of that culture. Social media platforms have been accused of negatively affecting the mental health of teenagers. According to the Pew Research Center, the number of teenagers who say that social harms their peers is 48 percent. This is an increase from 32 percent in 2022. 

Influencer culture pushes unattainable body ideals and beauty standards. Social media users are often bombarded with images of influencers that lean into filters and image editing to create the perfect look. According to A Place for Hope, influencer culture and social media perfection are negatively affecting teenage social media users’ body images.

ANTM will forever be an iconic show that people will talk about for years. Its legacy is more than models out in the world. The show contributed to and amplified some dark intentions and desires of our society and put them on the screen for us to watch. Look at it with a more socially evolved lens, and the show feels different. The show, now, is something that would have never seen the light of day.

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