The newest docuseries about America’s Next Top Model made shocking revelations about financial restrictions, concerning conditions behind the scenes and long-lasting trauma.
E!’s Dirty Rotten Scandals featured a two-part special on Wednesday, March 11, which featured interviews with former contestants Keenyah Hill, Brittany Brower, Sarah Hartshorne, Angelea Preston, Lisa D’Amato and Jaslene Gonzalez about the complications they faced while filming the show. Former judge Janice Dickinson also spoke out about her experience working alongside Tyra Banks, Jay Manuel, Miss J. Alexander and more.
America’s Next Top Model, which ran from 2003 to 2018, followed aspiring models as they competed to receive a modeling contract, a fashion spread, a cover in a major magazine and a cosmetics campaign.
One month before Dirty Rotten Scandals, Netflix released Reality Check with Whitney Thompson, Giselle Samson, Shannon Stewart, Shandi Sullivan, Danielle Evans and Hill weighing in on their individual experiences on the show.
Keep scrolling for the biggest claims about America’s Next Top Model made in Dirty Rotten Scandals:
Using Their Trauma on the Show
Lisa D’Amato, who appeared on two seasons of the show, claimed she was cornered into talking about her childhood, saying, “It did make me feel uncomfortable but then I was like, ‘Well this is reality TV.’ I shrugged it off as nothing but they kept trying to pick and get more information about my mom. My mom was my abuser. My mom is the one that tortured me my whole life.”
Being pressured to discuss her personal life affected D’Amato.
“I wasn’t eating correctly. I wasn’t sleeping. I probably had a couple too many glasses of wine. I was just always one moment away from fully losing it,” she noted. “Because they were weaponizing my childhood trauma. Tyra [Banks] made me look absolutely crazy on purpose. I was set up to be publicly humiliated on repeat forever.”
The docuseries noted that “Tyra Banks was approached for comment” on allegations made on the show but “her representation declined.”
Janice Dickinson’s Side of the Story
After being called out for her onscreen criticism, Janice Dickinson claimed Tyra Banks and other producers were “begging me to be harsher and cruel like Simon Cowell was on American Idol.” Dickinson also addressed the infamous public argument Banks had with contestant Tiffany Richardson.
“Tyra didn’t want any competition,” Dickinson claimed. “She went off on one girl, and it was so frightening that I was going to get up and hold her down.”
Dickinson went on to speculate Banks treated the contestants differently, adding, “She would go harder on the Black girls on the show because of competitiveness, jealousy and her being older than these young women.”
She concluded: “The contestants left the show depressed and drained while she got so rich. America’s Next Top Model really tortured these girls for Tyra’s ego. I was there, and I saw it for four seasons. She was a hardcore bitch.”
Harsh Conditions Behind the ScenesIn various interviews for Dirty Rotten Scandals, the contestants recalled working 12 to 18-hour days that lasted until the early morning. They were warned by crew members that someone would faint “every week” from filming due to them being “sleep deprived” and not “able to eat enough food.”
The rules in the house included the lights always being on and no cell phone usage. Contestants couldn’t leave the house and no windows were allowed to be opened. As punishment, production allegedly took away their books and their electronics.
According to the ANTM alums, there was one working bathroom. The camera crew also allegedly told contestants to shower together so they could film them since rules didn’t allow footage to be captured if only one person was in the bathroom.
One of the challenges on the show involved paper bags being placed on everyone’s head without them knowing where they were being taken.
Keenyah Hill’s Claims of Sexual Harassment
Keenyah Hill pointed to a challenge during her season where a male model who was meant to pose with her for photos was “hardcore flirting” and claiming he would follow her to the U.S.
“He was grunting as he was dancing with me and he stood a lot closer to me than the other models. He had on this tiny little fabric and then it just got to the point where I realized that he actually had an erection,” she recalled.
Hill’s attempt to get protection turned into her being shamed. She previously mentioned the story in the Netflix doc, to which Tyra Banks defended her reaction at the time but admitted Hill deserved more support.
In a prior request for comment regarding his shoot with Hill, Bertini Heumegni responded, “It wasn’t my intention to make her feel uncomfortable. I just wanted her to have a good picture.”
(In another segment of the E! doc, the contestants spoke about another challenge where a Black model had to kiss a guy multiple times for a photo shoot after he openly spoke about not wanting to touch Black women.)
Ebony Haith’s Sexuality Being Brought UpIn the doc, Haith spoke out about being shamed on the show — and having her sexuality discussed without her permission.
“I thought my sexuality was something between me and everybody that was producing the project. But Tyra Banks choosing to say that I was gay and putting that out there without talking to me first? I was floored,” she said. “I just wondered, what did she think was gonna happen to me afterwards? I would get random calls from churches telling me to come back to the Lord. I didn’t understand how churches got my number.”
Financial Challenges
The former ANTM contestants revealed they “were not paid to be on the show” while being recorded all hours of the day. They were given $37 a day to buy food and promises of a payout after winning a season largely didn’t manifest into anything.
In the doc, it was explained that the $100,000 contract that the show boasted as a prize was “actually just the promise of the opportunity to do $100,000 worth of work over a year.”
“But there was a clause that said that if circumstances arise — and that work can’t be provided — they were under no obligation to pay you,” one of the participants explained before interview footage of season 1 winner Adrianne Curry showed her admitting she didn’t walk away with a large paycheck.
Contestants felt “indebted to the franchise” and had to ”do a lot of appearances” in the year after their win but they “never got paid for any of them.”
Angelea Preston Being Stripped of Her Title
After being a semifinalist on cycle 12 and placing third on cycle 14, Angelea Preston returned and won cycle 16 before being disqualified and stripped of her title after it was made known that she had once worked as an escort. Preston, for her part, has since spoken out about being taken advantage of by an unnamed man, which led to her being assaulted on numerous occasions before she was able to escape the situation.
“Before I went on All Stars, I was in a bind and I was just desperate to make some money. Someone took advantage of me. A predator swooped in and just put me on a path of self-loathing and destruction and harm. I obviously didn’t make the best choice but I was desperate and I wasn’t thinking straight,” Preston recalled. “I was supposed to walk away with $100,000 but they gave me $300 cash. Some petty money that set me on my way.”
Jeana Turner’s Alopecia Used as a Story Line
Before joining ANTM, Jeana Turner was diagnosed with alopecia at 10 years old. She recalled a scene where it looked like she was crying to Tyra Banks about her journey with the diagnosis when it was actually a separate moment after she was shamed for posing in Playboy.
In addition to feeling like her emotions were manipulated, Turner called ANTM out for shaving her head during a challenge, adding, “Their editing was that deceptive that they were actually able to make an audience think that I felt powerful. I felt so small.”
‘America’s Next Top Model’ TragediesDirty Rotten Scandals addressed Mirjana Puhar, who appeared on cycle 21, being killed in 2015 at age 19 in a triple homicide at her boyfriend Jonathan Alvarado’s home. Puhar, Alvarado and his roommate Jusmar Gonzaga-Garcia were all found dead at their residence.
The doc also mentioned Renee Alway’s legal issues including being sentenced to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to four felony burglary counts, one count of vehicle theft, one count of firearm possession and one misdemeanor count of identity theft.
Ken Mok’s InvolvementDuring individual interviews with Us Weekly, Brittany Brower, Sarah Hartshorne and Angelea Preston questioned why executive producer Ken Mok didn’t answer for more of his involvement in the darker side of the show. One story was told about how Mok told the contestants that their hard work put his daughters through college.
“They controlled when we went to the bathroom, when we ate, when we slept, when we were allowed to speak to each other. They isolated us from our friends and family. We weren’t allowed to have magazines, we weren’t allowed to have newspapers and we weren’t allowed to have anything that showed what day it was or what time it was,” Sarah Hartshorne recalled in the doc. “Down to using the same phrase over and over again. If you violate the confidentiality agreement, we will dock your wages for the rest of your life.”
Netflix’s Reality Check featured a moment where former contestant Shandi Sullivan recalled appearing on Tyra Banks’ daytime talk show where she was cornered into discussing topics that were off-limits for her.
Lisa D’Amato had a similar experience, sharing in Dirty Rotten Scandals, “The producer called me and said, ‘We’ll pay $750 and we want to interview you about your childhood trauma.’ I said, ‘Not happening.’ We then agree that we will just talk about my experience on Top Model. … I was so livid when they brought it up anyway. The PA calmly took me backstage and then he opened the door to some room and he just closed the door behind him. They locked me in a closet. I was there 20 to 30 minutes. I was like, ‘I don’t want to go back.’ And they’re like, ‘Well then you aren’t gonna get the $750.’”
The Aftermath of ‘America’s Next Top Model’At the end of the two-part doc, the contestants recalled suffering from eating and workout disorders that led to health issues.
