EW’s exclusive preview reunites Banks, Nigel Barker, Jay Manuel, Miss J. Alexander, and multiple “ANTM” contestants.

Tyra Banks admits *America’s Next Top Model ‘went too far’ in juicy docuseries *exposing ‘f---ed up’ scandals (exclusive)

EW's exclusive preview reunites Banks, Nigel Barker, Jay Manuel, Miss J. Alexander, and multiple "ANTM" contestants.

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January 26, 2026 11:00 a.m. ET

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Tyra Banks hosts 'America's Next Top Model'. Credit:

Michael Yarish/UPN

- EW has the exclusive first look at Netflix's explosive Tyra Banks-starring docuseries about *America's Next Top Model*.**

- Banks admits the show "went too far," while winner Danielle Evans calls one moment "so f---ed up."**

- Past contestants plus ex-judges Nigel Barker, Jay Manuel, Miss J. Alexander, and more also sit for shocking interviews.

Tyra Banks' fractured *America's Next Top Model* family is finally bringing their truth to the runway in fierce — and ferocious — fashion in **'s exclusive first look at Netflix's bombshell docuseries highlighting past scandals from the fan-favorite modeling competition.

After EW previously spoke to 14 contestants about the most shocking moments in *ANTM* history, Banks sat for an in-depth interview for the upcoming *Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model *documentary show, in which the supermodel admits, "I knew I went too far" as head judge of the 2003 pop culture phenomenon that darkened models' skin to portray different ethnicities in photo shoots, highlighted body-shaming panelists, and more.

EW's exclusive trailer for the show (below) combines Banks' on-camera interview about the show with others from former judges Nigel Barker, Jay Manuel, and Miss J. Alexander, while contestants Whitney Thompson (cycle 10 winner), Danielle Evans (cycle 6 winner), Keenyah Hill (cycle 4 finalist), Giselle Samson (cycle 1), and more also appear in the project.

"I haven't really said much. But, now it's time," says Banks in the clip, later repeating a sentiment she's long expressed about challenging existing, problematic modeling standards on the program by casting contestants of different races, body types, and backgrounds: "I wanted to fight against the fashion industry," she says.

Thompson, the show's first plus-size winner, initially praises Banks, saying, "The only reason the door was opened to me was because of Tyra," while inaugural cast member Samson says, "I felt like I was part of something so big" when the show debuted on UPN back in 2003.

Jay Manuel in 'Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model'.

Then, as producer Ken Mok admits, "There was a moment I realized, 'Oh my God, I think we've built a monster.'" The docuseries shifts to show Manuel, the show's photo shoot director and editorial creative lead, telling contestants on a prior episode that they'd be switching ethnicities in their photo challenge — a heavily criticized initiative that occurred twice on the show, on cycle 4 and cycle 13.

"Baby girl, baby girl!" Miss J says, reacting to the scandal in the trailer, with Manuel elaborating in a subsequent segment, "I realized Tyra would do anything for the success of her show."

'ANTM' judge Nigel Barker in 'Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model'.

That success meant a major panel shakeup well into the show's run, with Manuel, Miss J, and Barker all being dismissed from the show following the premiere of cycle 18 in 2012.

Manuel seemingly references the dismissal in the trailer, saying he felt he was "slapped across the face" by someone in the program's family. Barker adds that Manuel "felt betrayed," with another clip showing Manuel telling the crew he "slapped back." The fashion personality famously wrote a novel, 2020's *The Wig, The Bitch & The Meltdown, *about a fictional modeling competition show hosted by a tyrannical glamazon — which many interpreted as a dramatization of his time working with Banks.

Other developments in the *Reality Check* trailer include Hill crying while reflecting on a moment of alleged sexual harassment (which she also told EW about in 2023), as Evans, who underwent a dental procedure during the competition to remove what Banks said was a problematic gap in the model's front teeth, cries between calling certain elements of *ANTM* "horrific" and "so f---ed up."

'ANTM' star says her elimination hand gesture was cast's coded 'f--- you' to Tyra Banks

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***Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter*.**

"It's a TV show to you guys, but this is my life," Evans says.

The preview ends on an ominous note, with Banks saying that the show "was very, very intense, but, you guys were demanding it. So, we kept pushing more and more and more."

Since *ANTM* aired its last all-new season, cycle 24, on VH1 in 2018, the show underwent a re-evaluation amid the rise of social media commentary, primarily on TikTok. Fans reassessed everything from the aforementioned racial cosplay and the judges' harsh critiques for the contestants, with several contestants also regularly coming out with shocking stories from their time on the show.

Miss J. Alexander reflects on 'ANTM' scandals in 'Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model'.

In recent years, Banks has lightly addressed such concerns with the program, including the shoots that tasked models with portraying women of different races.

"I want to be very clear: I, in no way, put my 'Top Models' in blackface. I'm a Black woman. I am proud. I love my people and the struggle that we have gone through continues, and the last thing that I would ever do is be a part of something that degraded my race," she said in a past statement. "I'm sorry to anybody that watched *Top Model* and was offended by the pictures because they didn't understand the real story behind them or even if you did see the whole episode and you were still offended, I truly apologize because that is not my intention. My intention is to spread beauty and break down barriers."

Cycle 13 contestant Jennifer An, however, previously EW that she "didn't know we were going to have our bodies painted" on a Hawaii-based shoot that took place in 2009. She continued, alleging, "I kept saying, 'You guys are putting me in blackface.'"

Banks perhaps gave her most emphatic defense of *Top Model* to date while on stage at the 2025 *Essence* Black Women in Hollywood Awards, where she told attendees that she said "some dumb s---" on the show. "I refuse to have my legacy be about some stuff linked together on the internet when there were 24 cycles of changing the world," she said, pointing toward casting models who bucked industry trends, such as cycle 11's trans model Isis King, cycle 12's Tahlia Brookins, who had burn scars all over her body, several plus-size models over the years, and eventual supermodel Winnie Harlow, who joined the competition with an autoimmune skin disorder known as vitiligo.

Behind the scenes of 'America's Next Top Model'.

Of the new *Reality Check* series, producer Jon Adler of EverWonder Studio tells EW in a statement that "*America's Next Top Model *was a groundbreaking force that forever shaped pop culture, but there's more to its complicated legacy than meets the eye." He adds that the project "will reveal fresh insights and intimate reflections on the drama, controversy, and personalities that defined this iconic series."****Jason Beekman, a producer from Wise Child Studios, adds in a separate statement that *Reality Check *"is a fun, fast-moving nostalgia trip that also examines real issues of gender, race, exploitation, and personal conflict."

*Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model* debuts all three of its episodes Feb. 16 on Netflix. See EW's exclusive first look at the show above.

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