Her elimination was supposed to be a devastating moment in which she realized how much potential she'd squandered, but instead, she seemed to take it in stride. Tiffany was supposed to be Cycle 4's "most improved," but instead she petered out. Every season had a villain, a wide-eyed new kid who never thought she'd be on America's Next Top Model, a fixer-upper, and a hot mess, among others.
See, Top Model's editing played into reality show tropes as aggressively and overtly as possible. (Also, that Banks really doesn't know when to quit.) It's that Banks's fury came from Tiffany refusing to play her assigned part in the story. There is a lot to unpack here, but the main takeaway isn't that Tiffany squandered her chance on America's Next Top Model. When she thought a contestant wasn't taking her elimination seriously enough, Banks called the contestant back and delivered what was to be the incendiary reality show speech of the decade: The best example of Banks's philosophy can be seen in arguably the most infamous moment in Top Model's history. She injected sporadic doses of Oprah Winfrey's tearjerking interview style into her talks, the better to convince a contestant that Banks was personally, deeply invested - even if it wasn't true. Her preferred relationship with the contestants was maternal, in the sense that she tried to mentor and nurture them while simultaneously doling out harsh discipline when they disappointed her. Oh, sure, she'd bust out some kooky prank every now and then (her hilarious go-to was convincing contestants she'd just had a heart attack), but for the most part, Banks treated America's Next Top Model as if the stakes were life or death. One aspect of the show that never changed was how very seriously Banks took it. 1) Tyra Banks: host, storyteller, lover of television tropes
The prizes grew less impressive, the infamous makeover episodes fell into paint-by-numbers territory (spoiler alert: someone always cries over a short haircut), and the judges spit out rote criticisms as if they were already bored by the words coming out of their mouths.īut in its prime, America's Next Top Model produced some of the more bizarre and revealing moments in reality TV history, at a time when the genre was still figuring itself out. With every passing season - sorry, cycle - the shine started to fade. For all of Banks's big talk and insistence that a successful Top Model must have both high-fashion and commercial appeal, the show's winners were incidental. In fact, after 22 "cycles" (the show insists on using this term instead of "seasons"), it's almost a joke to point out just how few of the show's winners have gone on to achieve actual modeling fame. The challenges mattered, but the drama that unfolded back at the mansion during the contestants' downtime is what kept viewers coming back for more.
While it never enjoyed the monster ratings of a Survivor or an American Idol, the Tyra Banks–helmed reality series was a standard competition show combined with elements of The Real World. The show aired its series finale on Friday, following its cancellation in October. Okay, to be more accurate: We lost a good example of how reality shows used to work, due to the official end of America's Next Top Model. Finally, the winner will appear on the cover and six-page fashion spread in Seventeen magazine.We lost a good one this week, as The CW finally told America's Next Top Model to pack its things and go home. She also receives a $100,000 contract with cosmetics giant CoverGirl. The winner of The CW's America's Next Top Model will be managed by Elite Model Management. In addition, special guest judges appear to critique the participants within his or her area of expertise. Alexander, who closely evaluate the progress of the models to narrow the field each week. The panel consists of supermodel Paulina Porizkova, along with photographer Nigel Barker and runway expert J.
Alexander mentor the participants.īanks leads the panel of America's Next Top Model judges, comprised of leading fashion industry experts. Throughout the series, supermodel Tyra Banks, art director of photo shoots Jay Manuel, and runway guru J. The participants' abilities are tested each week as they strive to master the runway and fashion photo shoots, perfect publicity skills, and learn the business aspects of becoming a supermodel, all under 24-hour-a-day surveillance of the America's Next Top Model cameras. During this cycle, the 14 participants live together and ferociously vie for the grand prize, competing in a highly accelerated modeling boot camp.