44 - America's Next Top Model Part 3: Tyra Banks — Tyrant or Trailblazer?
Sources:
You wanna be on Top?: A Memoir of Makeovers, Manipulation, and Not Becoming America's Next Top Model by Sarah Hartshorne
Reality Bites Back: The Troubling Truth About Guilty Pleasure TV by Jennifer Pozner
“The Curse of America’s Next Top Model” by iHeart Podcasts and Glass Podcasts
Luxeria
elle literacy
Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model - Netflix
Dark Side of Reality TV: America's Next Top Model - VICE
Dirty Rotten Scandals: America's Next Top Model Part 1 & 2 - E! Network
Holtmann FJ, Lalk C, Rubel J, Vocks S. Assessing the Impact of a Reality TV Fashion Model Contest on Women's State Body Dissatisfaction, Affect, and Self-Esteem: An Experience Sampling Study of Women With and Without Eating Disorders. Eur Eat Disord Rev. 2025 Jul;33(4):815-824. doi: 10.1002/erv.3185. Epub 2025 Mar 5.
🎬Tyra Banks ESSENCE Black Women In Hollywood 2025 Full Speech
The final chapter of our America's Next Top Model deep dive is here.
In Part 3, Ash peels back the curtain on the production tactics used to control contestants and shape the stories we all watched unfold. We dive into the Netflix lawsuit, unpack the lasting impact ANTM had on an entire generation's relationship with bodies, beauty, and what it takes to succeed to 'be on top', and explore how the show's legacy has shifted from cultural phenomenon to cultural reckoning.
And because Ash clearly wasn't finished unpacking twenty years of Top Model baggage, she closes the series with a few parting words she thinks Tyra Banks needs to hear.
Trigger warning: This episode contains discussion of anti-fatness, sexual assault, eating disorders, coercive control, and emotional abuse. Please listen at your own discretion.
Watch the full episode :