People’s appetites were insatiable; they could not get enough (Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, 2026). It is no secret that the late ‘90s and early 2000s were a brutal time, from the unapologetically toxic tabloid culture that thrived off of disparaging headlines to a venomous diet culture that seemingly made it a mortal sin to be a woman who was anything above a size double zero. It was truly a time period marked by celebrity obsession (and in turn, watching celebrity downfalls), toxicity, absurdity, and sensationalism. Aka, the perfect storm for ludicrous reality television.
America’s Next Top Model (ANTM) was a reality television show created and hosted by American supermodel Tyra Banks that premiered in 2003. The premise of the show was simple: a dozen contestants from across the United States competed in various elimination challenges and photo shoots to test their physical attributes and skills until there was only one standing to be crowned “America’s Next Top Model.”
In theory, the concept appears interesting and a great opportunity for a young woman who otherwise would have trouble with her modeling career taking off. However, this was the early 2000s, and just one channel over, you could find Jillian Michaels screaming “unless you puke, faint, or die, keep going!” on The Biggest Loser, a reality TV show that gamified extreme weight loss. So America’s Next Top Model couldn’t simply be a show that made women’s modeling dreams come true. To “fit in” with the nature of said time period, the competition developed into something so deeply harmful and problematic.
This brings me to my next point. In the documentary Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, which premiered on Netflix on February 16, 2026, numerous former contestants are featured, telling their side of the story. The women bravely discuss experiences of body shaming, abuse, humiliation, and sexual assault that took place on the set of the show and later aired for millions to view. To truly understand the severity of these stories, it is best to hear them directly from the women themselves in the documentary, where they courageously recount their experiences in their own words.
That said, I would like to discuss the response to these horrible instances at the time they took place and the common excuse still being used by the host of the show, Tyra Banks, and many of the producers who worked on the set. The ideas “It was a different time” and “That’s what the audiences wanted to see” are common excuses utilized to explain the behaviors that fostered the sensation-filled celebrity and drama-obsessed culture of the late ‘90s and early 2000s. And while I do think publications and networks should take accountability for their harmful actions, it is worth exploring how society at large contributed to this. After all, the rating for ANTM kept skyrocketing in the early 2000s, and the show ran for 24 seasons.
When the show premiered, society was largely affected by the commodification of celebrities that the early 2000s tabloid culture gave way to, paralyzing the empathy of the consumers, encouraging a voyeuristic appetite for scandal. Women in the public eye were particularly affected by this, as society and the media saw no issue with constantly tearing them down. Acknowledging how many people took pleasure and viewed these women’s suffering as entertainment is important, because although it may not seem as brutal as it did in the late 90s and early 2000s, the same thing is still occurring decades later. Saying “that’s just how society was” and moving on is lazy. “Society” is not an abstract concept that occurs in a vacuum; it is each and every one of us, from consumers to media executives. So all aspects considered, I suggest that we continue to grapple with what we are consuming, as it is needed to have empathy for people we may only see on screens.