E!’s ‘America’s Next Top Model’ Doc Reveals a Winner Stripped of Her Title, Reshot Finale and Unpaid Contestants in ‘Dirty Rotten Scandals’
Suddenly, documentarians can’t get enough of the scandals surrounding “America’s Next Top Model.” Last month, Netflix released “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model,” which took viewers into the world of the highly controversial and influential competition show. Now, E! News has its own take on the ups and downs of the 2000s reality staple.E!’s new docuseries “Dirty Rotten Scandals,” which premiered March 11, looks at some of the nefarious behind-the-scenes goings on at TV staples like “The Price is Right” and “Dr. Phil.” It also dedicates two episodes to “America’s Next Top Model.”Premiering on UPN in 2003, “ANTM” was a global hit among fashion enthusiasts, paving the way for countless international spin-offs and dominating pop culture with its bizarre and often damaging modeling challenges.Creator and host Tyra Banks, executive producer Ken Mok and previous judges Miss J, Nigel Barker and creative director Jay Manuel all appeared on “Reality Check” to share their perspectives — but they are noticeably missing from E!’s rival documentary.“Dirty Rotten Scandals” instead includes cultural critics and commentators like Perez Hilton and writer Brian Moylan to share their viewpoints, in addition to numerous past contestants and former judge/supermodel Janice Dickinson.
E!’s documentary is harder on Banks than the Netflix one. While participants question what Banks must have endured as a young, curvy, Black model in the ’90s, they reiterate she could have broken the cycle as they discuss the show’s most problematic moments.
“Dirty Rotten Scandals” also briefly touches on the fates of Renee Alway (Cycle 8), who was imprisoned for felony burglary shortly after her “ANTM” run, and Mirjana Puhar (Cycle 21), who was tragically murdered in 2015, questioning if better support from the show could have altered their lives.
Below, take a look at all the topics “Dirty Rotten Scandals” discussed that “Reality Check” did not.
Lisa D’Amato won “America’s Next Top Model” Cycle 17 (“All Stars”) but first appeared on the show’s fifth season in 2005. D’Amato revealed that during her original audition, the judges and Banks asked her multiple questions about her troubled childhood and her relationship with her abusive mother. “They kept trying to pick and get more information,” says D’Amato, who was reluctant to discuss her past trauma.
When fellow contestant Coryn Woitel referred to D’Amato as an “alcoholic bitch” during a spat, the nickname stuck — even after the season concluded. In “Dirty Rotten Scandals,” D’Amato reacts to a clip of her drunk and stumbling during Cycle 5, saying, “I wasn’t eating correctly, I wasn’t sleeping, and I probably had a couple too many glasses of wine. I was always one moment away from fully losing it.”
“They were weaponizing my childhood trauma, they just fucked with me emotionally,” she added, alleging she was “set up to be publicly humiliated.” “Tyra made me look absolutely crazy on purpose.”
D’Amato was invited onto “The Tyra Banks Show” in 2005, where she says she was ambushed by questions about her childhood after making it clear that the topic was off the table. When she got upset backstage, she says a PA took her to a closet and locked the door behind him, leaving her trapped in there for approximately 30 minutes.
D’Amato criticized “Reality Check” in an Instagram post, writing, “Watched the Netflix docuseries on ‘ANTM,’ and I still think it is sugar coated. It was wayyyyyy worse for so so many of us,” telling viewers to tune into “Dirty Rotten Scandals” in the caption.
When asked why she returned for the All Stars Cycle, D’Amato says, “I went back for revenge. I went back for redemption.”
Former supermodel Janice Dickinson (who was consistently referred to as the world’s first supermodel both on “ANTM” and the reality doc) was often the harshest on the show’s judging panel, appearing full-time on Cycles 1 to 4.
Some of Dickinson’s most savage highlights include telling plus-sized models they were “morbidly obese” and needed to lose weight, telling a Cycle 6 contestant to “zip it, bitch,” and being painfully blunt in her criticism, which she argued on the show was the reality of the modeling industry.
In the E! documentary, Dickinson says she was forced to adopt that persona by Banks and the producers, who claimed they needed a “Simon Cowell” of “ANTM,” saying they “begged” her to be “harsher and cruel.”
Dickinson left the show in 2005, but returned as a guest judge for Cycles 5, 6, and 7, before exiting the production for good.
In “Dirty Rotten Scandals,” she refers to Banks as a “hardcore bitch,” adding that the show “really tortured” the contestants for Banks’ ego.
“She put the girls down for everything,” says Dickinson. “I was there, and I saw it.”
Keenyah Hill (Cycle 4) has spoken out about the unwarranted sexual harassment she dealt with during an “ANTM” photoshoot on both “Reality Check” and “Dirty Rotten Scandals.” The E! doc also took a glimpse at Cycle 7’s Jaeda Young, a Black woman, being partnered with a male model who said “he didn’t like Black girls” and didn’t want to kiss her during the photoshoot.
Similar to Hill, when Young voiced her discomfort, she was chastised by production — and told to “give him a kiss that will change his mind.” Jay Manuel appears on-screen, telling her to stop crying, while Banks quips that “once they go Black, they don’t go back.”
After “Reality Check” was released, Young took to Instagram to share her feelings about the show.
“I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity to have been cast on ‘America’s Next Top Model.’ It opened doors, shaped my resilience, and gave me experiences I’ll always carry. But I can also hold the truth that some of the trauma from such a controversial show is something I still live with today. Both things can exist at the same time,” reads the caption. “Sending love to all my fellow ‘ANTM’ models who walked that same path—seen, unseen, celebrated, criticized, edited, and forever changed.”
Cycle 1 contestant Ebony Haith says Banks and the show’s production outed her without her consent during the show’s audition process. While Haith had classified she was gay on a screening questionnaire, she expected it to stay within the production team and was caught off guard when Banks brought it up on national television.
For months after the show, Haith says she got calls from churches telling her “to come back to the Lord,” making her question if Banks even considered her safety when outing her very publicly.
The show also briefly touched on the way Cycle 5’s Kim Stolz was treated as a lesbian on “ANTM,” before discussing the show’s first transgender model, Isis King, on Cycle 11.
King faced transphobia and ostracization from the other girls, one of them referring to her as a “he/she.” The critics on “Dirty Rotten Scandals” argue that Banks believed she should “get a pat on the back simply for acknowledging a trans person exists, and is worth talking to.”
Cycle 2 winner Yoanna House confirmed the series’ contestants were not paid to appear on the show, and do not receive any residuals.
While Banks told the press that Cycle 1 winner Adrianne Curry was “making a lot of money,” that wasn’t the truth. Curry told her family she would be able to financially take care of them, but never got the funds or sponsorships she was promised. In a 2023 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Curry said all she received was a $15,000 makeup demonstration and an unsuccessful agency deal instead of the $100,000 contract she was promised.
Similarly, House made several public appearances for the show, but was never paid for any of them. Moving to New York City right after the show, House was left to figure out her own accommodations and next steps.
Later on in the documentary, “ANTM” producer Ken Mok rubbed salt in the wound, allegedly thanking the “All-Star” models for returning and telling them that they “put [his] girls through college.”
Angelea Preston first appeared on “ANTM” as a contestant during Cycle 12 and also competed in Cycle 14, before finally winning Cycle 17.
Preston’s win never aired, as the model was pulled into a meeting with “ANTM’s” casting director Michelle Mock and CBS executives, who told her that due to her past involvement with sex work, her title was to be revoked. The finale was eventually reshot, with Lisa D’Amato crowned the official winner.
“Before I went on ‘All Stars,’ I was in a bind, and I was just desperate. I wasn’t thinking straight,” says Preston in the documentary. “This show would have changed my life for the better. Just for them to take my shit away from me.”Before “All Stars,” Preston met with Mock, and they discussed her involvement with sex work. “I know what happened to you, but I want you to take this opportunity and run with it,” Mock told her, prior to the season starting.
The show never explicitly stated why Preston was disqualified or that she was the original winner, only raising questions from fans when the panel declared that Preston had been disqualified due to her revealing “some information” to the producers.
Jeana Turner (Cycle 24) has struggled with alopecia since she was 10 years old.
Turner was a long-time fan of the show — and Banks — and was devastated when she found out that Cycle 24’s sponsor was a hair care brand, rather than the makeup companies “ANTM” typically partnered with.
“How was I ever going to win once I was told Pantene was the sponsor?” said Turner. “I don’t have hair.”
Before coming on the show, the model appeared in Playboy, a move she said helped increase her confidence in her sexuality. Banks made her disapproval of Turner’s work clear, to the point that Turner began crying during her audition, trying to explain herself. In the middle of the conversation, Banks switched topics completely and told Turner to tell the room about her alopecia. The Playboy segment of the conversation never aired, making it appear as though Turner was breaking down over her condition.
“That was the very first way that they manipulated my emotions to get a certain scene,” says Turner, who explained that she was told she was getting a wig during the show’s makeover segment, but was ultimately left with a shaved head.
“Looking back on it, their editing was that deceptive that they were actually able to make an audience think I felt powerful. I felt so small.”
E!’s documentary is harder on Banks than the Netflix one. While participants question what Banks must have endured as a young, curvy, Black model in the ’90s, they reiterate she could have broken the cycle as they discuss the show’s most problematic moments.
“Dirty Rotten Scandals” also briefly touches on the fates of Renee Alway (Cycle 8), who was imprisoned for felony burglary shortly after her “ANTM” run, and Mirjana Puhar (Cycle 21), who was tragically murdered in 2015, questioning if better support from the show could have altered their lives.
Below, take a look at all the topics “Dirty Rotten Scandals” discussed that “Reality Check” did not.
Lisa D’Amato won “America’s Next Top Model” Cycle 17 (“All Stars”) but first appeared on the show’s fifth season in 2005. D’Amato revealed that during her original audition, the judges and Banks asked her multiple questions about her troubled childhood and her relationship with her abusive mother. “They kept trying to pick and get more information,” says D’Amato, who was reluctant to discuss her past trauma.
When fellow contestant Coryn Woitel referred to D’Amato as an “alcoholic bitch” during a spat, the nickname stuck — even after the season concluded. In “Dirty Rotten Scandals,” D’Amato reacts to a clip of her drunk and stumbling during Cycle 5, saying, “I wasn’t eating correctly, I wasn’t sleeping, and I probably had a couple too many glasses of wine. I was always one moment away from fully losing it.”
“They were weaponizing my childhood trauma, they just fucked with me emotionally,” she added, alleging she was “set up to be publicly humiliated.” “Tyra made me look absolutely crazy on purpose.”
D’Amato was invited onto “The Tyra Banks Show” in 2005, where she says she was ambushed by questions about her childhood after making it clear that the topic was off the table. When she got upset backstage, she says a PA took her to a closet and locked the door behind him, leaving her trapped in there for approximately 30 minutes.
D’Amato criticized “Reality Check” in an Instagram post, writing, “Watched the Netflix docuseries on ‘ANTM,’ and I still think it is sugar coated. It was wayyyyyy worse for so so many of us,” telling viewers to tune into “Dirty Rotten Scandals” in the caption.
When asked why she returned for the All Stars Cycle, D’Amato says, “I went back for revenge. I went back for redemption.”
Former supermodel Janice Dickinson (who was consistently referred to as the world’s first supermodel both on “ANTM” and the reality doc) was often the harshest on the show’s judging panel, appearing full-time on Cycles 1 to 4.
Some of Dickinson’s most savage highlights include telling plus-sized models they were “morbidly obese” and needed to lose weight, telling a Cycle 6 contestant to “zip it, bitch,” and being painfully blunt in her criticism, which she argued on the show was the reality of the modeling industry.
In the E! documentary, Dickinson says she was forced to adopt that persona by Banks and the producers, who claimed they needed a “Simon Cowell” of “ANTM,” saying they “begged” her to be “harsher and cruel.”
Dickinson left the show in 2005, but returned as a guest judge for Cycles 5, 6, and 7, before exiting the production for good.
In “Dirty Rotten Scandals,” she refers to Banks as a “hardcore bitch,” adding that the show “really tortured” the contestants for Banks’ ego.
“She put the girls down for everything,” says Dickinson. “I was there, and I saw it.”
Keenyah Hill (Cycle 4) has spoken out about the unwarranted sexual harassment she dealt with during an “ANTM” photoshoot on both “Reality Check” and “Dirty Rotten Scandals.” The E! doc also took a glimpse at Cycle 7’s Jaeda Young, a Black woman, being partnered with a male model who said “he didn’t like Black girls” and didn’t want to kiss her during the photoshoot.
Similar to Hill, when Young voiced her discomfort, she was chastised by production — and told to “give him a kiss that will change his mind.” Jay Manuel appears on-screen, telling her to stop crying, while Banks quips that “once they go Black, they don’t go back.”
After “Reality Check” was released, Young took to Instagram to share her feelings about the show.
“I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity to have been cast on ‘America’s Next Top Model.’ It opened doors, shaped my resilience, and gave me experiences I’ll always carry. But I can also hold the truth that some of the trauma from such a controversial show is something I still live with today. Both things can exist at the same time,” reads the caption. “Sending love to all my fellow ‘ANTM’ models who walked that same path—seen, unseen, celebrated, criticized, edited, and forever changed.”
Cycle 1 contestant Ebony Haith says Banks and the show’s production outed her without her consent during the show’s audition process. While Haith had classified she was gay on a screening questionnaire, she expected it to stay within the production team and was caught off guard when Banks brought it up on national television.
For months after the show, Haith says she got calls from churches telling her “to come back to the Lord,” making her question if Banks even considered her safety when outing her very publicly.
The show also briefly touched on the way Cycle 5’s Kim Stolz was treated as a lesbian on “ANTM,” before discussing the show’s first transgender model, Isis King, on Cycle 11.
King faced transphobia and ostracization from the other girls, one of them referring to her as a “he/she.” The critics on “Dirty Rotten Scandals” argue that Banks believed she should “get a pat on the back simply for acknowledging a trans person exists, and is worth talking to.”
Cycle 2 winner Yoanna House confirmed the series’ contestants were not paid to appear on the show, and do not receive any residuals.
While Banks told the press that Cycle 1 winner Adrianne Curry was “making a lot of money,” that wasn’t the truth. Curry told her family she would be able to financially take care of them, but never got the funds or sponsorships she was promised. In a 2023 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Curry said all she received was a $15,000 makeup demonstration and an unsuccessful agency deal instead of the $100,000 contract she was promised.
Similarly, House made several public appearances for the show, but was never paid for any of them. Moving to New York City right after the show, House was left to figure out her own accommodations and next steps.
Later on in the documentary, “ANTM” producer Ken Mok rubbed salt in the wound, allegedly thanking the “All-Star” models for returning and telling them that they “put [his] girls through college.”
Angelea Preston first appeared on “ANTM” as a contestant during Cycle 12 and also competed in Cycle 14, before finally winning Cycle 17.
Preston’s win never aired, as the model was pulled into a meeting with “ANTM’s” casting director Michelle Mock and CBS executives, who told her that due to her past involvement with sex work, her title was to be revoked. The finale was eventually reshot, with Lisa D’Amato crowned the official winner.
“Before I went on ‘All Stars,’ I was in a bind, and I was just desperate. I wasn’t thinking straight,” says Preston in the documentary. “This show would have changed my life for the better. Just for them to take my shit away from me.”Before “All Stars,” Preston met with Mock, and they discussed her involvement with sex work. “I know what happened to you, but I want you to take this opportunity and run with it,” Mock told her, prior to the season starting.
The show never explicitly stated why Preston was disqualified or that she was the original winner, only raising questions from fans when the panel declared that Preston had been disqualified due to her revealing “some information” to the producers.
Jeana Turner (Cycle 24) has struggled with alopecia since she was 10 years old.
Turner was a long-time fan of the show — and Banks — and was devastated when she found out that Cycle 24’s sponsor was a hair care brand, rather than the makeup companies “ANTM” typically partnered with.
“How was I ever going to win once I was told Pantene was the sponsor?” said Turner. “I don’t have hair.”
Before coming on the show, the model appeared in Playboy, a move she said helped increase her confidence in her sexuality. Banks made her disapproval of Turner’s work clear, to the point that Turner began crying during her audition, trying to explain herself. In the middle of the conversation, Banks switched topics completely and told Turner to tell the room about her alopecia. The Playboy segment of the conversation never aired, making it appear as though Turner was breaking down over her condition.
“That was the very first way that they manipulated my emotions to get a certain scene,” says Turner, who explained that she was told she was getting a wig during the show’s makeover segment, but was ultimately left with a shaved head.
“Looking back on it, their editing was that deceptive that they were actually able to make an audience think I felt powerful. I felt so small.”