“I wish all of them nothing but health and happiness in their future endeavors.”
But, the go-sees' first go-round ended with one of the darkest momentsANTMever captured on camera.
“He reached out and up my skirt,” she says.
Most shocking moments in ‘America’s Next Top Model’ history.Hulu / Amazon Prime / CW
“I was in such deep shock.
We’re not allowed to talk, but they all put themselves between me and this dude.
They were there for me.”
Adrianne Curry on go-sees in Paris on ‘America’s Next Top Model’ cycle 1.UPN
“I couldn’t get my s— together.
“He just went off,” says Curry.
“I just thought,gross, weirdo, a–hole.
Adrianne Curry during the nude shoot on ‘America’s Next Top Model’ cycle 1.UPN
As it processed, I felt worse about it.
It’s not something you feel good about.
You feel violated, and it’s gross.”
Adrianne Curry and Shannon Stewart on ‘America’s Next Top Model’ cycle 1.UPN
They showed me where I was going to be posing.
“Now, I would’ve told them, ‘Eff you.’
In the end, both sat the shoot out.
Shandi Sullivan calls her boyfriend, Eric, on ‘America’s Next Top Model’ cycle 2.UPN
“I think some people get really caught up with an image,” she says of Manning.
“I always suspected that the debutante of our show cared more about image than reality.”
“Your life is going to change.”
Eva Marcille poses with a tarantula on ‘America’s Next Top Model’ cycle 3.UPN
Who the f— would fight as hard as we fought for that?”
“[The agents] wanted me to fail.
They straight-up told me.
Eva Marcille, Ann Markley, Yaya DaCosta, Norelle van Herk, and Amanda Swafford on ‘America’s Next Top Model’ cycle 3.UPN
“Twenty years ago, Wilhelmina had different owners and staff.
Wilhelmina is now a public company.
I’m going to say something nice about him.
Ann Markley hugs Yaya DaCosta and Amanda Swafford goodbye on ‘America’s Next Top Model’ cycle 3.UPN
He’s a smart guy and he was like, ‘You got f—ed!’
“So, we went into Wilhelmina and he’s like, ‘Break this contract.
You guys f—ed her over.'”
Noelle Staggers switching races for a photoshoot on ‘America’s Next Top Model’ cycle 4.UPN
“They did less than nothing for her as an agency,” he says.
“Tyra Banks learned to look out for Tyra Banks.
She’s a product of her environment, and I don’t blame her.
Tyra Banks flips out on Tiffany Richardson on ‘America’s Next Top Model’ cycle 4.UPN
For her to be as successful as she is, bravo.
She didn’t owe me s—,” says Curry.
“I know there are a lot of bitter contestants.
Kahlen Rondot’s graveyard shoot on ‘America’s Next Top Model’ cycle 4.UPN
I’m not at all.
(Banks declined to comment on Curry’s allegations about Wilhelmina.)
“I was really drunk, falling down.
Keenyah Hill on ‘America’s Next Top Model’ cycle 4.UPN
“We had sex for two seconds, that was it, and then I passed out.
When I woke up, I was like, ‘Oh s—-,” Sullivan remembers.
“It wasn’t safe, and I wanted to verify he was [clean].
Brittany Hatch on ‘America’s Next Top Model’ cycle 8.THE CW
They ended up [filming] me talking to the guy, like, ‘Do you have STDs?
When was the last time you were tested?’
Thinking about that now, it’s so bizarre.
50 Cent and Jael Strauss on ‘America’s Next Top Model’ cycle 8.THE CW
Like, this is my life, it’s not a scripted thing.”
Sullivan says the camera crew even told her that they regretted having to capture it for the series.
“They weren’t supposed to talk to us,” Sullivan remembers.
Brittany Hatch and Natasha Galkina on ‘America’s Next Top Model’ cycle 8.THE CW
“But after, they were like, ‘We’re so sorry we had to film that.'”
Everyone, including production, was surprised to find out what had transpired.”
And she showed it.
Chantal Jones and Saleisha Stowers on ‘America’s Next Top Model’ cycle 9.THE CW
This goes against her beliefs.”
And I’m like, oh, s—, did something happen to someone?
“I’m like ‘Why the f— would we do that!?'”
Tyra Banks scolds Celia Ammerman on ‘America’s Next Top Model’ cycle 12.THE CW
“I have no clue how this picture did not just have tears everywhere.
I don’t know how I got a good picture at all.
“But,” she cautions, “don’t take pictures with tarantulas.
Tyra Banks and Natalie Pack on ‘America’s Next Top Model’ cycle 12.THE CW
Those s–ts aren’t nice.
Those little hairs you see?
They stick to you as it moves.
Jennifer An on ‘America’s Next Top Model’ cycle 13.THE CW
It’s scratching, and it’s horrible.”
“I called my mom from a payphone in Guam, and was telling her what happened.
“The robes we were wearing?
Angelea Preston and Lisa D’Amato on ‘America’s Next Top Model’ cycle 17.THE CW
From the hotel,” Markley remembers, laughing.
“He threw that together!”
Well, it’s certainly better than Japanese officials throwingthe bookat them, that’s for sure.
Kelly Cutrone clashes with Louise Watts on ‘America’s Next Top Model’ cycle 18.THE CW
Before she finishes the sentence, she trailed off into another thought.
“You will be at my wedding,” Markley continued to Marcille through tears.
“I swear to God.”
In fact, the pair aren’t much of a presence in each other’s lives at all.
“I have not [regularly] talked to Ann since we leftTop Model.”
“I started to question it.
“I definitely intentionally didn’t hug her, because I was mad,” Markley says.
“It’s such a bitchy, college move.
Like, just ice somebody out.
But, I’m an adult now.”
“Would I like to see her?
Sure, but we all have our lives.”
“We’re actually going to switch your ethnicities!”
The reaction in the room was nothing short of… well… standard for the time.
It’s not that deep for me.”
Those are two different things; look at the context.”
“She needs to take responsibility for certain things.
I realize this was 20 years ago, but how did we think this was actually okay?”
for seemingly dismissing the show.
“I felt like I was f—ing up every goddamn time.
They were ripping me apart.
She heard me, and she said something to Janice [Dickinson] like, ‘You hear her?’
They took that and ran with it.”
“She told me how I could go back and sleep on a dirty mattress with my baby.
She got deep with it.
Of course they didn’t show that.
“That right there let me know that you weren’t rooting for me.
You didn’t give a f— about me.
“She had to protect her image.
She had to groom me up.
I did interviews after that, so I had nothing but nice things to say about her.
Then I saw her for what she was as time went by,” Richardson says.
And she didn’t.
She doesn’t owe me anything, but she said it, so it made me think that.”
that go into filming a competition series.”
Still, Rondot was overwhelmed, and nearly quit the competition.
“I turned around at one point and started to walk away.
I thought I was going to keep walking and not come back,” she says.
“Even now, it brings stuff up.
“Of course, yes, 100 percent.
“I was going to be a model, and Tyra found me,” Rondot remembers.
I was like, this is a way to deal with it.
I felt like Tyra pulled a lot more strings than we were able to know.
These people become objects and are dehumanized for enjoyment.
That shows a lot about a person’s character.”
Footage is then cut and narrowed down before Banks enters with a team of people for review.
Cuts are then sent to the internet and undergo a series of notes and edits before finalizing.
The web connection has final sign-off on all episodes.”
“I thought, in my head,What would Tyra do in this situation?”
“By the time we got to the set, I wasalreadyuncomfortable.
I’m telling him, ‘No.’
Three times, I turned him down.”
I just wanted her to have a good picture.")
That wasn’t the case, she remembers, because Banks advised Hill about handling the alleged harassment differently.
At panel, Banks told Hill to use her “feminine wiles” to combat advances on set.
But, Hatch explains, there was a good reason for her tears.
It wasn’t until a group heart-to-heart with Banks on episode 6 that any progress was made.
“I think your lesson today is: Sometimes you have to speak up,” Banks told her.
Representatives for 50 Cent did not address EW’s request for comment on this incident.
(Executive producer Laura Fuest Silva did not respond to EW’s multiple requests for comment.)
Given Hatch’s story, though, seems like reality TV can be a disturbing battleground, too.
“I don’t think that’s true.
I genuinely worked for it.
I was put through the entire audition process, as every other girl was.
Did I do things prior to it?
Did I have modeling campaigns?
I don’t know if the fans will ever recognize that,” she continues.
“I’m not going to sit here and pretend like I don’t know you.
“I hope people will hear me and understand when I say I really did work for it.
I put a lot of pressure on myself.”
And, apparently, over the years that followed, too.
“You know what I think is unfair?
That you’re saying this, and not Tahlia.
“So, the judges have made their decision.
Take your place, Celia.”
(Ammerman did not respond to EW’s request for comment.)
“Like the original Ru.”
Except for when she was eliminated, as fellow contestant Fo Porter confirms.
“No one talks to Tyra like that, do you know what I mean?”
“Natalie was defending herself against all of these people.
Pack who now goes by the name Natalie O’Connell did not respond to EW’s multiple requests for comment.
“I didn’t know we were going to have our bodies painted.
“They definitely didn’t show any of that footage.”
“I looked around and I’m like, ‘Guys, but I’m in blackface right now.’
And they were like, ‘Yeah, yeah, it’s fine.’
Like, what can I do?
So, I was like, let me just shut my mouth and stay on the show.”
“It’s weird when I look at the photo.
Mostly, I feel like it was a mistake.
Like, it just shouldn’t have happened.”
A representative for Banks, however, points to a prior statement from the supermodel.
I’m a Black woman.
My intention is to spread beauty and break down barriers.”
“I was so hurt,” she remembers.
“I felt like my life and career was ruined.
I’m going to be blacklisted, I’m never going to be a model now.
This is something that was always going to follow me.
The story surrounding the ordeal, though, continues to twist.
“I recognize the good,” Preston says.
“But, was it really an opportunity?
For some, yeah.
But for a lot of us?
We’re speaking from experience, and sometimes the truth hurts.
“I didn’t like her tone,” remembers Watts.
“She was just horrible.”
“I tell everybody that works for me not to run on sets.
It’s a standard thing in the industry.
“[Louise had] zero regard for hierarchy and zero understanding of how the industry works.”
“I don’t believe in that stuff.
You speak to people how you want to be spoken to,” Watts continues.
“There’s no hierarchy.
She was talking out of her ass with that.”
Watts stormed off in tears.
“She thought she’d embarrass me on panel, and I thought,I’ve had enough.
But I held that in.”
“She attacked me,” Cutrone adds.
“She ran off stage, went off into the parking lot, andthat’swhen the cameras turned off.”
(Representatives for producer Laura Fuest Silva did not respond to EW’s multiple requests for comment.)
“They said my picture would’ve been the winner that week,” Watts recalls.
“I went, ‘No, I’ll be f—ed if I do that.
I’m not apologizing.’
Just to be [back] on the Tyra show?
That’s when I said, ‘Get me out.'”
“That format isn’t for everyone.
Some people thrive as contestants, and some suffer.
It’s like that on all reality TV shows.
We have a front row seat, watching people learn how to navigate or drown.”
