Like many reality shows from the late 2000s, many moments from America’s Next Top Model were seen as harmful or inappropriate. Premiering Feb. 16 is a three-part Netflix docuseries—Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model (ANTM)—that will revisit the show’s controversies. The docuseries features interviews with Banks, producer Ken Mok, judges Jay Manuel, J. Alexander (Miss J), and Nigel Barker, along with former contestants and winners. The series revisits allegations of body shaming, toxic beauty standards, racially insensitive photo shoots, and implied misconduct.
“I knew I went too far,” Banks admits, while acknowledging audience pressure to continually raise the stakes. At its peak, ANTM drew an estimated 100 million global viewers and ran for over 300 episodes. Banks admitted to not getting it right, but says she refused to have her legacy “reduced to internet clips when there were 24 cycles of changing the world.”