America’s Next Top Model reveals the horrible conditions she alleges ‘AMNT’ producers put the models in.
America’s Next Top Model has always had a long history of controversy. Yahoo!’s Shine lifestyle website said the show contained cruelty and elements of humiliation, and that some critiques from the judges are “really cruel and cringe-inducing”, claiming that the show “humiliates and degrades young women.”
The site also created the list “10 reasons why ‘America’s Next Top Model’ is bad for women, humans”, citing such things as giving the contestants and women viewers unrealistic visions of life as a model, and “always espousing empowerment and female strength and then forcing the contestants into embarrassing scenarios far outside the realm of real-life modeling”.
One such scenario highlighted was when two final contestants “were made to wear bikinis so skimpy that the producers had to blur out Allison’s butt cheeks”, and performed a “creepily sexual mud fight,” after which contestant Teyona Anderson was “commended for taking her weave in her hand and whipping it around on the runway like a sexy feather boa.”
An America’s Next Top Model contestant was stripped of her title when it was revealed she worked as an escort. But now, the aspiring model is arguing that the show is a sham in which girls are treated like animals in order to boost ratings.
Angela Preston, 29, won America’s Next Top Model cycle 17 but her moment of glory quickly ended. Producers took back her title and reshot the final scenes, handing the title to runner up Lisa D’Amato, 33.
Now Angelea is suing Tyra Banks and the show’s makers for $3 million.
In an interview with Angela, the aspiring model revealed the horrible conditions producers put the models in. Including, forcing the girls to film for 16 to 17 hours without food or water.
Preston has claimed that the girls were often forced to film for 16 or 17 hours without food or water and that for lengthy periods the contestants were ‘put on ice’ meaning they were not allowed to eat, drink or talk until called upon for filming. According to Angelea they were often kept in a holding room ‘on ice’ for hours on end, guarded by members of the production team.
In addition, AMNT producers withheld medical attention in order to film dramatic scenes, according to Angela.
And she has alleged that on one occasion crew withheld medical care when she suffered an anxiety attack and exhaustion following her final runway shoot so that the dramatic scenes could be captured on camera.
She said: ‘I used to admire Tyra so much. I wanted to be like her. I don’t want to be like her now. Tyra was non-existent. The only time we saw Tyra was at panel. Tyra never came in to talk to us personally.
‘When the cameras stopped rolling it’s like she’s a stranger.’
The aspiring model also revealed that America’s Next Top Model basically ruined her life and her chances of ever making it as a model.
Far from launching her career as a model America’s Next Top Model has, according to Angelea, destroyed any hope she might have of making it in the industry – branding her an escort and, she believes, rendering her all but unbookable.
She explained: ‘I couldn’t work after cycle 14 because of how I was portrayed. People viewed me as ghetto and a bitch, impossible to work with. They recognized me from the show and they didn’t want to even look at me.
To read the full interview visit Daily Mail Online.
