As Tyra Banks faces a new wave of backlash following her appearance in Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, some of her former protégés are coming to her defense.
Following the Netflix docuseries’ release last week, former contestants Adrianne Curry, Isis King and Jaslene Gonzalez were among those defending the modeling competition show’s host and executive producer, as was former host Kelly Cutrone.
Curry, who won Cycle 1 of ANTM in 2003, wrote in part on X, “Ugh, I hate that I have to do this. I dont think Tyra should be canceled. I don’t think being an asshole merits the hate and HOA Karen cancel mob she is getting. I was deeply hurt by Tyra and Ken Mok…but people trying to ‘hurt’ them does absolutely nothing to make me feel better. It feels the opposite. It makes me feel uncomfortable. I forgive them. I am grateful for everything I did get from that experience…and take the bad stuff as the ultimate learning curve in how Hollywood operates. LIE, cheat, manipulate, repeat.”
The Surreal Life alum reasoned that Banks and fellow EP Ken Mok “acted exactly as everyone else in Entertainment does,” noting that reality TV producers “exploit and humiliate you based off what you give them. They froth at the mouth for you to make a mistake that they can then monetize off of.”
Curry added, “Let the girls on the show have their anger….or their gratefulness…and hopefully, their forgiveness of themselves and these people. Forcing people to apologize for crap they are not sorry for is a damn struggle session and it feels…evil. 2 wrongs doth not a right make. Wherever Tyra and Ken are…I am both grateful and disappointed on how things went down. I forgive being stricken from the show’s history, erased from its memory. I forgive things not being what we were told they’d be. I’m humbled and grateful I got what I did. I don’t think what the public is doing….this Karen Accountability Struggle Session is right…but I’m not going to label you two angels. Thank you and f%ck off, respectfully.”
Ugh, I hate that I have to do this. I dont think Tyra should be canceled. I dont think being an asshole merits the hate and HOA Karen cancel mob she is getting. I was deeply hurt by Tyra and Ken Mok…but people trying to “hurt” them does absolutely nothing to make me feel…
— Adrianne Curry (@AdrianneCurry) February 23, 2026
Isis King, the first openly trans woman to compete on the show (Cycles 11 and 17), told People, “I became an actress and all of these things that I would’ve never had that opportunity if I didn’t go on the show, so I can’t downplay how impactful it’s been for my life.”
Noting she was able to get gender-affirming surgery after her first time on the show in 2008, King said, “That’s when small TV opportunities started to happen. It started to be a little breakthrough for trans actors. Every few years, an opportunity would come like that, which is what I really wanted. Then, finally, bigger opportunities started to happen.”
Cycle 8 winner Gonzalez told People she still sees the show as “a life-transforming experience,” explaining, “My feeling with America’s Next Top Model has not changed since day one. I continue to be a fan of the show and of Tyra and the legacy that it’s left behind — especially with the way it’s transformed my life in such a positive way.”
After first auditioning for Cycle 7, at a time when she was in an abusive relationship, Banks and the producers encouraged her seek help. “When that was brought up, I took the initiative to learn what domestic violence was. I did six months of therapy and regained my confidence, got out of that relationship, came back. So that is the core of my experience with Top Model is the fact that they didn’t give up on me, they brought something to my attention, they believed in me, and then they gave me an opportunity even after,” she added.
Tyra Banks on ‘Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model’
Netflix
Cutrone, who was a judge on Cycles 18 to 22, called out fellow judge Jay Manuel for his criticisms of Banks. “Side note – Jay never even worked in the fashion industry – he worked at a MAC make up counter in Toronto,” she wrote in an Instagram comment, according to Entertainment Weekly.
“Tyra boosted him and how did he repay here – by writing a novel about her and the show (which no one bought) and now he is trying to become relevant by being out there trashing her again – maybe he will get a deal as a spokesperson for spray tanning or filler,” added Cutrone. “He was so incredibly rude to me my first day on the show – he come up to me and said – welcome to the show – you are in the ejector seat (meaning anyone who sat in that seat – Andre et) WA fired – oddly enough he was [done] at the end of that seaso,” added Cutrone.
Now available to stream, Reality Check: Inside ANTM unpacks some of the UPN/CW/VH1 reality show’s controversies, including Shandi Sullivan’s onscreen sexual assault, multiple instances of blackface and Banks’ infamous “we were all rooting for you” outburst at Tiffany Richardson.
While ANTM‘s past models and judges have been commended for opening up on the Netflix docuseries, many feel that Banks did not fully take responsibility for her past actions and behavior.
