Curse of: America’s Next Top Model

Episode: America’s Next Top Body Shamer

Host: Bridget Armstrong
Release Date: November 11, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode, “America’s Next Top Body Shamer,” is a deep exploration of America’s Next Top Model’s (ANTM) toxic legacy of body shaming. Host Bridget Armstrong investigates how ANTM amplified the fashion industry’s most harmful standards, especially regarding bodies and weight, leaving lasting scars on contestants and viewers alike. Through interviews with former contestants, writers, and experts, and with a wealth of show clips, the episode exposes the emotional toll, hypocrisy, and contradictions at the heart of Tyra Banks’s so-called crusade for body positivity.

Key Sections & Discussion Points

1. Trigger Warning & Setting the Stage

[03:30] Bridget Armstrong: “I want to give you a heads up that this one will be all about ANTM's legacy of body shaming... candidly about the experiences of body dysmorphia and disordered eating. So if you have a history... just be mindful with this one.”

2. The Early Weight-Shaming on ANTM

• Tyra Banks, in a 2020 retrospective, tries to distance herself from show’s early practices of weighing contestants, claiming she’s now “appalled.”
  • Quote:
    Tyra Banks (clip, [05:00]): “I looked at it and I was like, it just made me sick.”
• Armstrong points out the hypocrisy, noting weigh-ins continued through Cycle 4.
• Notable show moments:
  • Contestants called “huge” for being 5'9” and 138 pounds, and eliminated as a consequence.
  • Judges routinely picked apart contestants’ bodies:
    • “She needs to lose five to ten pounds... They’re all fat. It’s one thing. What are you eating?” (multiple clips, [07:20–09:00])

Armstrong: “ANTM took one of the most toxic parts of the fashion world and amplified it for our entertainment. And as a result, they taught an entire generation of young women how to hate their bodies.” (~[10:00])

3. Personal Testimonies — Contestants’ Stories

a. Ioanna House (Cycle 2 Winner)

• Shared her 50-pound weight loss on the show, which producers made her entire storyline.

• Describes how repeated focus on her “transformation” led to fixating on body perfection, compulsive exercise, eventual eating disorder.

• Ioanna House:
  “It felt like that was like a tagline or like it was a storyline that had to be constantly reiterated and repeated...” ([14:10])

  Ioanna House:
  “It just caused me so much self-loathing. It actually created a body dysmorphia. I had a lot of struggle, so I'm going to get emotional...” ([16:50])

b. Giselle Sampson (Cycle 1)

• Developed bulimia after hearing Tyra critique her “wide ass” in show edits.

• Giselle Sampson:
  “So clearly I'm not good enough. Clearly I can't be a model. So how do I get rid of this wide ass? Oh, maybe I should stop eating... now I feel guilty. How about I go throw that up now?” ([19:25])

c. Kenya Hill (Cycle 4)

• The show manufactured a storyline about her “gaining too much weight” despite her being model-thin.
• Judges, producers, and even fellow contestants fixated on her supposed weight gain, often absurdly and cruelly.

• Kenya Hill:
  “It honestly was also, like, a bit of a mind fuck for me... Then to go on the show and have people say, you're not skinny enough is a huge mindfuck.” ([26:45])

• Kenya recounts how public perception and repeated fat-shaming still make her self-conscious today:

  “Even still to this day, like, I am mindful of, is there anybody, like, watching me eat right now?” ([32:10])

4. Eating Disorders Exploited for Storylines

Cassie Grisham (Cycle 3)

• Show highlighted and exploited her bulimia, turning it into fodder for drama instead of intervening with real help.
• Contestants noticed Cassie’s eating disorder; it became public knowledge among them.

• Cassie Grisham:
  “If I'm feeling that I'm happy and I'm doing fine and this is making me happy by doing this, then that's all that matters to me.” ([45:55])

• Guest plus-size model Kate Dillon and nutritionist brought on for a group talk (“moderation and consistency”)—not genuine help.
• A devastating go-see sequence has designer Mark Bauer measure Cassie’s thighs and directly tell her, “Your thighs are a little big for this dress.”
• Cassie’s elimination comes not with concern for her health, but with the pretext that “she didn’t have any life behind her eyes.”

Michelle Konstantinofsky (journalist):
“That scene is so horrifying that it lives rent free somewhere in my brain... It's like, get her help and put a giant disclaimer on this show that you are only reinforcing the problem by keeping her here.” ([55:55])

5. The Double Standards and Broader Media Landscape

• Armstrong reflects on how the early 2000s were intensely toxic for young women’s self-image.
• Tyra herself faced public fat-shaming from tabloids, responded famously:

  Tyra Banks (on her talk show, [1:00:30]):
  “I have something to say to all of you that have something nasty to say about me or other women that are built like me. Kiss my fat ass.”

• But, as Jess Sims notes, Tyra’s behavior as a host/judge contradicts her claims to champion body positivity:

  “It can all come down to what's right for me is not right for you. Tyra didn't want people to talk negatively about her body, but that didn't stop her and the judges from talking about other people's bodies. On ANTM.” ([1:02:00])

6. Plus Size Contestants: Tokenization, Undermining, and Sabotage

a. Tokenism under the “Body Positivity” Banner

• Armstrong notes that despite ANTM’s “body positive” claims, it never had a plus-size season, and only one plus-size winner.

b. Sarah Hartshorn (Cycle 9)

• Cast as a “plus-size model” despite being a size 8—judges accused her of losing weight intentionally, even though agency reps afterward said she was the perfect size for plus-size modeling.

Sarah Hartshorn:
“They kept trying to get me to admit that I was trying to lose weight and that I was losing weight. But I was like, I know the numbers... I had lost like three pounds over the course of like, almost a month.” ([1:17:45])

c. Takara Jones (Cycle 3) — The Ultimate Set-Up

• Takara was the first plus-size contestant who entered with real confidence, charisma, and potential.
• ANTM set her up to fail:
  • Lingerie window challenge — no lingerie in her size, given an unflattering robe.
  • Alter ego photoshoot — assigned the “parking lot attendant” as her non-glamorous self, dressed in humiliating clothing.
  • Stylists repeatedly body-shamed her and undermined her talents.

• Armstrong:
  “While all the other girls got to be punk rock rebels and Amazonian warriors, they put Takara in an orange button-up shirt and khaki pants... it was so clear. ANTM set Takara up to fail.” ([1:30:55])

• Takara, even years later, is grateful for the platform, but the show never truly let her win.

d. Impact on Viewers

• Writer and plus-size model Stephanie Yaboa explains the deep impact ANTM representation had on aspiring models:

“With me watching it... I would feel this sense of, oh, well, I can't get into plus size modeling and I can't get into modeling full stop because America's Next Top Model is probably representative of modeling agencies worldwide.” ([1:46:55])

• Armstrong reflects on seeing how internalized standards made her root for the skinny, “winner” characters, not people like Takara:

  “I liked Acara, but I didn’t see her as a winner. I saw her as a supporting character because while skinny models like Eva were set up to win, plus size models were set up to be sidelined.” ([1:50:00])

7. ANTM’s Legacy and Tyra’s Contradictions

• Tyra claims she was battling to be a beauty crusader while also trying to prepare the models for industry standards.

  Tyra Banks:
  “I was this unique beauty crusader... But even more important to me was being a beauty crusader. And so what ends up happening is that it's a clash, right? I'm saying, oh, I want all these unique beauties, but you need to change that because I have these agents in the background saying... she needs to change that.” ([1:56:00])

• Armstrong and guests argue Tyra and ANTM could have chosen to truly champion diverse beauty, but instead kept body shame as their throughline.

Jess Sims:
“They had to have somebody who they could criticize this way. They had to have somebody who could serve as a punching bag because they needed that extra level of toxicity in order to have audiences tune in.” ([2:01:00])

• Armstrong: “A lot of women didn’t tune in because they wanted to relate. They tuned in because for an hour every week, they got free rein to scrutinize other women’s bodies... After the episode ended... I don’t think they were left feeling inspired by Tyra’s unique beauty crusade. I think they squeezed their own thighs and arms, looked in the mirror and went to bed feeling a bit worse about themselves.” ([2:04:00])

Notable Quotes & Moments

• [05:00] Tyra Banks: “So season one, we had a weights and measures section... trying to be realistic in the modeling industry. Not trying to embarrass anybody. ...as we all evolve 20 years later, people are like, what the hell? Including me, including the creator of the show. I looked at it and I was like, it just made me sick.”
• [16:50] Ioanna House: “It just caused me so much self-loathing. It actually created a body dysmorphia. ...I created an anxiety disorder with exercise. I don't think I've really gotten over it until recently.”
• [19:25] Giselle Sampson: “So clearly I'm not good enough... Oh, maybe I should stop eating... How about I go throw that up now?”
• [26:45] Kenya Hill: “To go on the show and have people say, you're not skinny enough is a huge mindfuck.”
• [32:10] Kenya Hill: “Even still to this day, like, I am mindful of, is there anybody, like, watching me eat right now?”
• [55:55] Michelle Konstantinofsky: “That scene is so horrifying that it lives rent free somewhere in my brain. Looking back on it, it's hard not to yell at the TV and be like, get her help and put a giant disclaimer on this show...”
• [1:02:00] Jess Sims: “Tyra didn't want people to talk negatively about her body, but that didn't stop her and the judges from talking about other people's bodies.”
• [1:17:45] Sarah Hartshorn: “I knew I wasn't a size 0 or a size 2... and I knew that I wasn't that, but I didn't know what that meant. ...I had lost like three pounds over the course of like, almost a month.”
• [1:30:55] Armstrong: “It was so clear. ANTM set Takara up to fail. But in that moment, Takara blamed herself.”
• [1:46:55] Stephanie Yaboa: “I remember I would watch some cycles and I would feel this sense of, oh, well, I can't get into plus size modeling...”
• [1:56:00] Tyra Banks: “I was also this person trying to get these models work... I wanted them to get work. But even more important to me was being a beauty crusader.”
• [2:04:00] Armstrong: “I think they squeezed their own thighs and arms, looked in the mirror and went to bed feeling a bit worse about themselves.”

Key Takeaways & Insights

• Body shaming was a core feature of ANTM, with producers and judges actively manufacturing drama and self-doubt around contestants’ bodies.
• Contestants’ eating disorders were exploited for televised storylines instead of being met with help or compassion.
• The show repeatedly cast plus-size models as tokens, setting them up for failure or using them only to “prove a point” about industry standards, but not to actually diversify high fashion.
• Tyra Banks’s public persona and the show’s rhetoric about empowering women and redefining beauty are starkly at odds with what actually happened on- and off-camera.
• The legacy of ANTM’s body shaming is deeply internalized by both contestants and viewers, contributing to lasting body image issues.
• Despite late attempts to rebrand as body positive, ANTM’s history cannot be erased by slogans or diverse casting alone.

Structure & Timestamps

• Introduction & Warning – [03:30]
• ANTM’s weigh-ins & Season 1–4 body scrutiny – [05:00]–[10:00]
• Ioanna House & post-show struggles – [13:30]–[17:00]
• Giselle Sampson & narrative of self-doubt – [19:00]–[21:00]
• Kenya Hill & the cycle of scrutiny – [23:00]–[32:10]
• Cassie Grisham’s eating disorder storyline – [41:00]–[57:00]
• Media, hypocrisy, Tyra’s own fat-shaming – [59:00]–[1:03:00]
• Plus-size models, tokenism and sabotage – [1:11:00]–[1:40:00]
• Takara Jones’s set-ups and heartbreak – [1:30:00]–[1:44:00]
• Impact on viewers & legacy – [1:46:30]–[2:05:30]
• Closing thoughts & preview of finale – [2:05:30]

Final Thoughts

This episode is a searing, empathy-rich indictment of ANTM’s damaging and enduring legacy around body image. Through vivid stories and honest admissions, it interrogates not just the show’s impact, but the broader cultural appetite for body criticism. Listeners come away with a clearer understanding of ANTM as both a product of its time and an architect of toxic norms that still reverberate — with the critical question for the finale: was Tyra Banks a crusader, or the ultimate reality TV villain?

If you or someone you know is struggling with disordered eating, help is available:
Call the National Eating Disorder Association at 800-931-2237 or text NEDA to 741741.