Speaker 1: Think back to the early two thousands. You're flipping through
Speaker 1: TV channels and then you hear this.
Speaker 2: I was rooting for you. We're all rooting for you.
Speaker 2: How damn you learn something from this?
Speaker 1: America's Next Top Model was my show, and it might
Speaker 1: have been yours too. But these days, that iconic show
Speaker 1: that so many of us love seems pretty horrified.
Speaker 2: Robin, first of all, is too old to be starting
Speaker 2: that model.
Speaker 1: She's huge, She's got rolls of skin that hang over
Speaker 1: her jeans.
Speaker 2: Do you really think you can have a coverball contract
Speaker 2: with the gap in your mouth?
Speaker 3: Today?
Speaker 1: Some people think A and TM was cursed because of
Speaker 1: what happened to so many of the models once the
Speaker 1: camera stopped rolling.
Speaker 2: I was in debt after the show.
Speaker 3: We've basically sold our souls and they got rich.
Speaker 1: I'm Bridget Armstrong, and this is the curse of America's
Speaker 1: Next Top Model. I'm a journalist covering pop culture. For
Speaker 1: the past six months, I've been investigating the real story
Speaker 1: of A and TM by talking to the models, the producers,
Speaker 1: and the people who profited from it. All were starting
Speaker 1: at the very beginning with the story of how the
Speaker 1: show almost didn't happen.
Speaker 2: They ran out of money. They were like using bread
Speaker 2: bag ties to like hold curtains together. I guess we were,
Speaker 2: you know, the guinea pigs.
Speaker 1: And exploring how a show that was supposed to be
Speaker 1: about making dreams come true ended up ruining so many contestants' careers.
Speaker 3: No one wanted to see me after the show.
Speaker 1: I couldn't get an agency, Like they completely destroyed me.
Speaker 1: Back then, we believe they just didn't have what it
Speaker 1: took to be on top. But after talking to many
Speaker 1: former contestants, I think it's much deeper than that. Maybe
Speaker 1: they were set up for a failure.
Speaker 3: If someone had a particular fear, we would find out
Speaker 3: in the costings skin of hots. Maybe this socle we
Speaker 3: should do a run wape thirty five. I have stories
Speaker 3: in the air and let them walk off the plank.
Speaker 2: Somebody had a sick relative. They would push her and
Speaker 2: push her and push her, like are you afraid they're
Speaker 2: gonna die while you're here? The challenges turned into let's
Speaker 2: see what kind of crazy shit can come out of this.
Speaker 1: I talked to Katz crew and producers who were there
Speaker 1: for some of the show's most shocking moments.
Speaker 2: She like, we're running for you, We're already for Like,
Speaker 2: if you were so rooting for her and saw her drowning,
Speaker 2: what did you help her? There was a huge chunk
Speaker 2: that got cut out of that. Tyra got real personal
Speaker 2: with her and she hit her alow the belt. I'm
Speaker 2: just clutching my pearls. Okay at this point, it is
Speaker 2: oh scary.
Speaker 1: Top Model had so many viewers in a trance. But
Speaker 1: when it was all over, what were we left with?
Speaker 2: Putting it all across America that I have a white ass.
Speaker 2: I ended up having an erexia issue after that, bolimia
Speaker 2: issues after that.
Speaker 1: Why would you humiliate someone like this and make them
Speaker 1: feel as if.
Speaker 2: Their very normal body is wrong?
Speaker 1: America's Next Top Model taught me that, like everything is
Speaker 1: a woman's fault, it didn't matter what was always your fault.
Speaker 1: And in the end, maybe the Curse of America's Next
Speaker 1: Top Model wasn't just about what happened to the contestants.
Speaker 1: Maybe it was what the show revealed about us, what
Speaker 1: we wanted to believe, and what we were willing to watch.
Speaker 1: Listen to the Curse of America's Next Top Model starting
Speaker 1: on September sixteenth on the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts or
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts.