We were rooting for you,Reality Check, we were all rooting for you!

But alas,Netflix‘s documentary about the rise and fall ofAmerica’s Next Top Modelis a rather grueling and self-serious affair which attempts to turn the reality hit that ran for 24 seasons into a cultural war crime.

Across three episodes,Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Modelpresents many of the well-known controversies surrounding the reality hit and interviews the show’s oft-apologetic producers and coaches — includingTyra Banks.Related StoriesTV'Terminator Zero' Canceled After Single Season at NetflixTVAll Apologies in Teaser for Duffer Brothers Netflix Series 'Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen'

As each “welp, that sure didn’t age well” moment is replayed, a Greek chorus of anonymous TikTokers is shown scolding from the sidelines trying to make the case thatTop Modelwas really,reallybad — lest viewers make up their own minds about any of it (one claims a singleTop Modelclip gave her an eating disorder which lasted decades).

That said, there’s plenty about the series — which ran from 2003 to 2018 — that is very cringeworthy, represents major lapses of judgment and would never make it on the air today. Banks herself also comes off rather poorly at the end of the documentary due to one anecdote which we’ll get to below.

Here are the seven most stand-out moments.

7.Tyra Banks Froze Out Jay Manuel After He Wanted to Leave Show. The show’s creative director says he sent Banks a polite email after the eighth season saying he was looking to move on from the series (“I didn’t like what the show was becoming,” Manuel explains in the documentary. “It was chipping away at my soul”). Three days went by and Banks sent a curt reply back reading, “I am disappointed.” After that, the network’s business affairs division pressured Manuel to stay on, but working with Banks became very difficult. “It was clear I was not allowed to speak with her outside [being on camera],” he said. “It was like psychological torture, I felt broken.” When asked on camera about the split, Banks refuses to comment.

6.The Fat Shaming Debate. The documentary dives into the show pressuring models to stay thin, while also acknowledging Banks’ oft-stated and sometimes successful efforts to try and bring more shapes, styles and ethnicities into mainstream modeling. “When we started filming I was a size 6, I was 5’10” and weighed 115 pounds I thought I looked good, but then you go on TV and you’re like, ‘Oh shit, maybe not,” says cycle 10 contestant Whitney Thompson. “It was a big juxtaposition to go into the fashion world where people are like, ‘You’re such a fat cow … it was just demeaning.'” Thompson also said the show refused to give her clothes for shoots that were in her size. But another model counters, “There was a lot of body shaming, but you have to remember it was 25 years ago and we were different back then.”

5.The Gap Controversy. Cycle 6 winner Dani Evans was heavily pressured by Banks and production to go to a dentist and get her tooth gap filled in or face elimination.Photographer Nigel Barker says now, I myself was like, ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea. I thought she looked great with the gap.'” Yet a few seasons later, Banks had another model surgicallywidenher gap. “I’ve actually apologized for the issue with Dani and it happened because there were agents that would tell me ‘she will not work with those teeth, it’s not going to happen,'” Banks says. Evans counters: “Bull-fucking-shit. Me getting my gap closed is not opening any doors for me. You were making good for TV at my expense.” Evans also says she learned some in the industry discriminated against models for being on the show. “Years later, Tyra [told me], ‘I knew there were certain doors you couldn’t even get into because you didTop Modeland I did nothing about it.'”

4.Regretting Those Race Swapping, Crime Scene Shoots. The team expressed regret over some of the show’s most notorious model shoot concepts. It’s jaw-dropping that after doing a clearly ill-advised shoot where models used makeup to “change their race,” the show did it a second time a few cycles later. “This was my way of showing the world that brown and black was beautiful,” Banks explains. “Then we put it out there and the world is like, ‘Are you crazy? Have you lost your mind?’ Looking at the show now through a 20/20 lens, it’s an issue and I understand 100 percent why.” Another session, where models posed as murdered crime scene victims, has executive producer Ken Mok making a rare mea culpa: “I take full responsibility for that shoot. That was a mistake. I look back now and think it was a celebration of violence. It was crazy. That one, I look back and I’m like, ‘You were an idiot.'”

Source: Drudge Report