New ‘Top Model’ Doc Attempts to Say What the First One Already Said Better

“America’s Next Top Model really tortured these girls for Tyra Banks’s ego,” Janice Dickinson, the self-proclaimed “first supermodel,” proclaims in a new two-part docu-series that aims to expose the dark underbelly of a show that was already given the same treatment in a better, more thorough and more artfully produced series that came out a month ago.

Reality Checked, directed by Mor Loushy and Daniel Sivan, featured Banks herself, as well as the show’s three biggest staples: Jay Manuel, J. Alexander and Nigel Barker. It also featured co-creator and executive producer Ken Mok and former President of Entertainment at UPN, Dawn Ostroff, as well as ten former contestants on the show. The latest documentary, a day late and a dollar short, adds little new to the conversation, notably featuring only Dickinson amongst those behind the scenes (and not once taking her to task for the torment she caused, instead allowing her to cede responsibility to Banks alone) ends up feeling more like a cash grab than a necessary coda to a conversation that’s already been had.

“Tyra’s trying to make a show that’s entertaining, even if it is exploitative.” That’s something we hear via talking head in E!’s Dirty Rotten Scandals. There’s something sinisterly ironic about attempting to expose exploitation by creating a new cycle of it in your efforts. For instance, Lisa D’Amato, who describes her experience on Top Model as “psychological warfare,” is then forced to sit and watch clips of herself in a drunken stupor on the show.

For what gain? I couldn’t help but think of Cycle 2 contestant Shandi Sullivan who, during a 2005 appearance on The Tyra Banks Show, was forced to watch herself blacking out during her time on Top Model and then being filmed having sex with a stranger. Again: For what gain? At least in D’Amato’s case, she seems to have consented, but that doesn’t make it any less icky to witness.

Watching the latest documentary, seeing some of the exact same stories recounted by the exact same people, I began to wonder who was really coming out on top here. Let’s explore.