Bachelor Happy Hour - Introducing: Curse of: America’s Next Top Model

Episode Date: September 20, 2025

When America’s Next Top Model premiered in the early 2000s, it looked like a golden ticket: a glamorous TV show that could catapult aspiring models into fame. But two decades later, many contestants describe its aftermath as a curse. Hosted by pop-culture journalist Bridget Armstrong, Curse of: America’s Next Top Model is a deep investigation into the hidden costs of reality television, and what the show’s legacy reveals about beauty, power, and the culture that cheered it on. Through conversations with dozens of former contestants, producers and crew members, Curse of: America’s Next Top Model explores what happened behind the scenes on one of the most iconic and problematic reality shows of our generation. The series starts off by exploring how ANTM almost didn’t get made. You’ll get the real story behind the show’s most infamous controversies. Then, the models and producers pull back the curtain and talk about how the most outrageous photoshoots and runaways came together. You’ll hear from contestants who say ANTM saved their lives and from those who say it ruined theirs. The contestants also talk about how the body shaming they experienced on the show caused lifelong scars. Finally, we try to answer the question, is Tyra Banks the ultimate reality television villain? Curse of: America’s Next Top Model takes you on an investigative journey to figure out if the so-called curse is real? And if so, what was the toll on the models, and us, the audience? Listen here and subscribe to Curse of: America’s Next Top Model on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Think back to the early 2000s. You're flipping through TV channels, and then you hear this. I was rooting for you. We were all rooting for you. How dare you? Learn something from this. America's next top model was my show, and it might have been yours too. But these days, that iconic show that so many of us love, seems pretty horrifying.

Robin, first of all, is too old to be starting. She's huge. She's got rolls of skin that hang over her jeans. Do you really think you can have a cover girl contract with the gap in your mouth? Today, some people think A&M was cursed because of what happened to so many of the models once the camera stopped rolling. I was in debt after the show. We basically sold our souls and they got rich.

I'm Bridget Armstrong, and this is the curse of America's Next Top Model. I'm a journalist covering pop culture. For the past six months, I've been investigating the real story of A&M by talking to the models, the producers, and the people who profited from it all. We're starting at the very beginning, but the story of Howley's show almost didn't happen. They ran out of money. They were like using bread bag ties to like hold curtains together. I guess we were, you know, the guinea pigs.

And exploring how a show that was supposed to be about making dreams come true ended up ruining so many contestants' careers. No one wanted to see me after the show. I couldn't get an agency. Like, they completely destroyed me. Back then, we believed they just didn't have what it took to be on top. But after talking to many former contestants, I think it's much deeper than that.

Maybe they were set up for failure. If someone had a particular fear, we would find out in the castings, scared of heights. Maybe this cycle, we should do a runway, 35 stories in the air and let them walk off the plane. Somebody had a sick relative. They would push her and push her and push her. Like, are you afraid they're going to die while you're here? The challenges turn into, let's see what kind of crazy shit can come out of this.

I talked to cast, crew and producers, who were there for some of the show's most shocking moments. She's like, we're rooting for you, we're all rooting for you. Like, if you were so rooting for her and saw her drowning, what did you help her? There was a huge chunk that got cut out of that. Tyra got real personal with her, and she hit her below the belt. I'm just clutching my pearls. Okay? At this point, it is, ooh, scary.

Top model had so many viewers in a trans. But when it was all over, what were we left with? You're putting it all across America that I have a white ass. I ended up having anorexia issues after that, bulimia issues after that. Why would you humiliate someone like this and make them feel as if their very normal body is wrong? America's next top model taught me that like everything is a woman's fault. It didn't matter what it was always your fault. And in the end, maybe the curse of America's next top model wasn't just about what happened to the contestants.

Maybe it was what the show revealed about us, what we wanted to believe and what we were willing to watch. Listen to the curse of America's Next Top Model on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.