Janice Dickinson exposes alleged cruelty on 'ANTM' fueled by Tyra Banks’ ego

Janice Dickinson has spoken out about her time on America’s Next Top Model, claiming the show pushed contestants to the brink for the sake of Tyra Banks’ ego.

A decade after working together, Dickinson slammed Banks as a “hardcore b****” and said the model-turned-TV mogul encouraged her to be cruel to the contestants. Dickinson also alleged that Banks was especially harsh on Black models.

Speaking on E!’s Dirty Rotten Scandals, Dickinson said, “The producers, especially Tyra, were begging me to be harsher and cruel, like Simon Cowell was on American Idol.”

She continued, “Tyra didn’t want any competition. She went off on one girl and it was so frightening that I was going to get up and hold her down. She would go harder on the Black girls on the show because of competitiveness and jealousy and her being older than these young women. She was always trying to be this tough teen mom to the girls, but she didn’t know them and didn’t give them enough confidence.”

Dickinson added, “They left the show completely depressed and depleted while she got so rich. America’s Next Top Model really tortured these girls for Tyra’s ego. I was there and I saw it for four seasons. She was a hardcore b****.”

Meanwhile, former ANTM creative director Jay Manuel also opened up about the tension behind the scenes. 

In the Netflix documentary Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, Manuel, 53, said Banks refused to speak with him after he emailed to thank her for the opportunity.

“She didn’t respond. It was probably the longest three days ever. And she ultimately wrote back just three words: ‘I am disappointed,’” Manuel recalled.

He added, “After that email exchange, all communication just stopped. It should’ve been the opportunity to have a heart-to-heart, but that did not happen.”

Manuel returned to ANTM for one more cycle after network executives at UPN convinced him to come back while they searched for a replacement. 

Reflecting on that period, he told People, “Tyra chose not to speak with me at all while the cameras were off. When they were on, she’d speak to me. After [trying to leave], I did cycle nine, which was … torture for me. I was so broken by the end of that cycle because of the mental torture of what was going on.”