When it comes to reality television, few shows are as iconic—for all the right and wrong reasons—as America’s Next Top Model.
The brainchild of supermodel Tyra Banks, the series saw a group of aspiring models (initially all women) compete in increasingly absurd challenges that involved themed photoshoots, runway walks, faux commercials, and more, all to see who’d wind up on top, winning a coveted modeling contract.
Even if you never watched the show, chances are you’re very familiar with countless moments that have become memes (“I was rooting for you, we were all rooting for you!,” among many, many others) and more—even RuPaul himself has said Drag Race was initially inspire by the show.
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To put it bluntly: ANTM changed pop culture as we know it.
@tanaslaughter Tyra Banks yells at Tiffany Richardson, April 2005 #tyrabanks #americasnexttopmodel #antm #popculture #2000s ♬ som original – tana
It’s also been plagued with controversy since the very beginning.
Body-shaming, weird racial politics, challenges that seemed designed to humiliate the contestants, harsh critiques from judges that felt way too personal, numerous stories of behind-the-scenes drama… it was a mess! And it only looks much, much worse in hindsight.
While it remained on air for a shockingly long time (24 seasons between 2003 and 2018!), it’s probably for the best that ANTM has been put to rest for now. Unless it came back with some serious re-tooling—more inclusive casting, less problematic challenges, etc…—there’s just no way the series could survive in today’s media landscape.
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But apparently Germany doesn’t have an issue with any of that!
That’s right, Germany’s Next Topmodel is still going strong. (We can’t explain why, but we love the smashing together of “Top” and “Model” into one word for the title.)
Currently in its 19th season, it’s the longest-running international adaptation of ANTM, and it’s been hosted the entire time by Heidi Klum, who somehow managed to do this between other gigs like Project Runway, America’s Got Talent, and Making The Cut. (Girl, do you need a nap?)
In many ways, GNTM has faced backlash, criticisms, and controversies similar to its American counterpart, though it’s made frequent tweaks and attempts to improve itself. For example, in 2021, it named its first trans winner, Alex-Mariah Peter—who was only the second trans model franchise-wide to win after Loiza Lamers on Holland’s Next Top Model in 2015.
And for its most recent cycle, GNTM has male models competing for the very first time! Which is probably why a recent challenge has managed to makes its way to our (very gay) social media feeds…
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In one of the competition’s latest episodes, the remaining contestants were tasked with facing the elements in a revealing photoshoot, which had them standing in a giant pool while being blasted with artificial rainfall and wind machines. Oh yeah, and they were wearing nothing but see-through ponchos and boots.
You can watch it all go down in the clip below, which is in German by the way, but come on do you really even need to know what’s being said?
Best we can tell from YouTube’s auto-translated captions, the models were wearing some form of adhesive cover-up under there, but we have to imagine whatever it is is pretty skimpy considering the show’s generous use of a modesty blur.
Still, the whole thing’s pretty revealing as the contestants let it all hang out in front of Heidi, their photographer, and the production crew. In the end, everyone is soaking wet. Literally.
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That time Tyra Banks told a model not to be proud about being gay has come back to haunt her
Old clips from “America’s Next Top Model” have been recirculating online and they have not aged well.
Is this another “classic Top Model challenge” (derogatory) that pushes its models to uncomfortable, potentially embarrassing places for the sake of television? Or is this just something they all knowingly signed up for when they joined the show. Opinions are likely to vary, especially as American audiences catch wind of (pun intended, we guess?) the photoshoot.
But, hey, the models seem to be having fun, and those photos turned out pretty cool—and tasteful—so, Top Model‘s gonna Top Model we suppose!
Check out a few shot’s from Germany’s Next Topmodel below:
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“I’m proud to be part of the gay community in my personal life.”
Ken A.
Uncensored version?