Five former “America’s Next Top Model” contestants have united to lobby the government for greater legal protections for reality TV stars.
Jeana Turner, who was a finalist on “America’s Next Top Model” Season 24, revealed in an Instagram video that she, Brittany Hatch, Sarah VonderHaar, Giselle Samson and Sarah Hartshorne met together with members of the California legislative board to “begin conversations about changing legislation and amending current laws to bring stronger protections to reality TV contestants, specifically after our experiences with ‘ANTM.’”
Turner has been outspoken about her experiences making “America’s Next Top Model” and the behavior of producer-host Tyra Banks and others involved with the show. The reality series, which has had three life cycles to date — on UPN (2003-2006), The CW (2006-2015) and VH1 (2016-2018) — returned to the national conversation this week, thanks to the release of “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model” on Netflix.
The new, three-part docuseries explores the controversies and behind-the-scenes problems that occurred during the making of the reality-competition show. The doc highlights instances of alleged sexual harassment and body-shaming on the series’ set, as well as Banks herself even pushing one contestant to get a dental procedure during the filming of the show’s sixth season.
“This is no longer just about telling our stories, it’s about making sure what happened on ‘ANTM’ doesn’t further perpetuate to affecting the next generation of girls just chasing a dream or any reality TV contestant,” Turner said on Thursday. “This is not just one person speaking out. This is multiple women speaking out. We are so much stronger in numbers, and we are pushing for real accountability and real change.”
“Turning our stories into action,” she further wrote in her Instagram caption. “We aren’t stopping until we see real change.”
In Netflix’s “Reality Check,” Banks appears on camera and acknowledges that she went “too far” sometimes during the making of “ANTM,” including in one viral moment when she loudly screamed at a contestant over her unbothered reaction to being eliminated. That did not stop Banks, however, from using “Reality Check” to tease another potential season of “America’s Next Top Model.”
“After the show, I had so many different ideas for my life. I’m obsessed with pivoting,” Banks said. “I feel like my work is not done. You have no idea what we have planned for cycle 25.”
