There comes a time in every pop culture journey where you cancel plans, shut out the world, and block out everything that isn’t your favorite series, film, book, or comic. From Thursdays in Shondaland on ABC to Wednesdays for all things Chicago (P.D, Med, and Fire) — there are so many realms of entertainment that transport us into the lives of our favorite characters and shows.
There’s also the reality television realm which removes characters and takes us into the lives of people signing up for shows like The Amazing Race, The Real World, The Bachelor, or The Bachelorette. At one point, another reality TV show reigned supreme. You know it, the theme song probably still gets stuck in your head, and you likely had a love-hate relationship with the entire thing. We’re talking about America’s Next Top Model.
The series saw modeling hopefuls compete in many weekly challenges that grew harder as the competition got more fierce. From changing their looks completely to exploring several types of modeling and working under harsh conditions, the contestants were never sure what to expect from one week to the next.
In many circumstances, they didn’t know what to expect from one moment to the next, as a clip on Twitter highlights.
Reactions to the tweet ranged from horror to anger at Tyra for how she treated Joslyn. While viewers felt compassion and heartache for Joslyn, not one person (rightfully so) had anything positive to say about Tyra. What they did mention, however, were even more circumstances where the contestants were made to do unfair and, at times, emotionally scarring, challenges just to be treated like this.
After the Tweet was shared, several others wondered if ANTM was just Tyra Banks’ personal Squid Game.
Some even hoped for a documentary about the lives of those on the series, and this user came up with a pretty realistic title.
It’s not a surviving Tyra documentary, but Joslyn was interviewed after this happened, and the interviewer posted a link to several of the replies on Twitter.
What really made fans the most upset was the praise shown to Joslyn, not only correct before her shocking elimination, but on set the day she was sick (to the point of being physically ill) and still powering through. Fans have long discussed Tyra’s way of treating contestants on the series with a lack of compassion.
Many other fans of the series started to chime in at the reminder that the show might have seemed glamorous at the beginning but has not stood the test of time — Tyra Banks especially.
Were you ever a fan of ANTM? Did you immediately relate this scene to Tyra’s personal Squid Game? Let’s talk about it.