In Netflix’s America’s Next Top Model Doc, A Harrowing Story Reveals the Ethical Fog of Reality TV

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I never thought a documentary about America’s Next Top Model would make me consider warfare, but looking back, the connection makes sense. Producing reality TV and running military operations actually have a lot in common. In both, leaders create a plan and give orders to those below them, who then have to make difficult choices in unpredictable, high-pressure situations. It’s impossible to account for human behavior and unexpected events, making it hard to follow the plan, predict the results, or even determine who’s responsible when something goes wrong. Military strategists call this uncertainty the ‘fog of war,’ and I believe a similar ‘fog’ exists in the world of reality television.

Netflix’s new three-part series, Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, highlights a particularly troubling story from the show’s history. America’s Next Top Model, created and hosted by Tyra Banks, was a reality competition where aspiring models competed for a contract and the title. It aired for 24 seasons across three networks (UPN, The CW, VH1) from 2003 to 2018. While initially successful, the show quickly became known for its controversies, including harsh judging, questionable challenges, backstage conflicts, and a disregard for the physical and mental well-being of its young contestants. It also produced some of the most memorable moments in reality TV, like Banks’ famous outburst – “I was rooting for you!” – from Season 4. The series provides some helpful context for that event, but it’s the show’s belated look at what happened to Shandi Sullivan in Milan that is truly disturbing. The things left unsaid about her experience are as unsettling as anything revealed in the documentary.

In an interview for the documentary, Sullivan recalled being a 21-year-old contestant on the second season of Top Model (the show called its seasons ‘cycles’). After a successful start, the show sent a few finalists to Paris for the final competition. One evening, the producers arranged a party at the models’ luxurious temporary housing, inviting some of the attractive Italian men who had previously chauffeured them on mopeds. Wine was plentiful, and a hot tub provided a relaxed setting. The models and their potential suitors mingled, and the night became somewhat hazy.

The following episode portrayed Sullivan’s encounter with another man as straightforward cheating. The episode, titled “The Girl Who Cheated,” focused more on the emotional fallout than the actual moment itself, showing Sullivan alone and crying in her pajamas. She explained in an interview that she got carried away by the situation and the physical attraction, admitting she was eager to escape her job at Walgreens. Sullivan took full responsibility, stating she didn’t expect anyone to intervene and that she should have controlled her own actions. Her fellow cast members, when interviewed, were mostly indifferent or mildly critical of her behavior.

A difficult challenge arises, requiring the women to participate in a suggestive, nude photoshoot in pairs, and Sullivan is still reeling from its effects. In a particularly painful moment, she confesses to her boyfriend, Eric, that she was unfaithful. The audience hears his angry reaction, including hurtful language, and then sees Sullivan break down in tears, visibly devastated after he ends the call. Later, Eric expresses some regret and begins to calm down, saying he’s still angry but starting to feel better. Sullivan also talks things through with Banks, who offers supportive advice while gently reminding her about controlling her impulses. Another contestant is eliminated, and it appears Sullivan is beginning to move past her embarrassment and distress.

While the show Reality Check presents one version of events, it carefully avoids calling what happened sexual assault, and doesn’t identify the man involved. Now in her 40s, former contestant Sullivan remembers Top Model portraying her transformation as going from “the ugly duckling to the swan,” and says it was the first time she felt truly pretty and confident. According to Ken Mok, co-creator of the show, many of the contestants came from troubled homes and lacked family support, seeking validation through the competition. Earlier footage reveals Sullivan describing herself as the “black sheep” of a family who didn’t even notice when she moved out at 18, admitting she hasn’t felt loved by her parents since childhood. A trip to Milan proved to be a turning point, as she thrived during photoshoots and received positive feedback from photographers, significantly boosting her confidence.

It’s worth sharing a longer excerpt of Sullivan’s detailed recollection of the night in question, even though it involves potentially upsetting content about sexual trauma, and some readers may prefer to skip it.

I hadn’t eaten or slept at all, as far as I can recall. I remember going into the hot tub with April and Mercedes. Then, I remember making eye contact with a guy, and I was very drunk by that point. After that, everything is hazy. I just have fragmented memories of him being on top of me. I lost consciousness, and no one intervened. The entire incident was captured on camera.

In the following Reality Checked episode, she elaborates:

I only have fragmented memories. I recall being in the shower, then just sitting there, and then somehow we were in bed. I was essentially unconscious for much of it. I didn’t feel anything during sex, I just knew it was happening, and then I lost consciousness.

The documentary intercuts these painful memories with an interview where filmmakers press Tyra Banks, who appears uneasy, about her recollections of Sullivan. Banks offers a vague response, stating it’s hard to discuss production details as that wasn’t her area of expertise. However, Mok, the show’s head of story, is more direct. He explains that Top Model was presented as a real-life documentary to the contestants, who were informed they would be filmed constantly—with the exception of bathroom breaks. Jay Manuel, the show’s creative director and a consultant on the documentary, adds that the crew actually did film Sullivan and the man following her to the shower, but that footage wasn’t used, as she wasn’t alone.

Despite being young adults, Sullivan and the other models faced a difficult situation. Several factors likely contributed to her actions, including being intoxicated, hungry, experiencing culture shock, and feeling nervous. It was widely understood in the early 2000s that someone needed to be sober to truly give consent. However, the Reality Check documentary doesn’t fully address the context of the time – a period when tabloids relentlessly targeted young female celebrities, and Girls Gone Wild profited from pressuring women to expose themselves. Therefore, Sullivan’s statement in the documentary that production should have intervened doesn’t seem out of line with the times. She wasn’t concerned about a kiss in a hot tub, but about what happened afterward. Even if Top Model had been committed to a strict “fly on the wall” approach to filming (which it wasn’t), failing to help Sullivan when she appeared to have passed out, and continuing to film her struggles that night and in the following days, would have been deeply problematic.

Who was to blame for what happened? It’s hard to say, because the way reality TV works creates a disconnect. The people carrying out the show’s plans simply followed orders, even though the situation was difficult, and the producers weren’t close enough to understand what was happening. Sullivan remembers receiving an apology from the camera and sound crew after they filmed her upsetting first phone call with Eric. She was devastated, crying on the floor, and they admitted they felt wrong about filming it. However, they didn’t believe they could refuse, as production had specifically requested the call be recorded on camera.

Banks and Mok acknowledge some mistakes made during the production of Reality Check, but don’t seem to feel accountable for how the specific incident was handled. Notably absent from the documentary is Kenya Barris, a co-creator of Top Model who later became a well-known television producer. Both Banks and Mok mention they intentionally left a lot of footage unused. Revisiting the episode, this seems accurate—though Manuel believes the decision wasn’t about protecting Sullivan, but rather a reluctance to include sexual content on broadcast television after the controversy surrounding Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake’s Super Bowl performance. Ultimately, if Top Model let Sullivan down, and those present or in charge weren’t responsible for exploiting her experience, who is to blame?

As a longtime viewer, what really struck me about the Sullivan story isn’t just the drama itself, but how no one takes responsibility for what happened. That’s what makes this story such a powerful critique of reality TV. We’ve all heard stories about big personalities, backstage fights, and producers manipulating things for ratings – it’s pretty standard in the entertainment world. But with Sullivan, the fact that everyone continues to deflect blame makes it feel so much darker and, honestly, unresolved. Even after twenty years, it’s clear that the issues with reality TV haven’t really been addressed, and the whole thing still feels pretty murky.

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2026-02-18 20:07