Curse of: America’s Next Top Model
Curse of: America’s Next Top Model is a podcast that investigates the hidden costs of reality television, focusing on the iconic show America’s Next Top Model. Hosted by pop-culture journalist Bridget Armstrong, it features interviews with former contestants, producers, and crew members. The series explores the show's most infamous controversies, the behind-the-scenes reality of photoshoots and runways, and the lasting impact on participants, including body shaming and other scars. It examines the show's legacy in terms of beauty, power, and the culture that celebrated it.
Episodes
Introducing: Burden of Guilt Season 3
Just five days after her engagement to Kenny, Cindy learns that her fiancé was accused of abusing one of Cindy’s children. The facts behind the accusation didn’t add up to Cindy. As the allegation tore her family apart, Cindy faced an impossible choice: stand by her child or stand by what she believed to be the truth. New episodes of Burden of Guilt drop every Wednesday. Y
The Dirty Rotten Scandals of ANTM | BONUS
The ANTM reckoning continues with a new E! docuseries, Dirty Rotten Scandals America’s Next Top Model. The series premieres on E! tonight March 11th, at 9PM EST / 6PM PT. Lauren Saft, Executive Producer of Dirty Rotten Scandals America’s Next Top Model, joins Bridget Armstrong to pull back the curtain on the latest ANTM deep-dive. &nbs
Introducing: Love Trapped
Former Bachelor Clayton Echard’s casual one-night fling turned into a paternity nightmare. The scandal ignited the internet, attracting hundreds of citizen sleuths who noticed the story didn’t add up. New episodes are released every Thursday. If you would like to reach out to the team, email lovetrappedpod@gmail.com and follow along on Instagram @GlassPodcasts.&n
Yeah, Tyra's a Villain | BONUS Pt. 2
We’re continuing our conversation about the Netflix docuseries “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model.” In Pt.2, host Bridget Armstrong and editor Monique LaBorde break down Tyra’s disappointing interview in the Netflix docuseries, and why it leaves so much to be desired. They also tease what to
Yeah, Tyra's a Villain | BONUS Pt. 1
The new Netflix docu-series has everyone talking. “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model” features sit-down interviews with Tyra Banks and Ken Mock, plus longtime ANTM judges Miss J, Jay Manuel, and Nigel Barker. “Curse Of” host Bridget Armstrong is joined by editor Monique Laborde to break down the new Netflix series. They unpack the biggest revelatio
Reality TV: The Great Experiment | BONUS
Thanks for listening to this season of Curse of: America’s Next Top Model. As you can imagine, we had to leave a lot on the cutting room floor. In this special bonus episode, we hear more behind-the-scenes details and stories from the models. We also take a field trip through time, to explore the surprising origins of reality television and its parallels with psychological experimentation. P
Introducing — Smart Girl Dumb Questions
Experiencing “Curse of” withdrawal? We’re bringing you a taste of a show we love: Smart Girl Dumb Questions. In this episode excerpt, host Nayeema Raza asks relationship expert Esther Perel: Why is falling in love harder as we get older? Is it age, apps, materialism, modern feminism, or the trad wife trend? Also … what is worth fighting about in a relationship? AND: if you
The House That Tyra Built | EP 10
No matter who won, Tyra Banks was always the real star of ANTM. But was she a fairy godmother, a villain, or both? On this final episode, we explore Tyra’s on-camera persona and off-camera legacy. We hear from models who went through the ANTM machine, and find out what they think they’re owed. Looking to place a face to the name and hear bonus content? Check out our Instagram 
America’s Next Top Body Shamer| EP 9
To this day, Tyra Banks hails ANTM as a champion of body positivity. But in reality, the show was one of the biggest body shaming offenders of our generation. Season after season, ANTM picked apart contestants’ bodies, shamed them for their weights, and even brought on plus-size models, only to tell them there was no place for them in the industry. The show cast women with eating disord
Fierce, Queer, and Flawed | EP 8
America’s Next Top Model was a pioneer of LGBTQIA+ representation on reality TV. The show gave us iconic queer judges, featured an openly lesbian contestant on season one, and even made groundbreaking decisions to cast a transgender model in 2008. But like many things with this show, the way production treated these contestants and their identity was flawed. In this episode, we explore
Race Swap Card | EP 7
ANTM was one of the most racially diverse reality shows of its era. So why did so many of its episodes look so racist? This episode investigates how ANTM represented, performed, and exploited race. We hear from models who were put in Blackface for the infamous race-swapping photo shoots and talk about the racial dynamics at play during the “We Were Rooting for You” moment. We unpack th
Reality TV vs. Modeling Competition | EP 6
ANTM was never really about creating top models. It was a reality TV disguised as a modeling competition, and it showed. We break down how photo shoots were designed to create unforgettable moments and reactions on screen and how casting prioritized personalities over potential. We also explore why the winners rarely became working models. From laughable challenges to unusable portfolios, this epi
Psych Out | EP 5
CONTENT WARNING: This episode mentions sexual assault, suicide, and suicidal ideation. We continue our discussion about the ANTM psychological evaluation. We hear from models who say the traumatic experiences they shared with the show’s psychologists were later used to manipulate them for the cameras. We discuss contestants who may have slipped through the cracks of the psych eval and
Psych Up | EP 4
CONTENT WARNING: This episode mentions sexual assault, suicide, and suicidal ideation. Before you could be cast on America’s Next Top Model, you had to pass a psychological evaluation. Contestants were told these psych evals were about keeping them safe. But whose safety was ANTM really worried about? In this episode, we explain how the ANTM psych eval worked and where it failed.
Tale of Two Winners | EP 3
We explore one of ANTM’s most infamous controversies. Angelea Preston won the All-Stars season of America’s Next Top Model. Later, she was stripped of the title, and her win was given to Lisa D’Amato. But what really happened behind the scenes? Angelea and Lisa tell very different stories. We hear from the models at the center of ANTM’s messiest win and discuss the contesta
The Blueprint | EP 2
Cycle 1 was messy, low-rent, and groundbreaking. It was also the blueprint for everything ANTM would become. It introduced us to the larger-than-life personalities that became synonymous with the show. Cycle 1 also laid the groundwork for the body shaming, humiliation, and on-screen drama that made ANTM iconic. From the beginning, ANTM loved a Cinderella story. While Cycle 1 winner Adrianne Curry
The Set-Up | EP 1
Tyra Banks screamed it, but was she ever really rooting for these girls? In the series opener, host Bridget Armstrong explores one of ANTM’s biggest criticisms—that the show didn’t create any top models. We go back to the beginning to figure out how this germ of an idea in Tyra Banks’ imagination ended up on our screens. We talk about Tyra’s accomplice, ANTM Executive
Introducing Curse of: America's Next Top Model
When America’s Next Top Model premiered in the early 2000s, it looked like a golden ticket: a glamorous TV show that could catapult aspiring models into fame. But two decades later, many contestants describe its aftermath as a curse. Hosted by pop-culture journalist Bridget Armstrong, Curse of America’s Next Top Model is a deep investigation into the hidden costs of reality television,
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