America’s Next Top Model winner Lisa Marie D’Amato took to social media Wednesday with a post blastig host Tyra Banks and producer Ken Mok.
via Daily Mail:
D’Amato, 42, who won the 17th cycle of the reality TV competition, said she and other contestants experienced ‘insane amounts of trauma’ while competing on the series, Entertainment Weekly reported after reviewing the post.
The Los Angeles native, who has set her page to private, also said being on the show was akin to being involved in the 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment, in which subjects were placed in an environment akin to prison.
D’Amato, who previously vented about her time on the series two years ago, said that Banks, 49, has blocked her on social media, while she tagged producer Ken Mok into the post.
D’Amato, who appeared on the show’s fifth cycle in 2005 before returning to win in in 2011, encouraged alums of the series not to hold back as the show is getting increased coverage ahead of its 20th anniversary next month.
‘Plz plz be honest with yourself and everyone else when I say DON’T BE SCARED to truly tell how horrible it was in your interview,’ she said. ‘Don’t act tough. Be real. Don’t be scared of the fandom. Don’t be scared of Tyra or Ken Mok.’
D’Amato said that ‘the light is coming through and more and more the fandom are on our side,’ telling people they should ‘speak up and speak freely.’
She continued: ‘Remember this is your life [too]! Fight for it! Do you know who is going to stand up for you if you don’t? Do you know who is going to save your life if you don’t?’
D’Amato said that being on the series was akin to being a participant in the Stanford Prison Experiment. She wrote: ‘That s*** was the Stanford Prison Experiment to many of us. Google that s***.’
D’Amato is one of many of of the show’s alums who have had publicly expressed critical sentiments against the series, in which models compete for contracts. Others include Adrianne Curry, Tiffany Richardson, Angelea Preston and Jeana Turner.
The show, which first hit the air in 2003, has been scrutinized in recent years on social media as people have pointed to instances of body shaming and cultural appropriation.
Banks in 2020 took to Twitter to address people’s assessments of the program when looking at it through contemporary lenses.
‘Been seeing the posts about the insensitivity of some past ANTM moments and I agree with you,’ she said. ‘Looking back, those were some really off choices. Appreciate your honest feedback and am sending so much love and virtual hugs.’
Listen — ANTM may have had its faults, but it was a sign of the times. It’s unfair to look back at an early 2000s show with a 2023 lens — times have changed, as have those involved.
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