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PODCAST

Curse of: America’s Next Top Model

iHeartPodcasts and Glass Podcasts

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, and what the show’s legacy reveals about beauty, power, and the culture that cheered it

society & culture documentary

All Episodes

57:15

Reality TV: The Great Experiment

Curse of: America’s Next Top Model ·

2025/11/26

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. Plus, we revisit early 2000s body shaming and the climate that made ANTM possible. Looking to place a

en-US

19:20

Introducing — Smart Girl Dumb Questions

Curse of: America’s Next Top Model ·

2025/11/21

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’re seeing a therapist for 10 years, is the therapy working? To get the full conversation, follow

en-US

61:36

The House That Tyra Built

Curse of: America’s Next Top Model ·

2025/11/18

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 Instagramaccount,@glasspodcasts, where we recap each episode with show notes that include the people, places, and even video

en-US

59:48

America’s Next Top Body Shamer

Curse of: America’s Next Top Model ·

2025/11/11

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 disorders and criticized their bodies, too. In this episode, we hear from contestants who went on the show with

en-US

53:16

Fierce, Queer, and Flawed

Curse of: America’s Next Top Model ·

2025/11/04

America’s Next Top Model was a pioneer ofLGBTQIA+ 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 how Top Model broke barriers and reshaped the culture, while hearing from the queer contestants who paid the

en-US

60:07

Race Swap Card

Curse of: America’s Next Top Model ·

2025/10/28

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 the show’s racial stereotypes and contradictions, including the paradox of a Black woman at the helm

en-US

54:20

Reality TV vs. Modeling Competition

Curse of: America’s Next Top Model ·

2025/10/21

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 episode exposes the truth: The show cared more about TV drama than the contestant’s modeling careers

en-US

42:50

Psych Out

Curse of: America’s Next Top Model ·

2025/10/14

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 later met tragic ends. Then we explore the story of one model who says being on ANTM sent her into a downward

en-US

40:41

Psych Up

Curse of: America’s Next Top Model ·

2025/10/07

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. Looking to place a face to the name and hear bonus content? Check out our Instagramaccount,@glasspodcasts, where we

en-US

56:47

Tale of Two Winners

Curse of: America’s Next Top Model ·

2025/09/30

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 contestant contract that enabled it all. Looking to place a face to the name and hear bonus content? Check out

en-US

49:47

The Blueprint

Curse of: America’s Next Top Model ·

2025/09/23

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 may have gotten the crown, she didn’t get her happily ever after. For bonus content from the show,

en-US

38:23

The Set-Up

Curse of: America’s Next Top Model ·

2025/09/16

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 Producer Ken Mok, and explore how America’s Next Top Model was built on a formula of

en-US

3:51

Introducing Curse of: America's Next Top Model

Curse of: America’s Next Top Model ·

2025/09/09

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, and what the show’s legacy reveals about beauty, power, and the culture that cheered it on.See

en-US

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