‘We were all rooting for you’: What Tyra Banks REALLY told Tiffany on ANTM that wasn’t aired

A new Netflix documentary is dredging up one of reality TV’s most infamous moments: Tyra Banks screaming at contestant Tiffany Richardson on Cycle 4 of America’s Next Top Model.

The CW

According to former judges and contestants, what we saw was only a fraction of what actually went down, and Tiffany herself has now slammed Tyra’s version of events.

The Netflix series Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model revisits all 24 cycles of America’s Next Top Model, including the explosive double elimination that sent Tiffany and fellow contestant Rebecca Epley home. The episode is remembered for Tyra’s tirade: “We were all rooting for you!”, after Tiffany appeared to laugh off her exit.

Tiffany was 22 at the time of her first appearance, something that came about after her grandmother encouraged her to enter the contest and move away from a life of stripping and regularly taking drugs.

“Tiffany, I’m extremely disappointed in you,” Tyra said. “This is a joke to you. You’ve been through anger management, you’ve been through your grandmother having her lights switched off to buy you a swimsuit for this competition and you go over there and you joke and you laugh.”

Tiffany responded, stating that “looks can be deceiving”, insisting that she was “hurt” by the situation. While getting emotional, she added that she is “sick of crying about stuff I can’t change” and “sick of being disappointed”.

The CW

Tyra began to speak over her, repeatedly telling her to be quiet before shouting: “STOP IT!”

Most Read

You can now watch Jeffrey Epstein’s disturbing private videos on ‘JeffTube’ – here’s how

Zoë Kravitz responds to those Jeffrey Epstein and Blink Twice comparisons as old emails resurface

‘They went all night’: All the most x-rated scenes that had to be cut from Love Island

“I have never in my life yelled at a girl like this. When my mother yells like this it’s because she loves me. I was rooting for you, we were all rooting for you! How dare you!” she continued.

In the doc, creative director Jay Manuel reveals there was far more to the confrontation than aired. “There was a lot more that was really said,” he admitted. “Some of the things that were said were not well-intentioned… I will probably never repeat the lines that were actually said in that room that day.”

Judge Nolé Marin adds the fallout was so severe that the show had “all the lawyers on set” afterwards.

Tyra herself concedes in the series: “I knew I went too far.” But Tiffany has long claimed the reality was much harsher than the broadcast version. In a 2017 interview with BuzzFeed, she said the exchange was “1,000 times worse” in real life. She recalled Tyra allegedly shouting at her: “You can go back to your house and sleep on your mattress on the floor with your baby,” referencing Tiffany’s previously shared struggles with poverty.

The CW

Fellow contestant Brittany Brower backed up that account, saying the anger was far more intense than what aired and seemed to escalate when Tiffany didn’t react with visible devastation to being eliminated.

Now, nearly two decades on, Tiffany appears to be pushing back again. In a since-deleted Instagram post responding to the documentary, an account attributed to her accused Tyra of rewriting history, calling her “a bully” and claiming the show was edited to make Tyra look caring.

For all the latest Netflix news and drops, like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.

Featured image credit: The CW