In recent years, America’s Next Top Model has come under fire from past contestants, like Kristin Kagay, who took to Facebook to lambaste the show following her elimination.
America’s Next Top Model is the brainchild of supermodel Tyra Banks.
First airing in 2003, the modelling reality show competition has since aired 24 seasons, which included a hiatus from host and executive producer, Tyra Banks ahead of the series finale in 2018.
In recent years, the show has come under fire, from both contestants and viewers. One such contestant to have publicly spoken up about her time on the show was season 19’s Kristin Kagay back in 2012.
Kagay released an inflammatory Facebook post following her elimination on how she was allegedly misrepresented through the show’s editing.
What was America’s Next Top Model about?
America’s Next Top Model is the brainchild of world-renowned supermodel, Tyra Banks, who along with Ken Mok and Kenya Barris created the show which premiered on The CW back in 2003.
Premised on, “A cyclical competition in which women from all over the U.S. compete for the honour of being America’s next “it girl” in the modelling world,” according to IMDb.
The show would run for sixteen years with a total of 24 seasons. Banks would front the show as the host and head judge, before taking a two-year hiatus between 2016 and 2017. Rita Ora replaced the supermodel until she returned for the last season in 2018.
America’s Next Top Model: Kristin Kagay’s vent
With the advent of social media and the consciousness over representation and inclusivity, America’s Next Top Model has been looked at with a new lens.
Specifically, in terms of the models chosen, the type of challenges they were put through during their time on the show, and how they were treated by the crew and production team.
One of the first people to publicly speak out about her dissatisfaction was season 19’s Kristin Kagay. Kagay was part of cycle 19 which aired in 2012. She would make it to the top five, until she was eliminated.
While her post on Facebook mostly received attention for her numerous spelling and grammatical errors at the time, Kagay’s intention with the post was aimed at highlighting how the show allegedly misrepresented her through the editing.
She believed that the editing made her out to seem like she was allegedly a mean girl that was not happy when other contestants won.
Kristin Kagay’s perception, in her words
In her long Facebook post, Kagay stated, “Whoever is behind the scenes to put the show together has no regard for how their show may effect [sic] the casts life.. sure you sign on for a show and what do you expect? Well most certainly not to be percieved [sic] as someting [sic] you are so far from,” she wrote about the Tyra Banks-produced show.
Going on to add that as a result of her alleged misrepresentation, she suffered cyberbullying from “thousands of insecure niave [sic] people” who bullied her in “nasty, mallicous, [sic] cold hearted ways.”
Were Kristin Kagay’s sentiments justified?
While there is a lot of justified critique of America’s Next Top Model, and in extension of Tyra Banks as the executive producer and host of the show, in terms of Kristin Kagay’s post, viewers of her season could only go as far as labelling her post as a “vent session.”
This is as despite the matter of editing, fans got to see how Kagay was less than ecstatic when other contestants won challenges.
More so when Leila won the main challenge and Kagay murmured under her breath, “Do I have to stand here?” While editing can manipulate a lot of things, personality is still one aspect that an editing crew does not have powers over.
What is Kristin Kagay doing now?
In January 2022, the now-working model celebrated her twenty-ninth birthday in Los Angeles, California with friends.
Moreover, despite her initial fears that she might never get to work in her desired profession due to how she was portrayed on the show, Kagay has continued to work on various campaigns and editorial shoots as a professional model.
For the most part, her social media pages are filled with fans of the model. However, to date, there are still cyberbullies that will comment on her post referencing her stint on America’s Next Top Model.
Final thoughts
America’s Next Top Model was a critical and commercial success when it first premiered in 2003.
The Tyra Banks-fronted show was lauded as it pioneered the aim of inclusivity and representation within the beauty and fashion world. However, as times have advanced, even this show has faced backlash.
One of the first to have come out publicly against the show was season 19’s Kristin Kagay from 2012, who alleged that she was misrepresented as the “mean girl” of the season.
A fact which she feared would affect her career in the long run. Whether it has or not is a matter of perspective, as Kagay gets to work as a model today.