America’s Next Top Model judge Janice Dickinson is not holding back punches as she describes her time working with Tyra Banks.
In a DailyMail report, the former supermodel, 71, served as a judge on four cycles of the reality series America’s Next Top Model from 2003 to 2006. She became known as the judge who would harshley critique the models’ appearance, personality and weight.
However, Dickinson is claiming that Banks, co-founder of the show, was the true villian. She claims that Banks encouraged her cruel delivery during the judges panel in an attempt to feed her ego.
In an apperance on E!’s Dirty Rotten Scandals, Dickinson claims that Banks was jealous of the younger models and took pleasure in kicking down their confidence.
“She went off on one girl and it was so frightening that I was going to get up and hold her down,” Dickinson said, referencing the intense exchange with Tiffany Richardson.
“She would go harder on the black girls on the show because of competitiveness and jealousy and her being older than these young women.
She was always trying to be this tough teen mum to the girls but she didn’t know them, she didn’t give them enough confidence.?
Janice continued, adding that Banks only cared about profit. “They left the show completely depressed and depleted while she got so rich. America’s Next Top Model really tortured these girls for Tyra’s ego. I was there and I saw it for four seasons.”
“She was a hardcore b***h,” Dickinson added.
“It wasn’t a modeling competition, it was pyschological warfare,” Lisa D’Amato stated in the documentary’s trailer, co-signing with Dickinson.
Despite being painted as the show’s dedicated villian judge, the former model maintains that she was told to lean into that role. Dickinson added that, “The producers, especially Tyra, were begging me to be harsher and cruel, like Simon Cowell was on ‘American Idol.’”
Premiering March 4 at 9/8c, E!’s Dirty Rotten Scandals is a new docuseries that explores the seedy underbelly of America’s obsession with reality television, taking a scathing look at shows like Dr. Phil, America’s Next Top Model, and The Price Is Right.