Netflix’s new three-part series Reality Check lifts the lid on America’s Next Top ModelThe moment we saw the first trailer for Netflix’s new documentary Reality Check, exploring the highs and lows of America’s Next Top Model, we knew we were going to be glued to it once it actually began streaming.Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model features contributions from a series of former Top Model contestants, as well as judges, including Tyra Banks herself, reflecting on some of the show’s biggest controversies.Among the moments dissected in Netflix’s three-part series are Tyra’s “I was rooting for you” tirade against former competitor Tiffany Richardson, those infamous race-swap photo-shoot challenges and countless comments about contestants’ weight and body image.However, the doc also raises issues more casual fans might not be aware of, including one contestant’s allegation that she was sexually assaulted on camera during filming, and another claiming she was made to take part in a photo-shoot reminiscent of gun violence, despite producers being aware that she’d previously lost a family member in a shooting.Since Reality Check premiered on Monday, many critics have said it will make for essential viewing for those who enjoyed America’s Next Top Model during its original run, although many also questioned just how probing it is as a documentary.A three-star review in The Guardian said that Tyra “comes across as a real piece of work” in Reality Check, but laments that the documentary does the former Top Model contestants a “disservice by persistently framing Top Model as a product of its time”.“For a show about beauty, Top Model was always ugly – but Reality Check’s conclusions are only skin deep,” they opined.Metro gave the documentary the same score, with its critic admitting that it made them question “how I ever enjoyed [America’s Next Top Model] at all” due to its issues “ranging from the offensive to the disturbing”.However, Metro’s review also agreed that “Reality Check doesn’t quite feel like the reckoning we were promised”, claiming there’s “nothing more shocking or revelatory here than the scenes from the show itself, which offer a depressing insight into what we were prepared to inflict on people for the sake of entertainment”.In The Telegraph’s four-star review, it’s similarly pointed out that Reality Check is not “exactly an exposé, because we could all see that it was a hot mess”.“But you will still goggle at this reminder of what ANTM served up each week for our entertainment,” the piece adds.Australian outlet Mamamia called Reality Check a “must-watch”, with its review stating: “For her part, Banks has a few apologies to share, but overall, she reverts to the ‘times were different’ defence a bit too often to come across as fully accountable for her actions.” New York magazine also published a review branding the show “both predictable and unsatisfying”, and criticising the “frustrating lack of contrition from most of the interviewees in the Netflix series”.“If ANTM began with good intentions, then this docuseries demonstrates how quickly a show – and its creators – can be corrupted by success. Not that Banks sees it this way, even now,” they wrote.Meanwhile, HuffPost US culture reporter Njera Perkins criticised Netflix’s three-part series for doing “very little to take those behind the show to task for the lasting harm inflicted on contestants in the name of entertainment”.“To its detriment, Inside America’s Next Top Model relies more on aggrieved contestants to address the show’s controversies instead of holding those responsible accountable,” she wrote.“Rather than focusing on where the show ultimately went wrong, the docuseries seems more interested in taking a nostalgic walk down memory lane.”All three episodes of Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model are now streaming on Netflix.MORE NETFLIX:11 Top Picks Of The New TV Shows And Films To Stream On Netflix In February 2026Here’s Where You’ve Seen The Stars Of How To Get To Heaven From Belfast BeforeBridgerton Has Officially Been Toppled As The Number 1 Show On Netflix UK Right Now HuffPost UK – Athena2 – All Entries (Public) Read More