Two-time contestant Lisa D’Amato, one of America’s Next Top Model’s most outspoken critics in history, is applauding her appearance in Tyra Banks’ new documentary.
Netflix’s “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model” promises to “expose the show’s complicated legacy,” suggesting that “ANTM” creator Banks and developer Ken Mok are ready to take responsibility.
But D’Amato, who competed in Cycle 5 and won Cycle 17: All-Stars, isn’t buying it, telling Page Six, “Tyla is all about making money. She has no real empathy for anyone but herself.”
Banks, a 45-year-old model and activist, believes she is just trying to “save face” after years of scrutiny for her harsh reactions and criticism of aspiring models.
“She will need to take on some responsibility in order to save face in order to earn more money in the future,” D’Amato opined.
In the trailer for “Reality Check,” Banks, who was the head judge on “ANTM” for 23 of its 24 cycles from 2003 to 2018, says, “I knew it was too much. … It was very, very intense. … But you guys were asking for it.”
D’Amato said Banks, 52, would be “forced” to take “about 5% responsibility” for her career and public perception, but believes it would be “very difficult” to do so.
“Ultimately, my gut told me, from my own experience, this is a very deep, years-old experience, that this is a money grab for Tyra and Ken Mok…so it’s not 100% canceled,” she told Us.
When asked if he thought any accountability from the dynamic duo was “real,” D’Amato replied, “No, no, no! Tyra? Neither does Ken Mok.”
Banks was already known as a supermodel when ANTM premiered, so she became the face of The Machine.
She blurred her authority as exploitation by ordering extreme makeovers, demanding racially insensitive photo shoots, and focusing on contestants’ troubled personal lives, all under the guise of “modeling lessons.”
D’Amato has long accused Banks and Mok, 64, of exploiting her “horrific” childhood trauma “inflicted” on her by her mother to elicit a reaction from her in order to make a more dramatic and successful show.
During Cycle 5, Mok allegedly refused D’Amato’s off-camera request to “stop exploiting my childhood trauma behind the scenes,” but returned to set and literally urinated in the diaper he was wearing for that particular baby-themed assignment.
“For me, that was a big FU for Ken Mok,” she told Us while holding up two middle fingers, later claiming that she was “punished” by Banks and her “editing obsession.”
As for why he played in the All-Star Game again in 2011 despite his negative experience six years ago, D’Amato explained, “I went there for revenge because I had been in a lot of therapy and I knew their tricks.”
Not only did D’Amato claim that he had “signed a winning contract” before agreeing to film, but he also said he wanted to regain his “crazy villain” persona, which he felt was forced to start over.
“I was going to keep perpetuating it forever in a negative backlash (loop) because the episode never stopped repeating itself all over the world. Or I could go in there and try to change it, help my mental health, and show other girls the inspiration that you can be your own hero,” she shared.
D’Amato plans to watch “Reality Check,” but it will be like “an autopsy” for her because she knows “a lot” of the former contestants interviewed on the special.
“I know their real experiences and how much it affected their lives, so I would like to see more of how that is portrayed and edited,” she said, admitting that she was “scared” that their stories would be “manipulated” and “softened.”
Representatives for Banks and Mok did not immediately respond to Page Six’s requests for comment.
Amato has agreed to appear on E! Entertainment’s upcoming documentary series “Dirty Rotten Scandals” vows to “expose the dark side of pop culture obsessions” including “ANTM.”
“This wasn’t a modeling contest. It was psychological warfare,” D’Amato says in the trailer, before tearfully adding, “I entrusted my dreams to you, and you took my shitty life away from me.”
The three-part “Reality Check” doc will be available on Netflix on February 16th, and the “ANTM” episode of “Dirty Rotten Scandals” will air on E! on March 11th.
