One of the most historically outspoken “America’s Next Top Model” critics, two-time contestant Lisa D’Amato, is clapping back at Tyra Banks’ forthcoming documentary — by starring in a competing one.
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 accountability.
But D’Amato — who competed on Cycle 5 and went on to win Cycle 17: All Stars — isn’t buying it, as she told Page Six, “Tyra’s all about making money. She doesn’t have any real empathy for anybody else but herself.”
The model and activist, 45, thinks Banks — whose harsh reactions to and criticisms of the aspiring models have been scrutinized for years — is just trying to “save face.”
“In order for her to save face to make more money in the future, she’s going to have to take a bit of accountability,” D’Amato opined.
In the “Reality Check” trailer, Banks — who served as head judge on “ANTM” for 23 of its 24 cycles, running from 2003 to 2018 — says, “I knew I went too far. … It was very, very intense. … But you guys were demanding it.”
D’Amato believes Banks, 52, will be “forced” to take “about 5% accountability” for the sake of her career and public perception but that it will be “so hard” for her to do.
“Ultimately, my own intuition tells me from my own experience — which is very deep, and it’s been many years — that this is a money grab for Tyra and Ken Mok … so they’re not 100% canceled,” she told us.
Asked whether she thought any amount of accountability from the dynamic duo would be “genuine,” D’Amato responded, “No. God, no! Tyra? Ken Mok neither.”
Since Banks was already a known supermodel by the time “ANTM” premiered, she became the face of the “machine.”
She blurred empowerment with exploitation by ordering extreme makeovers, calling for racially insensitive photo shoots and honing in on contestants’ often-troubled personal lives — all in the name of “modeling lessons.”
D’Amato has long accused Banks and Mok, 64, of exploiting the “horrible” childhood trauma “inflicted” on her by her mother in order to get a reaction out of her to make for a more dramatic and successful show.
During Cycle 5, after Mok allegedly denied D’Amato’s off-camera request to “stop using [her] childhood trauma against [her] behind the scenes,” she returned to the set and literally urinated in the diaper she was wearing for that specific baby-themed challenge.
“To me, that was a big F U to Ken Mok,” she told us as she held up two middle fingers, claiming she was later “punished” by Banks and “her obsession with editing.”
As for why she went back to compete on All Stars in 2011 despite her negative experience six years prior, D’Amato explained, “I went there for a vengeance because I had gotten so much therapy, and I knew their tricks.”
Not only did D’Amato claim she “signed the winning contract before” agreeing to film, she also said she wanted to redeem the “crazy villain” persona she feels she was made to have the first go-around.
“Either I was going to continue to let it perpetuate in a negative backlash [loop] forever — because the episodes never stopped repeating around the globe — or I could go in there and try to change it and help my mental health and also show inspiration to other girls that you can be your own hero,” she shared.
Though D’Amato plans to watch “Reality Check,” it’ll be more of a “dissection” for her, as she knows “a lot” of the former contestants who were interviewed for the special.
“I know their true experience and how much it affected their lives, so I’ll be watching it more to see how that gets portrayed and edited,” she said, admitting that she’s “scared” their stories will be “manipulated” and “softened.”
Reps for Banks and Mok did not immediately respond to Page Six’s requests for comment.
Amato agreed to appear in E! Entertainment’s forthcoming docuseries “Dirty Rotten Scandals,” which vows to “expose the dark side of our pop culture obsessions,” including “ANTM.”
“It wasn’t a modeling competition; it was psychological warfare,” D’Amato says in the trailer, tearfully adding, “I trusted you with my dreams. How dare you take my f–king life away from me.”
The three-part “Reality Check” doc hits Netflix on Feb. 16, while the “ANTM” episode of “Dirty Rotten Scandals” airs March 11 on E!.
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