Cults to Consciousness1 Des 2025

“America's Next Top Model WAS A CULT” Sarah Hartshorne Reveals the Dark Truth Behind Cycle 9

(CW: Mentions of Eating Disorder) Sarah Hartshorne, a fan favorite America’s Next Top Model contestant pulls back the curtain on the iconic but deeply flawed reality competition show, exposing the manipulation and chaos behind the scenes. Tyra Banks’s America’s Next Top Model was a cultural phenomenon with more than six million weekly viewers at its peak. Over its fifteen-year run, the show captured the glitz of the early aughts as well as its most toxic attitudes—from the glamorous but often questionable photo shoots to the cutting feedback from its highly respected if out-of-touch judges. But as its fans have grown up and as the next generation discovers ANTM, they’ve also begun to reckon with the enduring ways that the show has affected their body image and self-esteem.

Sarah Hartshorne would have never guessed that her first foray into modeling would start with being blindfolded alongside three dozen other girls on a charter bus winding through Puerto Rico. Cycle 9’s only plus-size contestant takes us into the heart of the unforgiving auditions; the labyrinthian cruise ship the girls weren’t allowed to enjoy; and, of course, the L.A. “model house” teeming with hidden cameras and elaborately constructed tensions. As the season unfolds and the producers’ interview questions about her weight and her opinions of the other girls become increasingly pointed, Hartshorne uncovers the destabilizing methods employed to film “reality.” Why didn’t the house have a microwave or a dishwasher? Why did girls regularly faint during eliminations? Why is it that the girls had their most meaningful conversations in closets? Sarah Hartshorne dissects the iconic show.

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Find Sarah!

Book: You Wanna Be on Top? A Memoir of Makeovers, Manipulation, and Not Becoming America's Next Top Model

Website: https://www.sarahbhartshorne.com/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/sarahbhartshorne/

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