Tyra Banks Told A Contestant To Go Home To Her Dirty Mattress On The Floor, It Never Aired.

The elimination of Tiffany Richardson remains one of the most recognizable moments from America’s Next Top Model, but the new Netflix docuseries Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model reveals that the incident was much darker than what originally aired on television.

During the documentary, Tyra Banks named the situation with Richardson as her toughest moment while filming the show. However, former judges paint a much more severe picture of the unaired footage. Creative director Jay Manuel stated he will likely never repeat the actual lines spoken in the room that day, while photographer Nigel Barker noted that the show had “all the lawyers on set” the following week.

While Manuel refused to share the specifics, Richardson herself previously disclosed the unaired details in a 2017 interview with Buzzfeed. According to Richardson, the widely parodied “we were all rooting for you” meltdown omitted several vile and nasty remarks. Most notably, Banks allegedly told Richardson, “You can go back to your house and sleep on your dirty mattress on the floor with your baby”. The on-set tirade also reportedly included Banks bringing up Richardson’s grandmother getting her electricity cut off in order to purchase a swimsuit for the competition.

The environment on set was reportedly further complicated by the fact that the blowup occurred in front of actor and guest judge Boris Kodjoe. Prior to the incident, the show had invested heavily in Richardson, with Banks even paying for her to attend anger management classes following a bar fight in a previous season. Ultimately, the unaired comments crossed a line that required immediate legal intervention behind the scenes.

Do you think reality television networks have a responsibility to release unedited footage when instances of verbal abuse occur on set?