Tyra Banks is facing a new controversy over America’s Next Top Model.
The former judge and executive producer is criticized for allegedly paying the contestants of the competition series only $40 per day.
Former ANTM contestant Sarah Hartshorne alleged on Twitter that they were given, “$40 a day, no residuals, and we had to pay for food.”
Before this, a Twitter user took to social media to talk about the models’ paychecks. The now-viral post read, “The fact that girls on ANTM were getting paid $40 an episode and Tyra and them judges were making BANK, is kinda sick.”
Sarah responded, “$40 an episode and we had to pay for food.”
Many Twitter users reacted to her claims with one of them writing, “Tyra banks was sending them girls home with their hair cut off on #antm and only making $40 a episode”, while another one commented, “I mean the chance at winning and exposure is there but d–n … Cover food at least lol them folks were getting a perdeim [sic] lol.”
The previous winners of the long-running show have received numerous benefits including modeling contracts and beauty deals. They’ve also appeared in magazines. For instance, Kyla Coleman who won in the 24th season had a contract with Next Model Management, appeared on the fashion spread of Paper, and took home $100,000 from Pantene.
However, many reality TV contestants claimed that this kind of minimal pay is common in the industry. For example, Elena Davies who competed in the Big Brother in 2017, shared how much she received. She said in Trading Secrets podcast, “We’re paid a stipend per week. $1,000 per week, [for] as long as you film. So if, like say you are the first person sent home and you only film six hours in the house, you get your thousand.”
She explained, “I technically filmed the entire season. So I got paid the entire 13 weeks stipend or whatever.” She added that in addition to her weekly income, she won $5000.
As for Tyra, this isn’t the first time she got criticized over ANTM. In May,
This is not the first ANTM-related controversy for Tyra. In May, clips from her reality show surfaced and she was under fire for her comments regarding the appearance of the contestants. During Cycle 13, the contestants had a “biracial-themed” photoshoot wherein they have to darken their skin.
In defense, Trya tweeted, “Been seeing the posts about the insensitivity of some past ANTM moments and I agree with you. Looking back, those were some really off choices. Appreciate your honest feedback and am sending so much love and virtual hugs.”
