by
Black Girl With Long Hair
Tiffany Richardson is at the center of one of the most explosive and infamous moments of pop culture history. After being eliminated in the 7th episode of the 4th season of America’s Next Top Model Richardson, disappointed but light-hearted, joked with fellow contestants as she prepared to exit. This seemed to rattle Tyra Banks who screamed for Richardson to “Be quiet” before launching a tirade of what some read as contrived concern, including the phrase “We were all rooting for you!”
The scene was uncomfortable because it seemed that Banks, upset that Richardson wasn’t devastated by her elimination, tore into her to get more of a reaction.
Now, 11 years later, Richardson is confirming that that’s basically what happened.
In an interview with Buzzfeed she says she holds no ill will towards Tyra, and that experience helped her grow. But looking back with clear eyes Richardson, a mother of two who works assisting people with disabilities, says she was typecast as a ‘hood to riches’ character whose story was maximized for entertainment appeal.
Here’s what we learned from Richardson’s Buzzfeed sit down.
1. She felt she was typecast as the “poor little black girl” whose life Banks would improve.
“After watching the episode — and with a decade having passed — Richardson said she understands that it made for good TV. “It was deep, it was passionate…the music’s going, Tyra’s beautiful self yelling [at the] poor little black girl,” she said. “It was beautiful for TV. They love to see black girls struggling and somebody coming to save her … and that just didn’t work out that way this time.””
2. The judgings were long, brutal and mentally exhausting, sometimes lasting up to 8 hours.
“According to Cycle 4 contestants, the judging room was located in another area of the Top Model house where they would assemble for that week’s critiques. One by one, each model would walk down a runway-like plank to find out how she performed that week. Her photos would be displayed on a giant screen for everyone to see, and her critiques would be said for everyone to hear. By the time everyone received their feedback, the women had been standing for hours; sometimes they would need to take a break, eat, and then come back in for more critiques. “We’d get picked apart for like 15, 20 minutes each,” Richardson recalled. “If you say something back, you’re going to be up there for a minute — and sometimes they’d be going at it, like roasting the fuck out of us. Back to back to back.”
After they received their feedback, they’d then be sent out of the room to let the judges deliberate, a process that took six to eight hours in its entirety. Eventually, the contestants would stand before the judges again and Banks would call each “safe” woman by name until there were only two left standing, one of whom would be eliminated.”
3. Throughout her time on ANTM Richardson felt like a cultural outsider.
““I was there but I wasn’t there. It was so different for me,” she said. “I don’t know anything about designer clothes, and it was kinda like I had to try to fit in and figure it out. Even with makeup, I felt really out of place.”
“We were all out of our comfort zone,” said Cycle 4 contestant Brittany Brower. But Richardson, she noted, “even more so.” “I remember we went and had sushi one night and she’d never had sushi. She thought it was, like, crazy … so she was just feeling really alienated.”
On top of feeling like an outsider, Richardson was getting feedback about her photos looking “a little stripper-ish,” according to guest judge Mathu Andersen, who was the contestants’ makeup artist. And in the episode in which Richardson was famously sent home, she struggled through a challenge where the contestants were tasked with memorizing a short script and performing it using a cockney English accent. It was yet another blow to Richardson’s confidence when the women were instructed to read designer names from a teleprompter for a mini red carpet challenge during judging. Many of the models had trouble with names like Hermès and Christian Lacroix, but Richardson gave up after fumbling over words. “I can’t do this,” she said…
“Tiffany was humiliated by a lot of the stuff that was going on in the show,” Cycle 4 contestant Keenyah Hill told BuzzFeed News. “She felt alienated and she felt targeted a lot.””
4. During her tirade, Richardson alleges that Banks screamed out embarrassing details of her life.
“You’ve been through anger management,” Banks screamed once things escalated. “You’ve been through your grandmother getting her lights turned off to buy you a swimsuit for this competition.” But that was only what viewers saw.
According to Richardson, the argument was “1,000 times worse” in reality. She was hesitant to elaborate, but when pressed for more details, Richardson said she recalled Banks yelling at her, “You can go back to your house and sleep on your mattress on the floor with your baby,” in front of the other judges, contestants, and crew members.”
5. Tyra Banks stayed in touch for a few years after the show, but stopped when Richardson’s grandmother complained about how her granddaughter was being portrayed on television.
“In September 2005, Banks invited Richardson onto The Tyra Banks Show for a Top Model reunion special, but it was during a second visit to Banks’s talk show in January 2006 for a tell-all episode when Richardson felt like their relationship was over… In the interview, Richardson said, she opened up about her issues with Banks, saying Banks always focused on the negatives in her life. After the taping, Richardson’s grandmother wrote a letter to Banks, calling the talk show host out for always portraying Richardson in a bad light, and sent it to The Tyra Banks Show. Richardson couldn’t confirm if Banks herself ever received the letter, but she said she never heard from her again.”
6. Ultimately she has moved on, although she feels she could have taken better advantage of the opportunity to be on ANTM.
“These days, Richardson said, she rarely thinks about Banks. “I’m a completely different person,” she said. “She don’t owe me nothing, I’m good.” Richardson described her relationship with the show as “love-hate.” “If I would’ve took advantage of the situation, it was worth it … but I knew nothing about [modeling],” she said. “I was just like in a whole new world … I was young and crazy, I didn’t get it.”…
But, she said multiple times, she’s “famous-broke,” in that her notoriety reaps no financial benefits. “Every fucking day somebody is coming up to me about this show and how I could’ve won and Tyra said this and it’s like, really? It’s been 10 years. Could y’all not?” she said.”
Moral of the story? Approach reality TV with extreme caution. The losers greatly outnumber the winners.
Ladies, what are your thoughts?
5 Responses
Sometimes it is not what you say but how you say it. This includes where and in front of whom.
Point number #6 says it all. I remember this scene, but forgot about the details. I was painful to re-watch. Tiffany seemed more empathetic than I remember and also defeated. Tyra’s response does seems genuine and not contrived. Regardless, the best people to confirm that are the producers, not the person directing or receiving the criticism.
When we get an opportunity, no one should be fighting harder than us to “keep” it. Tyra and apparently Tiffany’s grandmother were fighting harder for her on both fronts (at home + judges decision-making) than she was fighting for herself.
I know what it is like to continuously try at something and fail. We do not like to get our hopes up. When we fail again, we do not want to acknowledge or give it energy. We also feel like no one understands and the truth is they do not. Our experiences are uniquely our own, even if others can relate. However, it is our responsibility to be upfront and realistic about the effort and committment we will put forth when people come alongside to offer help. Otherwise, we appear entitled.
PR people always say, don’t talk bad about your former employer and say you were “thankful for the
opportunity” for that reason. In this case, it looks as if Tiffany is still blaming and has not grown from the experience.
Many other models continuous “failure” is not being able to get past casting, call backs and being seen by millions in ads. Tiffany had the opportunity to shine on a widely broadcast show and “seemingly” chose not too because she was tired of failing. That makes no sense.
Just as Tiffany had a dream and a vision, the Top Model brand was Tyra’s vision. She didn’t have children at that time so I suspect it was like her Baby.
Tyra ended up looking foolish for bringing Tiffany into that vision, when Tiffany didn’t seem to value or respect it. Imagine someone being dismissive of your child. I think that is why she snapped.
Who knows what Tyra went through pitching the “silly idea” for Top Model to the network, getting the money for production and finding and getting all the judges to commit their time/talent. Some people might have laughed or doubted her.
Tyra essentially created the show because she wished she had that opportunity when she was trying to get her start in modeling as a woman of color. For Tiffany to accept the opportunity then “seemingly” appear unbothered about elimination, proved the naysayers about Tyra’s show right.
That is to say, the people whom the show is helping have not made it in modeling, not for lack of opportunity, but for lack of talent and dedication. That was obviously not true of all the women there, but this scene would support that assumption.
And this right here is why I have never liked Tyra. She comes across as a very fake person who pretends to be nice but is a mean, ugly person inside. She markets her show and herself as helping young girls & building a sisterhood but she never hesitated to humiliate them (as we can see from this article) & ensured that the girls went through the most demeaning experiences ever all in the name of showing them tough love.
It’s funny how Tyra loves to play the role of the victim & claim Naomi Campbell bullied her etc when Tyra is the ultimate bully. Who yells non-stop to someone that is struggling to make it about her being through anger management etc? It is so inappropriate, manipulative & abusive. I’m glad she’s being shown for the fake person she really is.
Agreed!
+1.