Is Adrianne Curry in America’s Next Top Model Documentary? Absence Explained

Netflix will screen the most controversial moments from the reality show America’s Next Top Model in its new documentary Real Test.

A three-part docuseries from American Manhunt: Osama Bin Laden directors Mor Loushy again Daniel Sivan pulls no punches as it explores the path America’s Next Top Model it changed the fashion industry – for the better and for the better. While ANTM undoubtedly opened up the world of fashion to a diverse pool of talent, there have been allegations that its realistic design has been exploitative at times.

The filmmakers got interviews with many key people involved in the making of the film ANTMfrom the original creator and host Tyra Banks and the manufacturer Ken Mok to former judges J. Alexander again Nigel Barker.

Many ANTM contestants – including winners Dani Evans again Whitney Thompson – we will also look at the legacy of the show but the star of the original show will be absent. Season 1 winner Adrianne Curry announced in January 2026 that he had rejected the proposal to consider it ANTM by using an “awakened lens,” calling the documentary concept “absurd.”

Keep scrolling to find out more Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model and why Curry refused to participate.

Why isn’t Adrianne Curry in Netflix’s ‘Next Top Model’ documentary?

Many media outlets announced in May 2025 that America’s Next Top Model Host Tyra Banks agreed to be interviewed about Netflix’s critical look at the series. His involvement seems to have paved the way for more judges and contestants to participate Real Test and, although there was a significant catch.

America’s Next Top Model season 1 winner Adrianne Curry confirmed in January 2026 that she was not interested in participating Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model.

“I’m very grateful that I won the first season of the top model. I think that people who analyze it mentally 20 years later with a woke lens are crazy,” she announced via X on January 26, 2026.

Curry argued that there was a possibility that any interviews were rigged to suit the filmmakers or Netflix’s agenda.

“I don’t trust people not to use the things I say on TV, so I reject everything,” he added. “Also, society is religious and cruel, so the last thing I want is a bunch of eyes on me. I hope some girls never change their words on their netflix show.”

A retired model is described Real Test as a way of “hiding” that may also express concern about any of the former ANTM contestants who did not agree to be interviewed.

“I’m worried about the girls of my age who agree to do it,” he warned.

What Did Adrianne Curry Say About ‘America’s Next Top Model’ In The Past?

Adrianne Curry has not been shy about criticism America’s Next Top Model since winning in 2003. She said on the “Just B With Bethenny Frankel” podcast in June 2025 that she was the only winner. ANTM to be paid “zero dollars.”

“[I] he was the only winner who didn’t win any money. Zero dollars. … There was no money in my winnings. I got the title,” he said to the manager Bethenny Frankel.

According to Curry, America’s Next Top Model I hired competitors for a Revlon campaign opportunity but they didn’t follow through.

“[Tyra Banks] he was telling us that we were going to be this big star like Revlon, because I don’t think any of us were going to fight for what the award really was, which is the title,” said Curry. America’s Next Top Model?’ I’m like, ‘It’s the only thing I won.’ I will put it on my tombstone.”

Curry gave a different version of events to it Entertainment Weekly in May 2023 when he said he was paid $15,000 to attend one Revlon company event.

“What I won was to go to Revlon corporate, sit in the back room, have a makeup artist put on my face for a group of about seven people to look at me. Who the f*** can fight as hard as we fight for that?” he complained.

Banks announced on time America’s Next Top Model The end of season 1 that the winner will get a “contract with Revlon, the fashion spread Marie Claire and representation by the leading modeling agency Wilhelmina.” Curry confirmed that he was offered a contract with Wilhelmina, although that relationship is said to have soured over time ANTM she switched to rival modeling agency IMG in season 2.

“[The agents] he wanted me to fail. They just told me,” he said. “They are angry because Top Model they made a lot of promises that they didn’t keep because no organization wanted to be part of the program when it first appeared.”

In response to Curry’s allegations, then Vice President Wilhelmina Ray Lata he told Entertainment Weekly in 2023, “Twenty years ago, Wilhelmina had different owners and employees. Wilhelmina is now a public company. It seems like there wouldn’t be enough motivation to hurt Tyra and not try to increase the power of a model person.”

Curry also said he still suffers from the physical effects of a disastrous ANTM audition in 2002. In an October 2025 Instagram video, Curry blamed the show’s braided hair for leaving him “a little bald.”

“I wanted to talk about why I’m a little bald here, the reason is that, when I was walking High model, Tyra Banks told them to put a weave in my hair. The Black writers who were putting it in pulled her aside, and I heard them say to her, ‘This white chick’s hair is too fragile. [Banks was]like, ‘Oh, no, no, just do it,’” he said.

Curry went on to say, “I had a oozing wound from the braids. Part of my hair was pulled out here.”

The model suspected that ANTMThe hairdressers “didn’t even take the weave out” when they cut the curl so she “had to go to a Black salon in Illinois” to have the process reversed. Curry said she was left with “horrible, wet scabs all over [her] head.”

“[The hair has] it has never grown, all over the place. Permanent damage to that weave. It was so painful,” he recalled, “I was coming out of my skin every second. All my friends were like, ‘Are you bald?’ I think most of those makeovers are just to torture us, honestly. “

The banks did not respond Us Weeklyrequest for comment at that time.

Despite his complaints, Curry said Entertainment Weekly in 2023 that he had no hard feelings for Banks in his own way ANTM experience came.

“Tyra Banks has learned to look at Tyra Banks. She’s a product of her nature, and I don’t blame her,” Curry said. “For him to be successful the way he was, bravo. He didn’t owe me s***. I know there are many contestants. I’m not at all. I’m happy that what happened: good, bad, bad, because it really shaped my life.”

Who Was Featured in Netflix’s ‘America’s Next Top Model’ Documentary?

The most interesting interview participant in the Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model by Tyra Banks, who created the competition series and served as host for 23 of its 24 seasons. (Rita Ora (he entered the boat in season 23 but it only lasted one round before Bank was brought back.)

“I haven’t really said much but now is the time,” Banks says slyly in the trailer.

The supermodel insists in the Netflix documentary that America’s Next Top Model it was his way of “fighting the fashion industry” although he admits that the atmosphere is open ANTM it would be “very, very bad.”

“But, guys [viewers] we wanted it hard, we kept pushing hard,” Banks explained in the game.

The old one America’s Next Top Model creative director Jay Manuel and judges Nigel Barker again J. Alexander give discussions of Real Testagain. The three of them will face the chaos that led to them all being fired ANTM in 2012. (A rerun of the show for cycle 19 saw Banks paired with a fashion blogger Bryanboymodel Rob Evans and designer Kelly Cutrone as judges, and a photographer Johnny Wujek as the new creative director.)

“I saw that Tyra would do anything to make her show successful,” Manuel said in the show.

Barker agrees to Real Test the trailer felt “betrayed” by his highly publicized firing, while Manuel likened the split. ANTM round 19 renews the “slap in the face.”

Real Test it will include testimony from many ANTM contestants and winners, incl Whitney Thompson (season 10 winner), Dani Evans (season 6 winner), Giselle Samson (season 1 contestant), Shandy Sullivan (season 2 contestant), Keenyah Hill (season 4 entrant) and Shannon Stewart (runner-up in season 1).

Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model premieres all three episodes on Netflix on Monday, February 16.