While Tyra Banks reportedly made an estimated “$30 million during the 12-month period” as the creator and judged on America’s Next Top Model (ANTM), former contestant Sarah Hartshorne said she and other contestants were left broke, per Forbes.
Hartshorne, 34, is a Heath, Massachusetts — native turned New Yorker who was also a part of cycle nine alum as a plus-size model for the show when she was 18. During an interview with the New York Post, Hartshorne explained the living conditions and treatment she and other contestants endured during their time on the show.
“We were not paid a penny for being on the show,” she said. “We were given a $38 daily cash stipend that we had to use to pay for our own food.”
“And they didn’t even give us a microwave to heat the food up,” she added.
The former contestant’s startling accusations also accuse Banks of allegedly creating a substantial fortune on the backs of young, underpaid aspiring models.
$40 a day, no residuals, and we had to pay for food. https://t.co/lnclnbj2GZ
— Sarah B. Hartshorne (@sarahhartshorne) November 30, 2021
at Tyra sending girls home with a shaved head, failed dreams, and $40 pic.twitter.com/ES9S2kcUya
— badboysremix
(@badboysremix) November 30, 2021
“The fact that girls on ANTM were getting paid $40 an episode and Tyra and them judges were making BANK is kinda sick,” tweeted a furious fan of the canceled show.
The fact that girls on ANTM were getting paid $40 an episode and Tyra and them judges were making BANK, is kinda sick.
— MAY18TH (@jiggyjayy2) November 30, 2021
The veteran supermodel is no stranger to the internet outrage regarding different moments in her career. For example, she previously apologized for some of the “really off choices” she made during her stint as ANTM commander-in-chief, New York Post reported.
Although Hartshorne was forced to undergo an extreme makeover by trimming her chest-length hair on the show, she said she was one of the few contestants who liked their “Top Model makeover. However, she despised the treatment she and her fellow castmates endured from the production team, per New York Post.
“Production kept us in the dark about almost everything because they wanted to keep us on edge. Us being confused, tired, stressed, sleep-deprived and hungry just made for better TV,” she claimed. “We never knew where we were going at any given time. They would transport us from place to place in a windowless van, and we’d have to face every situation totally clueless and out of sorts.”
The 34-year-old also stated that she and other castmates were prohibited from speaking to their families during filming.
“Production had us sign hundreds of contracts, including non-disclosure agreements,” she recalled. “And anyone that we wanted to talk to on the phone outside of the show had to sign the NDA, too. My grandpa didn’t want to sign it so that I couldn’t speak to him for the weeks we were shooting.”
After being eliminated from the show during the seventh cycle, Hartshorne quit modeling altogether and pursued a career as a stand-up comedian.
“Being on America’s Next Top Model didn’t really open doors in the modeling world for a lot of people,” she insisted, adding that Banks does not maintain contact with the show’s contestants or winners once production wraps. “It just gives aspiring models a glimpse of what to expect if we want to make it in the industry.”
