< America's Next Top Model

America's Next Top Model/YMMV


  • Anvilicious: The "inspiring" work the girls are doing by modeling cannot be understated according to the show. Tragic backstories are played up at every opportunity, too.
    • In accordance with its theme, Cycle 13 was renamed America's Next Top Petite Model because all the models were under 5'7". While it's true girls that short are not common in the modeling world, the girls' height was beaten over the audience's head all the time.
  • Badass Decay: Some of the returning girls during the All-Star cycle suffered from this.

Nigel: (To the panel) "Cycle 1, I looked at all pictures of her (Shannon) and there's this fire. Now, she just gone bland."
Tyra: (To Shannon) "You were a great model. But when you came to All-Stars, you just became a good model. Go back to the great you once were."

Tyra: (To Kayla) "I think miss Kayla is melting away."

Tyra: (To Bre and Alexandria) "Both of you are losing the strength you had from your original cycles."

Mr. Jay: (To Camille) "Right now you're just giving 60% of what you can give me. I want Camille back!"

  • Crazy Awesome:
    • Some of the runway challenges.
    • Cycles 7 and 17's respective winners CariDee English and Lisa D'Amato are this trope personified.
  • Creator's Pet: The alleged predetermined winners are this by default.
  • Designated Protagonist Syndrome: Fans of the show stated that the two Jays are more likable than some of the other judges including host Tyra herself.
  • Ear Worm: The show's theme song.
  • Elimination Houdini: Almost each cycle had at least one.
    • Ann Markley from Cycle 3, who despite her strong runway walk and very beautiful looks, was always on the bottom 2 in almost every episode. And when she wasn't, the panel will usually complain something about her performance. She actually finished fourth. Jay Manuel called her out on it.

Mr. Jay: "You are lucky to be still here. You barely got a photograph."

    • Cycle 5 had Bre Scullark and Jayla Rubinelli. The former finished 3rd despite landing on the bottom 2 four times, while the latter survived twice in a row despite having bland photos, first because it's a non-elimination weekend and the second because the other person in the bottom 2 was perceived as arrogant. She finished 4th.
    • Jade Cole from Cycle 6 finished 3rd despite being in the bottom 2 four times.
    • Jaeda Young from Cycle 7 managed to survive elimination three times despite having lackluster photos. She ultimately finished 6th.
    • Ambreal Willams from Cycle 9 was actually eliminated, but ended up staying on two more weeks due to the other person in the Bottom 2 quitting.
    • Whitney Thompson from Cycle 10, who ended up winning due to the judges' thinking that "it's about time a plus-sized model wins the competition" despite being in the bottom 2 four times.
    • Esther Petrack from Cycle 15 managed to finished 7th despite the judges complaining about her dull photos.
    • Angelea Preston from Cycle 17. She survived elimination four times despite her inconsistent performance in photoshoots and challenges and a severe case of Inferiority Superiority Complex. She became a textbook example when she made it to the top 4 over Dominique. Then the top 3 over Laura. In fact, she allegedly won but was disqualified for unspecific reasons. Makes you feel bad about Dominique and Laura though..
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Every cycle has at least one. See Creepy-chan on the main page. For the show as a whole, there's Miss J.
  • Foe Yay: Janice Dickinson to everyone. Most contestants are also prone to this.
  • Freud Was Right: The All-Star has plenty. The hotdog shoot is just the kicker.
    • Bianca using pickles during her Snooki photoshoot.
    • When Lisa and Laura were discussing Orgasm with her in the Recap Episode, Shannon is drinking milk.
  • Fridge Brilliance: The All-Stars Cycle had plenty:
    • Tyra added the word again to the end of her usual pre-Elimination Catchphrase ("one of them will be going home") during the All-Stars Cycle, reflecting that Cycle's My Greatest Second Chance theme. However, she just uttered her regular pre-Elimination Statement in two occasions. First in episode 9 when Shannon and Laura were the bottom two. And then in episode 12 when the bottom two were Allison and Laura. The reason is that the girls mentioned were runner-ups from their original Cycles.
    • Angelea's "Persistent" brand.
    • The final two for this Cycle were Lisa and Allison. Originally, Lisa was from Cycle 5 while Allison was from Cycle 12. Adding five and twelve will sum up to seventeen (5+12=17). All-Stars was the seventeenth Cycle.
    • Lisa was the first non-winner to guest during an on-going season (Cycle 6 along with Janice Dickinson). Winning the cycle featuring non-winning contestants somewhat makes it relevant.
  • Funny Aneurysm Moment: Janice kissing Tyra in Cycle 4.
    • Cycle 4 runner-up Kahlen was told by Jay Manuel that she looks like supermodel Carmen Kass. After the show, Kahlen had a hard time booking jobs because of her Celebrity Resemblance which lead her to eventually leaving the industry.
    • During the All-Stars Cycle, Dominique laughed at the idea that her curse is being photographed by resident judge Nigel Barker (She was referring to her boot in Cycle 10 where he was the photographer. Nigel photographed the girls earlier). At the end of the episode, she wasn't laughing at all.
  • Ham and Cheese: Jay Manuel was this in Cycle 14 (episode "America's Next Top Vampire").
  • Harsher in Hindsight: Janice kissing Tyra during Cycle 4. As of now, they hate each other.
    • The lyrics of "I'm Here" , Angelea's Leitmotif during the All-Stars Cycle, was about her being a Plucky Girl most of her life. At the season finale, she was disqualified and wasn't even present during final judging. What's even worse for her is that she's also the alleged winner. These are words from the song..

"I've been kick down on the ground. But here I stand, ready to win. I ain't going nowhere. I'm here! I'm here!"

    • Ditto Alexandria. Hers was titled "Go, Go, Go!", which is a Punny Name about how she will go further in the competition. Alex was eliminated at the end of the episode (over Angelea).
  • Heartbreaking in Hindsight: During Cycle 1, Elyse won a challenge earning a visit from a loved one. Her boyfriend is the one who came and he was even allowed to stay for a short period of time at the contestants' hotel room. Around 2008, said boyfriend allegedly assaulted her in a hotel.
    • Adrienne's victory. Especially showing how proud Tyra was on it.

Tyra: "Adrienne is the present. Adrienne is the future"
Adrienne: "I'm gonna have a good life now. My family's gonna have a good life now. A lot is going to change, and it kicks so much ass."

  • Hilarious in Hindsight: During Cycle 4, Michelle and two other girls (the eventual finalists) lost a challenge and had to sleep outdoors as consequence (the challenge winner will choose two contestants to take with her to spend the night at a luxury cottage). Michelle has no qualms about it, saying she watches Survivor. About three years later, Michelle will marry Survivor's infamous villain Johnny Fairplay.
  • Hollywood Pudgy: The "plus-sized" contestants who are not big enough to be considered big beautiful women yet not Hollywood Thin unlike most of the girls.
  • Jerkass Woobie: Anamaria's pretty unpleasant to be around, but she has an obvious eating disorder.
  • Les Yay: With girls living on the same house for over a month, it's quite inevitable to be "close".
  • Mary Sue: The show portrays some girls as this.
  • Moe: Kari Schmidt. Allison Harvard. Laura Kirkpatrick. Jessica Serfaty. Kayla Ferrell. Among others.
  • Narm Charm: The show delights in this. There's a lot of crying going on, and so over the top that it's downright charming.
  • Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: See Character Development in the main page. Dominique is the most obvious case though.
  • Scapegoat Creator: Tyra Banks.
  • The Scrappy: There are many...
    • Natalie from Cycle 12 is this all over. She explained to Teyona and Aminat that she grew up in "a diffrent place than they did," and wasn't used to chores (both are black, by the way). Later, on the episode where she was eliminated, she complained about how "ugly" Brazil was, and while others were happy about doing a photoshoot in a Brazilian ghetto, Natalie complained about the poor people.
    • The Elimination Houdini always get this treatment, especially those who advanced over consistent and fan-favorite contestants despite their lackluster performances. Ann over Toccarra and Norelle in Cycle 3, Whitney over Katarzyna in Cycle 10 and Angelea over Dominique and Laura in All-Stars are examples.
    • The Alpha Bitches. Except, maybe, Jade.
    • Clark from Cycle 11. Constantly being a bigot against Isis for being transgender and even a few down-right racists undertones against the black contestants got her hated. While there were other contestants who made fun of Isis (Sharaun, Hannah) or were simply more annoying (Nikeysha), Clark overstayed her welcome.
    • Judge Kelly Cutrone isn't well liked by many fans not only because of the Louise incident, but because she underrates and unappreciative of some contestants talents (Annaliese and Catherine. AzMarie at the time of her boot). Turning her back on Laura, her favorite contestant, in the Cycle 18 finale didn't help either.
  • Seasonal Rot: Cycles 9, 10, 12, 14 and 17 are the generally unliked seasons. Cycles 2-7, 11, 13 and 16 are the popular seasons, with cycles 2, 3 and 6 being considered by many as the series' best.
  • Shocking Elimination: In most cases, they had better careers over the contestants who made it further than them, including the winners.
    • Elyse Sewell from Cycle 1.
    • Toccara Jones from Cycle 3.
    • Lisa D'Amato and Kim Stolz from Cycle 5 (the former will come back with a vengeance by winning the All-Stars Cycle)
    • Nnena Agba from Cycle 6.
    • AJ Stewart and Michelle Babin from Cycle 7.
    • Jennah Doucette from Cycle 9.
    • Katarzyna Dolinska from Cycle 10.
    • Analeigh Tipton from Cycle 11.
    • Brittany Markert from Cycle 13.
    • Dominique Reighard and Laura Kirkpatrick from Cycle 17 (All-Stars).
    • AzMarie Livingston and Catherine Thomas from Cycle 18.
  • So Bad It's Good: Best enjoyed Mystery Science Theater 3000-style.
  • Surprisingly Improved Sequel: It is universally agreed that Cycle 2 was superior to Cycle 1. Then comes Cycle 3, which is an Even Better Sequel to the former. In fact, majority of the succeeding cycles are considered superior to Cycle 1, though it becomes a Cult Classic to the show's fans.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Cycle 17 front-runners Dominique and Laura were eliminated in favor of the resident Elimination Houdini who was ultimately disqualified.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: In relation to the above, Cycle 17's final five consisted of the four front-runners and the resident Elimination Houdini. Guess who made it to the top three and got disqualified.
  • Unfortunate Implications: Anamaria was basically used as A Very Special Episode about anorexia.
    • Sheena's "unexpected" brand in Cycle 17.
      • Brittany and Sheena getting the first two boot in that cycle. They are Identical Strangers to former judges Janice Dickinson and Kimora Lee Simmons respectively. Tyra is on bad terms with said former judges, especially the former. Tyra and the latter are Vitriolic Best Buds.
  • What an Idiot!: When given the opportunity to meet a major fashion designer, Nicole Panattoni declined, because she did not feel like it.
  • The Woobie:
    • Cassie Grisham was suffering from bulimia. And her dad was a Jerkass too.
    • Kahlen's friend died and she had to pose inside a coffin immediately. Sure she won best photo, but it's hard not to feel like hugging her during that episode.
    • Tyra (and the panel) liked to pick on Katarzyna. Just watch Cycle 10.
    • Ann Ward.
    • Ondrei Edwards'brother died just a few months before she got in ANTM.
    • Allison Harvard due to being Always Second Best.
      • Also for what happened to her in the All Stars Cycle. The contestants were challenged to write lyrics for their own song and perform it in a video. Allison wrote a song about her feelings about her father's death... only to find out later that footage of Tyra dancing around with a feather boa would be spliced into the video and she had to add the words "pot ledom is top model spelled backwards" into the song. Ouch.
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