America’s Next Top Model’s reality television legacy has often been defined by its out of the box photoshoots, explosive fights between contestants, and the eccentric personality of host Tyra Banks.
As fans have resisted the show’s early days, there have been many moments from the show’s history that have not aged well today. One of the most controversial episodes from the series is an episode from Cycle 4 where the models participated in a “race swap” photoshoot. The episode titled “The Girl Who is a Potty Mouth” the models were asked to portray a race different from their own which result in numerous contestants wearing black face and brown face.
Since the episode first aired in 2005, it has been removed from all streaming platforms due to its racial insensitivity. Tyra Banks and Jay Manuel reflected on the controversial photoshoot in the 2026 Netflix docuseries Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model.
“My parents are from South Africa, they grew up during Apartheid. I’m very aware of that history and I just said, like, race swapping? Wow,” Manuel said of the Cycle 4 episode.
“I recognized that my role was starting to have limitations and that shoot was happening regardless,” he continued. “If you really look for it, you can see it on my face. Especially the setup for the day where I tell the girls what we’re doing. I could tell. I was just like, double swallowing, but I just had to do my job.”
Banks also commented on the photoshoot sharing that while the concept does not age well in a 2026 lens, she did not find it problematic at the time.
“I didn’t think it was controversial. I was in my own little bubble, in my own little head,” she explained in the documentary. “This was my way of showing the world that Brown and Black was beautiful.”
Banks added, “Looking at the show now, through the 2020 lens, it’s an issue and I understand 100 percent why.”
While the episode is no longer available to stream, clips are still circulated and discussed online to this day.
