Eva Marcille emerged victorious on the programme back in 2004, landing a modelling contract, a cosmetics deal and a magazine feature.
America’s Next Top Model winner Eva Marcille has defended Tyra Banks, insisting the Netflix docuseries about the TV show was “biased” and “unbalanced”.
Eva emerged victorious on the programme back in 2004, landing a modelling contract, a cosmetics deal and a magazine feature.
She wasn’t asked to take part in the docuseries Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, and claimed on Andy Cohen’s Watch What Happens Live that bosses opted not to approach her because her take would have upset the whole “narrative” of their series.
During the ‘shady’ segment on Cohen’s show, Eva was challenged to say three nice things about Tyra, and opted for: “Tyra is always fierce. She was always right and she’s always on top.”
Andy went on to ask Eva what she thought of the docuseries, to which she said they “don’t have enough time”.
However, she went on to say: “I am pro Tyra. [Reality Check] was just shady boots. It was not balanced. It was very biased.
“They never asked me [to participate] because it would go contradictory to the entire [narrative].”
Eva’s comments come after she previously called Reality Check “amazingly horrifying”, and insisted she was completely unaware of trouble among cast members, including eating disorders and sexual assault allegations.
Following the release of Reality Check, Tyra filed a lawsuit against Netflix, alleging she has suffered “significant mental anguish” over the way she is portrayed in the docuseries, accusing producers of using just 16 minutes of a three-and-a-half-hour interview with her, which was shown as clips that were “stripped of context and reassembled to support a false and defamatory narrative unrelated to what she actually expressed.”
Court documents obtained by People magazine stated: “Tyra Banks participated in the Netflix documentary series America’s Next Top Model (‘ANTM’) because she believed viewers deserved a candid conversation about the show’s legacy – its successes and its shortcomings. “There are aspects of the show for which Ms. Banks takes accountability and she wanted ANTM viewers to hear that from her directly.
“Going into her interview, Ms. Banks did not limit the ANTM topics the interviewer could ask… “The Netflix series Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model (the ‘Netflix Series’) was sold to viewers as a ‘documentary series’.
“Netflix called it ‘the definitive, must-watch chronicle of America’s Next Top Model.’ The genre matters. Viewers of a documentary do not expect manufactured drama or constructed narratives. They expect facts. Because they were promised a documentary, that is exactly how viewers interacted with the Netflix Series.”
Tyra – who wants a jury to determine the “appropriate” amount she should receive in damages – claimed the accountability she took for some of America’s Next Top Model’s most controversial moments were edited out.
Because of what Tyra feels was a “false and defamatory” portrayal of her on the docuseries, she is suing for “damages, including loss of future business opportunities, loss of business income, other compounding losses as will be shown at trial.”
America’s Next Top Model winner defends Tyra Banks after ‘biased’ docuseries
