Janice Dickinson says she 'tortured' Tyra Banks on “America's Next Top Model”: 'I did “Vogue”, you did “Elle”'

Dickinson said on Kaitlyn Bristowe's podcast that she felt compelled to be mean to Banks after the supermodel critiqued her "ANTM" contestants.

Janice Dickinson, who once famously told an America's Next Top Model contestant to “Zip it, bitch,” has revealed that it was actually Tyra Banks’ critiques of the show’s competitors that got under her skin during production of the reality series.

"No, she's not a friendly lady," the former ANTM personality told The Bachelorette star Kaitlyn Bristowe on a recent episode of the Off the Vine podcast, after Bristowe asked her if she maintained a relationship with Banks following production of the beloved reality competition series.

Dickinson elaborated on the pair's past together, admitting that she "just tortured" Banks during production of ANTM.

"Because, if she was going to be mean to the girls — I saw her ploy, just so I could remain under the radar. I'd tell her things like, 'I did Vogue, you did Elle,'" Dickinson said of Banks' treatment of the contestants vying for the show's prize (often a modeling contract and a cover-spread combo in a teen magazine) — though, as Bristowe pointed out, the general tone of Dickinson's tenure on the judges' panel from cycles 1-4 was often compared to the brutality of American Idol's Simon Cowell.

While Banks appeared the cover of Elle, the fashion icon also covered international editions of Vogue, and broke barriers as America's first Black woman on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition. Still, Dickinson said her attitude was a direct response to Banks' on set.

"She was always late, keeping us waiting for hours and hours. Cape Town, South Africa — with no air conditioning," Dickinson claimed, referencing the overseas locale where the show filmed the final episodes of 2005's cycle 4.

A source familiar with the production of ANTM tells Entertainment Weekly that "it’s sad and childish that Janice is trying to drag Tyra, but unsurprising, as she has a history of speaking negatively about her."

Entertainment Weekly has reached out to a representative for Banks for comment.

Dickinson — who, despite exiting the main panel after cycle 4, still made regular guest appearances on ANTM throughout the years — also told Bristowe that Top Model was her favorite post-supermodel career endeavor, though she's spoken out against Banks in subsequent years.

"When I was hired to do ANTM, Tyra hired me to be like a female Simon Cowell, to be feeding, in negative fashion, things about the girls," Dickinson clarified in a later interview with the Oprah Winfrey Network, after previously referring to Banks as "soulless" in the past.

"Tyra's a tough businesswoman, and she does great TV. I respect her as a woman," she continued. "I've said some pretty bad things about her in the past because I'd been fired, and I was very hurt that I'd been fired, so I acted out. That's not when I acted in a sober-like fashion. I really apologize to you, Tyra, for the things I might've said to you, because she is a great lady, and thanks to her, I've had a very successful career on television."

Related: 14 America's Next Top Model stars speak on 20 shocking moments from ANTM's 20-year history: 'It was traumatic'

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In response to a social media comment, Dickinson said in 2022 that she regretted nothing about her time on ANTM and claimed "it was acting" when she gave the models her signature harsh feedback on the show.

While it was a wildly popular reality show across its 24 cycles to date, ANTM came under fire in recent years, with many viewers sharing thoughts online as they re-examined some of the program's challenges (including several which tasked the models with changing skin tones to portray different races) and judges' critiques.

Banks, who once told EW she even considered quitting the show during cycle 8, later addressed the controversy online.

Related: Tyra Banks rep says Kahlen's America's Next Top Model graveyard shoot was already 'planned' before friend's death

"Been seeing the posts about the insensitivity of some past ANTM moments and I agree with you," Banks wrote on X (formerly Twitter) in May 2020. "Looking back, those were some really off choices. Appreciate your honest feedback and am sending so much love and virtual hugs."

ANTM hasn't aired a new season since cycle 24 came to an end on VH1 in 2018. The show was never formally canceled, and, in an interview for her role in Life-Size 2, Banks previously told EW she considered bringing the show back for a final 25th cycle — potentially as an all-star edition. In May 2024, however, a source familiar with the situation exclusively told EW that the ANTM host and producer had no current plans to bring the series back for another installment, as the 50-year-old supermodel and mogul wanted to grow her SMiZE & DREAM ice cream brand even further.

Listen to Dickinson discuss Banks and ANTM on Bristowe's podcast above.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.