‘ANTM’ winner Adrianne Curry recounts hunger, sleep deprivation and damage

Adrianne Curry, the first winner of Tyra Banks’ America’s Next Top Model in 2003, described difficult filming conditions ahead of Netflix’s docuseries. She said contestants were “starving all day” and often not fed until “3 or 4 p.m.,” and that she lost a great deal of weight while on the show.

Curry accused producers of deliberate sleep deprivation—keeping eliminations going until 2 a.m. and waking contestants around 5:30 a.m.—and called some tactics “psychological warfare.” She said on-the-fly interviews included leading questions meant to plant ideas, and that parts of the set were dismantled so models could not cook for themselves.

On the subject of makeovers, Curry said judges made her wear a weave that caused pain, open wounds and lasting hair damage; after the weave was removed her hair did not grow back and she spent years with a severe cut. She added that she was afraid to complain for fear of being eliminated.

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