Britains Next Top Model: A Toxic Reality Revealed

This week a spotlight has been shone on ' legacy after a series of scandals from America's Next Top Model were revealed on a new series.

's expose, Reality Check, features former contestants from the show, as well as Tyra and her fellow judges, as they uncover the truth behind allegations of racism, fat-shaming and a sexual assault cover up.

Launched by Tyra in 2003, ANTM was an instant ratings hit, and ultimately spawned 50 international versions of the Top Model franchise.

One of which was Britain's Next Top Model, which launched in 2005 and ran for 12 cycles before the show was scrapped in 2017.

The series followed the same format as its American counterpart, even down to emulating the toxic behaviour.

Not even the series' biggest success story, , was safe from the judges' acid tongue.

The ugly reality of Britain's Next Top Model: Abbey Clancy (pictured) was branded a 'fat porn star', girls felt 'unsafe' on 'inappropriate' shoots and eating disorders ran rife

Britain's Next Top Model also caused a stir when they revealed they'd cast Jade McSorley (pictured) a model who was actively suffering from anorexia

Liverpudlian Abbey competed on cycle two of the show, and despite finishing in second place, she went on to launch an incredible career that was so successful she came back to the show as a judge 10 years later.

Yet during her initial appearance, Abbey was torn apart by the judges, with photographer Nicky Johnston famously branding her a 'fat porn star'.

During a joint interview with the pair in 2016, Abbey recalled: ‘I remember lying in the snow in that bikini, freezing, and you were shouting, “What are you doing? You look like a porn star. A fat porn star at that.”’

While that moment was not shown in the broadcast, Nicky was shown telling Abbey on the shoot 'you want to f**k me, darling? Because I don't want to f**k you!'

Nicky insisted he 'didn't remember' the incident, but Abbey was quick to bring up another cruel moment when she struggled to open her eyes due to the blinding sunshine on a shoot in the Moroccan desert.

‘You were shouting, “Open your bloody eyes”, but I literally couldn’t,’ she recalled. ‘I was practically crying.’

Despite the jibes, Abbey insisted there was no ill will between the pair, saying that as Scousers, 'It’s very sarcastic. There’s no offence or aggression meant.

'We’ll say the most horrendous things and not bat an eyelid, but if you said them to someone else they’d be mortified.'

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Not even the series' biggest success story, Abbey Clancy, was safe from the judges' acid tongue, with the model famously branding her a 'fat porn star'

Abbey competed on cycle two, and despite finishing in second place, she went on to launch an incredible career that was so successful she came back to the show as a judge 10 years later

Season six's Susan Loughnane previously hit out at the comments she'd received, claiming she had been 'victimised' on the show

The models were instructed to photograph each others' 'worst feature'. The terms 'muffin handles' and 'flabby arms', were used to describe UK size 6 (US 10) Alex Evans (left)

During the casting, Susan was told her movements were 'corpse like', with Fraser later remarking that she 'didn't make any justice to the outfit' while Julian said he couldn't see her modelling for them.

Judges Grace Woodward and Charley Speed then made a surprise visit to the contestants' house and told them that Susan would be eliminated immediately.

Speaking after the show, Susan said: 'It was really cruel. I felt very victimised actually. To be honest, I was ready to leave because they'd all been mean to me all day.

'They just crushed me. I was literally fighting back the tears. I didn't cry though, as I didn't want to give them the satisfaction of seeing me break down.'

In the same season, models also complained of feeling 'unsafe' on set after taking part in a lingerie shoot that required them to pose provocatively.

Aspiring models Joy McLaren and Kirsty Parsons were instructed to caress each other while straddling a male model that they had just met, with Joy saying at the time 'it was a bit creepy' and Kirsty calling the shoot 'difficult'.

Nicola Wright said she 'felt uncomfortable' after being instructed to writhe in bed with a male model while wearing underwear that kept coming undone.

'I didn’t feel very safe in it,' she confessed. 'It made me feel uncomfortable, but I thought, there’s nothing I can do about it.'

In the same season, models also complained of feeling 'unsafe' on set after taking part in a lingerie shoot that required them to pose provocatively

Nicola Wright said she 'felt uncomfortable' after being instructed to writhe in bed with a male model while wearing underwear that kept coming undone

Harleen Kaur Nottay was then brought in to join the shoot, getting upset when she was instructed to remove her robe and display her lingerie while writhing around with the models.

Breaking down in tears she later said: 'It made me feel very degraded. We just don’t do things like that, because I’m Sikh.'

Amelia Thomas described the shoot as feeling like 'one big orgy', adding: 'I felt some shots were quite inappropriate but I had to do it because that’s what I was expected to do.'

Hannah Goodeve said she didn't feel like herself shooting in lingerie, later ringing her mum and crying down the phone: 'I’m just having the most horrible time. I don’t know what to do.'

She ultimately landed in the bottom two but ended up quitting the competition before judge Elle Macpherson could announce who would be eliminated.

'Honest to God, I can’t do it,' she confessed, later saying in confessional: 'What I was worried about was that I was losing sight of being me.

'It’s made me realise what I want to do with my life. I think I want to teach English.'

Harleen Kaur Nottay felt 'degraded' when she was asked to remove her robe on the shoot, later saying: 'We just don’t do things like that, because I’m Sikh'

Amelia Thomas (right) described the shoot as feeling like 'one big orgy', while Hannah Goodeve (left) was upset and later rang her mother and cried down the phone

Aged 20, 5’9" Jade McSorley weighed less than seven stone and had been treated in hospital just a year prior for anorexia when she appeared on the show

In one uncomfortable scene, she was seen stripping off for a nude shoot, while she confessed: 'I was just a bit self-conscious because I was thinking about my body'

Season five's Sophie Sumner also opened up about suffering from an eating disorder but had not revealed this during her time on the show.

Sophie - who also appeared on America's Next Top Model for their 'British invasion' season - shared last year: 'My brain would constantly be counting everything.

'I'm like, okay, I had a slice of bread, so that would be like 200 calories, and now I can only reach 1,000, but then I have to work out...

'I was constantly in a mental arithmetic. If my brain was a pie chart, so much of it was just on eating, and how not to eat focused on what other people are eating, it was just all-consuming.'

She continued: 'Sometimes I would go to McDonald's and buy 24 chicken nuggets and get into bed and eat them and then go to the toilet and throw up and then come back out and eat some ice cream, and then go to the toilet and throw up.

'It was painful, and I would pop vessels in my eye, and it felt awful, and I was ultimately sat on a bathroom floor, crying in a vicious cycle of trying to get thinner. And it's just so miserable.'

Sophie said her poor relationship with food and her body began long before she found fame on reality TV.

'I started modelling at like 15, 16,' she said. 'My booker was like, "Keep an eye on your hips." I didn't really understand what that meant, but maybe that's when I started cutting back on food.'

At the same time, she was becoming known for her party-girl persona. 'I would always be the one to drink that little bit more,' she said. 'My confidence would go up when I was drinking… it felt like all these positive things would happen.'

But the drinking quickly became destructive. 'Instead of going to castings we'd just go out and drink a little bit more,' she said. 'My self-esteem was falling low… even though everyone was telling me I was beautiful, I couldn't have felt worse.'

Julien Macdonald insisted no plus size models would be allowed to compete because 'this is a serious show' (L-R Judges Charley Speed, Elle Macpherson, Julien and Grace Woodward)

One thing BNTM would not do, is feature any plus size models.

During cycle eight of America's Next Top Model, plus size model Whitney Thompson competed and won the show.

Whitney, who was a UK size 10 (US 6) admitted that she had felt uncomfortable on set because she wasn't provided with clothing that fit her.

However, many viewers praised the inclusivity of including a 'plus size' model at all.

Yet BNTM judge Julien Macdonald insisted that would never be a case on the UK spin-off, saying in 2013: 'There were no plus size models. This is a serious show.'

He added: 'You can’t have a plus size girl winning – it makes it a joke. It’s not fair on them – you’re setting them up for a fall – I know what would happen to them afterwards

'They are looked down on, they’re frowned upon. A catwalk model is a size six to eight. If you’re a size 14 in a room full of size eights – you’re in the wrong room.'

If you've been affected by this story, help and support is available from BEAT Eating Disorders at 0808 801 0677 or help@beateatingdisorders.org.uk

Britains Next Top Model: A Toxic Reality Revealed

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