Adrianne Curry shows tough reality behind her America's Next Top model victory; all you need to know

Time of India

a day ago

, America's Next Top Model's very first winner, is giving us the tea on the reality of her legendary win—and it's far cry from the glittering fantasy that people thought. On the June 3 episode of Just B with Bethenny Frankel, the 42-year-old model-turned-recluse spoke candidly about the failed promises, financial non-reward, and her lengthy path to finally moving on.
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"My season of Top Model, I was the lone winner who won no money. Zero dollars," Curry revealed to Frankel, who was shocked by the admission.
Curry achieved stardom in 2003 as the winner of Cycle 1 of
' model competition show, which enthralled millions with hopes of transforming normal young women into supermodels. However, according to Curry, things were far from how they were presented on TV.
"There was no money in my win.
I won a title," she went on, explaining that although the show promoted a Revlon campaign as part of the grand prize during production, that segment was eliminated from the final product broadcast on TV.
Although Curry did ultimately make $15,000 from Revlon, she maintains the experience made her feel cheated. She also got a contract with Wilhelmina Models but asserted in a 2017 blog entry that the agency released her once the show changed to IMG Models for its second season.
Wilhelmina refuted Curry's allegations in 2023 through a statement by VP Ray Lata:
Two decades ago, Wilhelmina had various owners and employees. Wilhelmina is today a publicly owned company. It does not appear there would be enough incentive to injure Tyra and not seek to optimize a model's earning potential."
Nevertheless, Curry asserts that the real prize she emerged with wasn't a lucrative modeling career—but merely a title.
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"Tyra [Banks] was saying we're gonna be this giant Revlon-type superstar. Because I don't think any of us would have struggled as hard as we did for what the award actually was—which is the title," Curry said.
"So I always tease because people are like, 'You still refer to yourself as America's Next Top Model?' I'm like, it's the only f—— thing I won. I'm gonna put it on my tombstone."
When 54-year-old Bethenny Frankel inquired whether Curry had felt a need to join in on the online criticism of Tyra Banks amidst the 2020 "reality reckoning" tide—when videos from ANTM re-emerged featuring contentious challenges such as "race-swapping" photo shoots—Curry replied that she deliberately avoided it.
What's actually funny is everybody needed me to dog pile on Tyra Banks when 2020 was going on and everybody was getting angry," she remembers.
"And I'm like, no, because if anybody has a right to be angry with her, it's me. And I'm done. I don't care anymore. What she taught me was the reality of entertainment.
Curry long ago parted ways with the fashion and public eye. But through this honest interview, she paints a grim portrait of the unseen realities reality television stars endure—even the winners. Her account joins the list of voices calling for greater reality TV transparency, accountability, and equity.