America's Next Top Model Was Run Like a Cult

Sarah Hartshorne, a former contestant on America's Next Top Model, reveals in her book that the experience was psychologically damaging. The show has evolved in public perception from harmless entertainment to a source of trauma for contestants. Hartshorne recounts instances of manipulation by producers, including forced isolation between contestants. She describes her experience of feeling reduced to a mere character on television, indicating a lack of agency in her portrayal. The narrative publicly critiques the culture of humiliation perpetuated by the series, suggesting that participants should have been compensated for their distressing experiences.

Hartshorne describes 'America's Next Top Model' as a cult-like environment, emphasizing producers' manipulations that created isolation and further detached contestants from reality.

In her book, Hartshorne reveals that producers controlled contestants by not letting them communicate freely, creating an atmosphere of psychological manipulation and compliance.

Read at Vulture