Tyra Banks admits she ‘went too far’ on America’s Next Top Model

A new Netflix documentary sees Tyra Banks reflect on the show’s most controversial moments. Photo / Getty Images

Tyra Banks has admitted she “went too far” at times on America’s Next Top Model.

The 52-year-old model-turned-presenter has opened up about the reality TV series for a new Netflix documentary, Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, in which she says working on the show could be “very, very intense”.

Speaking in the documentary’s trailer, she says: “I haven’t really said much, but now it’s time.

“I knew I went too far.

“It was very, very intense. But you guys were demanding it, so we kept pushing more and more and more.

“I wanted to fight against the fashion industry.”

Elsewhere in the trailer, America’s Next Top Model creative director Jay Manuel says: “I realised Tyra would do anything for the success of her show”.

The Netflix footage also covered an infamous 2005 moment where Manuel told contestants on the show: “We are going to switch your ethnicities”.

Banks said in 2005: “I want to be very clear: I, in no way, put my Top Models in blackface.

“I’m a black woman. I am proud. I love my people and the struggle that we have gone through continues, and the last thing that I would ever do is be a part of something that degraded my race.

“I’m sorry to anybody that watched Top Model and was offended by the pictures because they didn’t understand the real story behind them or even if you did see the whole episode and you were still offended, I truly apologise because that is not my intention.

“My intention is to spread beauty and break down barriers.”

Also in the new Netflix trailer, producer Ken Mok says: “That was a moment where I realised, ‘Oh my God. I think we’ve built a monster’.”

It’s not yet known what Mok was referring to, but all will be revealed when the show launches on Netflix on February 16.