Why Tyra Banks Took This America's Next Top Model Winner's Title Away

With the classic episodes of "America's Next Top Model" being put onto streaming services, many fans have been watching the 24 cycles the series has churned out since its premiere in 2003. Tyra Banks — the show's creator, host, and producer — started out her career as a professional model herself, so she was meant to serve as a testament to the realities of a modeling career.

But in many ways, "ANTM" stands as a relic of the early 2000s, and the problematic challenges and Banks' apparent mistreatment of contestants have many who are rewatching old seasons calling out "ANTM's" scandalous behaviors. In 2020, Banks herself has admitted that many of the show's antics were "some really off choices," per her Twitter.

But one of the show's biggest controversies actually happened off-camera and resulted in the producers of "ANTM" being served a multi-million lawsuit. Back in Cycle 17, Lisa D'Amato was crowned the winner, while her final competition was mysteriously disqualified in the last episode. What transpired behind the scenes that made the cycle's initial frontrunner get kicked off the show?

Cycle 17 of "America's Next Top Model" was actually an all-star season, so the show brought back Angelea Preston, who originally appeared on Cycle 14 in 2010 and finished in 4th place. Although she made it far in the competition, Preston expressed that her portrayal on the series prevented her from booking gigs.

"People viewed me as ghetto and a b***h, impossible to work with," Preston lamented to Daily Mail in 2015. "They recognized me from the show and they didn't want to even look at me." During this turbulent time in her life, Preston resorted to sex work for one month in order to support herself. So when "ANTM" called her back in 2011 to compete in an All-Stars cycle, Preston used the opportunity to finally achieve her modeling dreams.

Her hard work paid off because she made it to the finale and was actually crowned as the winner! According to court documents, in the unaired segment, Preston told Tyra Banks that the host had "[changed] her life," and that she had done "things [she's] not proud of to get money." Only a month after the finale was filmed, Preston was informed by "ANTM" executives that her title was revoked. ”Tyra wasn't there. One of the executive producers was there, the casting director, the psychiatrist because we had one on the show and the attorney for CW," Preston told Daily Mail. "They basically said to me, 'We cannot air you as the winner.'"

Instead of Angelea Preston's winning moment being aired during the Cycle 17 finale, runner-up Lisa D'Amato was crowned in a refilmed segment. Preston also never received the "Top Model" winner's package: a $100,000 contract with CoverGirl, spreads in Vogue Italia and Beauty In Vogue, a guest spot on Extra, and more, per Daily Mail. Preston then filed a $3 million lawsuit against Tyra Banks, producers of "ANTM," and executives from the CW "for unpaid wages, liquidated damages, and civil penalties," per Preston's lawsuit.

The Banks team asserted that there was a clause in the model's contract that said they may strip a winner's title if they are caught doing anything that may cause "public disgrace," per "ANTM's" complaint. But Preston claimed that the producers had knowledge of her legal escorting prior to the filming for Cycle 17, so she was wrongfully dethroned. The results of this lawsuit have not been released to the public, which Reddit users suspect means that the case was settled outside of court.

Ever since the transgressions that took place, Preston's opinion of Banks has completely shifted. "I used to admire Tyra so much," she expressed to Daily Mail. "I wanted to be like her. I don't want to be like her now."