Curry, who won cycle 1, previously alleged to EW that she was disappointed by her prize package for winning the first edition in 2003.

ANTM star Adrianne Curry calls out fellow winner: ‘Never talks bad about the show’

Curry, who won cycle 1, previously alleged to EW that she was disappointed by her prize package for winning the first edition in 2003.

Joey Nolfi is a senior writer at *. *Since 2016, his work at EW includes *RuPaul's Drag Race* video interviews, Oscars predictions, and more.

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February 27, 2026 3:46 p.m. ET

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Adrianne Curry; Tyra Banks. Credit:

Donald Bowers/Getty; Sylvain Gaboury/FilmMagic

Adrianne Curry, the first winner of *America's Next Top Model*, has opened up about feeling "more validated" than she ever has before as resurfaced footage of producer-host Tyra Banks recirculates online amid the fallout from allegations made by former contestants and judges in Netflix's bombshell docuseries *Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model.*

In an Instagram video shared Friday, Curry, who won 2003's cycle 1, spoke out on the alleged "gaslighting that *Top Model *fans and the show put me through" following her victory. She told ** in a 2023 interview that she was disappointed by the prize package she received and the lack of mentorship from Banks.

"I know she did it for [cycle 3 winner] Eva [Marcille], and Eva is very successful, and I’m proud of her. And I think that’s great. That's also why Eva never talks bad about the show," Curry claimed. Marcille — who went on to become a primary cast member on *The Real Housewives of Atlanta* — did recently speak out about being "amazingly horrified" by allegations made against the show, amid backlash to Banks stemming from *Reality Check*. (A representative for Marcille did not immediately respond to EW's request for comment.)**

'ANTM' cycle 3 winner Eva Marcille.

CBS; Annette Brown/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty

Curry maintained, "I wouldn’t either. I’d be like, I got mine." She then alleged, "I was gaslit so much by fans and by the show, that I was just ungrateful and all this stuff. I was promised the world, and then it was dubbed over on the show, and I was never delivered it. Today, I felt very much like I was validated for the first time in over two decades."

The former reality TV star and current Avon sales rep said she experienced that validation upon viewing an old *Entertainment Tonight* clip from 2003 (below), in which Banks told the program she was excited to launch *ANTM* cycle 1 as her "first executive producership," and that she took the job "very seriously" — almost to the point of micromanaging various elements, from clothing choices to lighting.

“I’m very involved. I'm actually going to be managing the winner, along with IMG Models. I’m going to be their manager," Banks claimed in the footage, though Curry disputed that Banks did that for her.

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Curry replied in the comments section underneath* ET*'s video, writing, "After being gaslighted by Tyra, [producer] Ken [Mok] and fans... told im just bitter...told it expected more than what was promised...I cried watching this. Ive never felt more validated in my LIFE," later adding in a separate comment, "Im so glad tge [sic] gaslighting fans did to me for being upset I didnt get what was promised STOPS now...straight from her mouth....I didnt get managed. I didnt get a Revlon contract."

In her 2023 EW interview, Curry opened up about being assaulted by a stranger on the streets of Paris during filming (which was partially captured on camera) in addition to alleging that she never received the full prize package.

"What I won was to go to Revlon corporate, sit in a back room, have a makeup artist put makeup on my face for a team of about seven people watching me. Who the f--- would fight as hard as we fought for that?" Curry told us at the time, adding that she felt "f---ing humiliated" by the experience — though, she said she was paid about $15,000 to do it. Yet, that was a far cry, she alleged, from the "huge Revlon models" Banks and the judges indicated contestants would become during production. (A representative for Banks declined to comment on Curry's allegations at the time.)

In her 2026 Instagram video, Curry again touched on those claims, saying, "I was locked in house, being told I was going to be the next Giselle [Bündchen] or Tyra Banks if I won, that Tyra would manage my career,” she said. “I won, and then none of it happened. None of it."

*Reality Check *— featuring new interviews with Banks and Mok — covers multiple controversies surrounding the show, including shoots that tasked models with wearing dark makeup to portray women of different races, cycle 6 winner Dani Evans reacting to Banks pressuring her to undergo a dental procedure during production in the hopes of fixing a gap in her teeth, and more.

Angelea Preston, Tyra Banks, Adrianne Curry, and Shandi Sullivan on 'America's Next Top Model'.

"I’ve actually apologized for the issue with Dani and what happened. That was between a rock and a hard place for me," Banks, 52, said on the series.

"There were agents that would tell me she will not work with those teeth, it's just not going to happen," Banks continued. "That's what they told me. I could’ve just been quiet and let them handle it. Hindsight is 20/20 for all of us. It just so happens that a lot of the things that are 20/20 for me happened in front of the world."

Representatives for Banks and Mok have not responded to EW's repeated recent requests for comment on *ANTM* and the *Reality Check* docuseries.

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