Hulu Scrubs Controversial ‘America’s Next Top Model’ Episode That Was Criticized For Having Models “Switch” Races

In the streaming era, not all television shows can stand the test of time. And that is certainly true for reality television shows like America’s Next Top Model .

The modeling competition series, helmed by supermodel Tyra Banks , ran for 24 wild seasons from 2003 to 2018. Each season followed a new cycle of potential models as they compete in several challenges, runways and photo shoots to be deemed America’s Next Top Model.

But the show also featured several shocking moments , and it looks like one especially controversial episode that aired in 2005 has been completely scrubbed from its streaming home on Hulu .

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In Season 4, Episode 5, titled “The Girl Who Is Contagious,” the models were set to appear in a Got Milk? campaign, except there was a “twist,” as creative director Jay Manuel put it in the episode. “We’re actually going to switch your ethnicities!” he announced.

Using hair and makeup, the models were transformed to look as if they were other races, in some cases even using blackface to achieve their vision.

Fans online have been noticing for months now that the episode was inexplicably not available to stream on Hulu. Decider reached out to Hulu for comment but did not hear back in time for publication.

Though it’s been scrubbed from Hulu, the episode is available for purchase on Prime Video.

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Entertainment Weekly spoke to a couple of that season’s contestants about the backlash, and they appeared divided over how the episode has been received.

“I don’t remember us raising concern about it, because we didn’t think too much into it, it was just a photo shoot. We were pretending, like we did on every other shoot,” contestant Tiffany Richardson told the outlet. “It reads differently to me [today] because I’ve grown and I understand how people could be offended by it, but I still don’t really give a s—. It’s not that deep for me.” The outlet notes Richardson was transformed to portray a Native American for the photo shoot.

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Contestant Kahlen Rondot, who wore “really thick foundation” to appear Hawaiian, said, “I know Tyra got a lot of flak for all this, as she should, because it’s her name on it. She needs to take responsibility for certain things. I realize this was 20 years ago, but how did we think this was actually okay?”

A spokesperson for Banks told EW that the shoot was “meant to be a moment celebrating and spotlighting underrepresented ideologies of beauty — textured hair and darker skin — on a global scale” and to combat the “pervasive beauty standards” in the industry.

A similar photo shoot occurred again four years later in a 2009 episode where the contestants wore “really dark” makeup to appear like they were a different race. However, that season is not streaming on Hulu.

Manuel addressed the backlash the show faced for the episodes in 2020, admitting that Season 4 photo shoot was “very uncomfortable” for him.

“I was so, so, so uncomfortable with this. I was never scripted for my intros or anything, and I didn’t know how I was going to be able to set this up — I was so afraid that I would wear this because I was the creative director, but it was not my idea,” he told Variety in 2020. “That swapped race was a layer added in. It was supposed to be a different concept. I remember that very, very clearly. I was basically told that I had to execute the creative, and it made me very uncomfortable.”

He added, “I disagree with that statement of people saying it was a different time. I really do. It didn’t fly then. That wasn’t cool in 2004.”

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