After handing the reigns to Rita Ora for exactly one season, Tyra Banks is returning to host America’s Next Top Model, the job for which she was probably born. A new trailer for the show’s 24th cycle promises lots of over-the-top weeping, “deeply rooted psychological warfare,” and plenty of smoldering Tyra-eye. In other words, exactly what we came for.
With no disrespect to Ora, a show that purports to take run-of-the-mill pretty girls and ram them through the grinder until they emerge supermodels (has this ever happened?) should be helmed by an actual supermodel. Banks certainly was, in addition to being a cheerily abrasive loose canon that makes her such a gem to watch. (Cocooned safely in your home, where she can’t yell at you.)
As she told TV Guide in April, Banks decided to return on behalf of her fans, who she said were practically begging her to come back. It’s hard to imagine the decision wasn’t also influenced at least partially by her difficulties at her other hosting gig, America’s Got Talent, where she was sued by a contestant who alleged that Banks “humiliated” her daughter on set by suggesting she was “accidentally conceived,” in addition to physically manipulating and abusing her. Ultimately, AGT dropped the segment.
It’ll be nice to have her back where she belongs.
GET JEZEBEL RIGHT IN YOUR INBOX
Still here. Still without airbrushing. Still with teeth.
