Angelea Preston was once on supremacy of the arena then being topped winner of “America’s Next Top Model: All-Stars” in 2011.
However the runway walker’s international got here crashing unwell when manufacturers of the sequence quietly stripped her of the identify — allegedly because of her time paintings as a certified escort — months sooner than the season debuted that September.
“Winning ‘All-Stars’ was one of the best days of my life,” Preston, 38, of Buffalo, not too long ago instructed The Put up. “And the day they took that away from me was one of the worst.”
The Untouched York local, along fellow traumatized “ANTM” alums, tearfully main points her fall from glory in “The Dark Side of Reality TV: America’s Next Top Model,” a Vice sequence unveiling untold — and steadily untoward — secrets and techniques of cult vintage, early-aughts presentations.
Sounding off with Preston is her substitute winner, Lisa D’Amato — who didn’t fare any higher.
“‘America’s Next Top Model’ f–king squashed my dreams,” the 44-year-old sobbed on digicam for the episode that airs Tuesday at 9 p.m. “It made everybody around the globe hate me. And it made me hate myself for years.”
D’Amato, who seemed in cycles 5 and 17, mentioned manufacturing portrayed her as an “alcoholic villain,” a misrepresentation that stigmatized her to modeling companies and possible purchasers.
“They don’t care if you live or die afterwards,” D’Amato alleged of display executives. “Not anything came about with my modeling profession.
“I’m basically just reality TV garbage.”
Premiering in Might 2003 at the since-defunct UPN community, “ANTM” briefly hooked audiences with its no-holds-barred panache.
For twenty-four seasons or “cycles” — as nicknamed via author and type icon Tyra Banks — the contest sequence gave 3 million world enthusiasts a shiny, weekly glimpse on the from time to time unpleasant facet of picture-perfect attractiveness, with cycle winners incomes the coveted “Top” identify, in addition to a modeling assurance, a novel trait and a large money prize.
From makeover meltdowns via the pretty, 20-something contestants to funky photoshoot demanding situations and cutting evaluations from the judges’ panel, headed via Banks, it gave the impression deny delicate topic nor mysterious lack of confidence was once off limits till the display formally ended its 15-year run in 2018.
Banks, now 50, ultimately apologized for “the insensitivity of some past ‘ANTM’ moments” in 2020, following social media outrage over resurfaced offenses made all through filming — together with jabs about contestants’ enamel, heights and weights.
However the harm was once ceaselessly carried out within the optical of various peeved members.
Sarah Hartshorne, a cycle 9 megastar and previous plus-size fashion, previously told The Post that competition have been compelled to roll with the punches slow the scenes.
“Production kept us in the dark about almost everything because they wanted to keep us on edge,” mentioned Hartshorne, 37.
“Us being confused, tired, stressed, sleep-deprived and hungry just made for better TV.”
And within the untouched Vice program, the brunette doesn’t store again on her scorn in regards to the style.
“Competition reality shows in the early aughts were f–ked up,” Hartshorne hissed within the untouched episode.
“It was unpaid labor,” she added. “We were being subjected to a new world of entertainment that was cheap.”
Representatives for Banks didn’t in an instant reply to The Put up’s request for remark.
Cycle 4 competitor Brittany Brower observable to The Put up that she tolerated “little annoyances and things I didn’t like during filming,” claiming that display professionals from time to time — possibly unsurprisingly, given the style — amplified the drama for buzz.
“They’re all about ratings,” she mentioned in regards to the rancor that riddles truth TV, sooner than acquiescing. “That’s life.”
But the now-married, stay-at-home mother of 2 made a stunning declaration that others have additionally copped to.
“I would 100% do it again,” said the Florida-based model, 42.
And her cycle 4 cohort Keenyah Hill, additionally discovered a silver lining to any behind-the-scenes brouhahas that brewed, pronouncing that struggling with for Banks’ kindness was once a “surreal” privilege that put her at the map.
“No matter where I go in the world, I’m recognized,” Hill, 39, a supremacy 3 finalist in 2005, instructed The Put up. “I’ve been modeling for the past 20 years. I never stopped.”
She’s walked in Untouched York, Paris and Milan type weeks, and is now a posing coach to divas-in-training.
Plus, Hill credited “ANTM” with holding a “Smize” — Banks’ catchphrase for smiling with one’s optical — on her face over time.
“I’d absolutely do it all over again,” she mentioned.
Preston, despite the fact that, date nonetheless harm via “all the messy stuff that happened” and her “ANTM” ousting, can simplest hold onto her decades-old wounds for see you later, regardless of the untouched on-air tell-all.
“It’s been a weird journey,” mentioned Preston, a mom of one and news producer — including that, shockingly, she’s “grateful” she even made it to wind.
“I’m still a part of a show that made history.”
“The Dark Side of Reality TV” airs at 9 p.m. EST on Vice TV on Tuesdays.
