Tiffany Richardson Doesn't Need You to Root for Her Anymore
January 27, 2017 8:01 AM Subscribe
"Since Tyra Banks yelled “We were rooting for you!” on America’s Next Top Model, it’s become one of the most iconic moments in reality TV history, and one of the most inescapable GIFs on the internet. Now, more than a decade since Banks flipped on contestant Tiffany Richardson, the former model hopeful reveals what viewers didn’t see, how she feels about Banks, and how far she’s come."
At least if a moment in your life has to turn into a meme, it's probably a good thing if all the focus is on the other person. I was even watching the show at the time and had totally forgotten all the context around it.
posted by Sequence at 8:29 AM on January 27, 2017
posted by Sequence at 8:29 AM on January 27, 2017
Biggest takeaway from this is that Heather Fug Girl wasn't a random blogger who made it big but started out by already having serious media contacts. Huh.
posted by kariebookish at 8:43 AM on January 27, 2017 [16 favorites]
posted by kariebookish at 8:43 AM on January 27, 2017 [16 favorites]
I watched this season, and definitely remember the "rooting for you" Tyra line, but I profess that, in my opinion, it remains a distant second to Richardson's more iconic, "bitch poured beer in my weave!" line, which I still think and say on a regular basis.
posted by scantee at 8:44 AM on January 27, 2017 [10 favorites]
posted by scantee at 8:44 AM on January 27, 2017 [10 favorites]
I was watching the episode when it aired and I wanted to slap Tyra. The GIF never works for me in a context where it's supposed to be sincere.
posted by praemunire at 9:05 AM on January 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by praemunire at 9:05 AM on January 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
(Early seasons of ANTM, before it got homogenized, are amaaazing, and on Amazon Prime.)
posted by praemunire at 9:06 AM on January 27, 2017 [7 favorites]
posted by praemunire at 9:06 AM on January 27, 2017 [7 favorites]
Was this the same elimination where Rebecca fainted, or was that a different episode?
(If you are thinking this is just an article for people interested in ANTM or reality tv, you might want to actually take a look at the article. A lot of it is about cultural narratives and exploitation within the genre and within our culture in general.)
Also, while I have definitely smiled at use of the "WE WERE ALL ROOTING FOR YOU" meme (which I think has transcended the original setting at this point), I remember the first time I saw that episode, my first thought was: Tyra isn't really doing this for Tiffany's own good. Tyra's just pissed she is handling her eviction with grace and equanimity instead of a begging meltdown.
posted by a fiendish thingy at 9:21 AM on January 27, 2017 [15 favorites]
(If you are thinking this is just an article for people interested in ANTM or reality tv, you might want to actually take a look at the article. A lot of it is about cultural narratives and exploitation within the genre and within our culture in general.)
Also, while I have definitely smiled at use of the "WE WERE ALL ROOTING FOR YOU" meme (which I think has transcended the original setting at this point), I remember the first time I saw that episode, my first thought was: Tyra isn't really doing this for Tiffany's own good. Tyra's just pissed she is handling her eviction with grace and equanimity instead of a begging meltdown.
posted by a fiendish thingy at 9:21 AM on January 27, 2017 [15 favorites]
The now-retired supermodel also went the Kardashian route in January 2017, opting to capitalize on the constantly quoted moment by turning it — as well as a few of her other catchphrases — into an emoji as part of her TyTyMoji collection
*barfs*
posted by chococat at 9:24 AM on January 27, 2017 [5 favorites]
*barfs*
posted by chococat at 9:24 AM on January 27, 2017 [5 favorites]
There's an interview that I like better on the 100 Funniest ANTM Moments Tumblr: Part One Part Two
posted by LindsayIrene at 9:24 AM on January 27, 2017
posted by LindsayIrene at 9:24 AM on January 27, 2017
Well if that was my kitchen I'd root for her to get her foot off the sink.
posted by lagomorphius at 9:42 AM on January 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by lagomorphius at 9:42 AM on January 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
*perfectly lit portrait fades to white with whooshing sound effect*
posted by infinitewindow at 10:24 AM on January 27, 2017
posted by infinitewindow at 10:24 AM on January 27, 2017
Tyra's just pissed she is handling her eviction with grace and equanimity instead of a begging meltdown
I think it wasn't grace and equanimity; I think Tiffany just shut down and detached, like the abused kid she probably was would do in the face of a task that felt impossible and unfair. It's very frustrating to deal with a young person in that state of mind, because it looks almost like an insolent or sullen refusal to even try. But they get there by being made to feel that not only are they doomed to failure, they'll be treated harshly for failing. Tyra should have recognized that, and that the show's process in fact would elicit that response in contestants bringing a certain cultural context to it. In that scenario, yelling at someone is the worst thing you can do--it just confirms the person's intuition that failure will be a catastrophe, so it's best not invest emotionally at all.
(But, yeah, Tyra prefers begging and/or repentance.)
posted by praemunire at 10:57 AM on January 27, 2017 [23 favorites]
I think it wasn't grace and equanimity; I think Tiffany just shut down and detached, like the abused kid she probably was would do in the face of a task that felt impossible and unfair. It's very frustrating to deal with a young person in that state of mind, because it looks almost like an insolent or sullen refusal to even try. But they get there by being made to feel that not only are they doomed to failure, they'll be treated harshly for failing. Tyra should have recognized that, and that the show's process in fact would elicit that response in contestants bringing a certain cultural context to it. In that scenario, yelling at someone is the worst thing you can do--it just confirms the person's intuition that failure will be a catastrophe, so it's best not invest emotionally at all.
(But, yeah, Tyra prefers begging and/or repentance.)
posted by praemunire at 10:57 AM on January 27, 2017 [23 favorites]
Yep, then and now, I thought it made Tyra look like an ass.
You're not her mom, Tyra.
posted by kyrademon at 11:08 AM on January 27, 2017
You're not her mom, Tyra.
posted by kyrademon at 11:08 AM on January 27, 2017
like the abused kid she probably was
I find that statement problematic for several reasons. I hadn't started watching the show this early and the entire episode is news to me apart from this article. Was there something to suggest she was abused? If not then I feel it's not the sort of thing people should lightly throw around. Apologies if I'm missing context.
posted by billiebee at 11:10 AM on January 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
I find that statement problematic for several reasons. I hadn't started watching the show this early and the entire episode is news to me apart from this article. Was there something to suggest she was abused? If not then I feel it's not the sort of thing people should lightly throw around. Apologies if I'm missing context.
posted by billiebee at 11:10 AM on January 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
Being judged as unemotional because you are not displaying the emotion that another person expects at a particular moment is really awful. You are probably someone who has imagined this moment previously and worked through the emotions, or who has had to learn to discipline your emotions.
This makes me so upset. However, I now don't express that by yelling or crying. I have taught myself to respond to some kinds of anger by immediately starting to analyze the situation, what exactly is making me angry, what I can do about it _now_, and what I can do differently in the future.
In this moment, Tyra was not able to imagine that a girl like her contestant could be like that.
posted by amtho at 11:12 AM on January 27, 2017 [9 favorites]
This makes me so upset. However, I now don't express that by yelling or crying. I have taught myself to respond to some kinds of anger by immediately starting to analyze the situation, what exactly is making me angry, what I can do about it _now_, and what I can do differently in the future.
In this moment, Tyra was not able to imagine that a girl like her contestant could be like that.
posted by amtho at 11:12 AM on January 27, 2017 [9 favorites]
Also, for the record, her response was not a "lack of affect." She was hugging the other contestants, smiling, laughing-- being a good sport who had just lost the game. THAT was what pissed Tyra off. She was mad that she was smiling and putting on a brave face about being disappointed.
posted by a fiendish thingy at 11:14 AM on January 27, 2017 [12 favorites]
posted by a fiendish thingy at 11:14 AM on January 27, 2017 [12 favorites]
It's an interesting view into how we think of poverty and how people "should" act when given opportunities. I remember thinking that Tyra was really invested in Tiffany being completely destroyed by being eliminated, and when Tiffany faced that with humor and detachment, that wasn't enough for Tyra. The line that Tiffany said was edited out ("You can go back to sleeping on a mattress on the floor with your baby!") is such a line that I've heard people from upper and middle income circumstances say about people who are from poorer situations. There's this expectation of gratitude and absolute horror at your own situation that you're expected to maintain, as a show to the people who have "bettered" themselves.
Detachment and dealing with circumstances with numbness and also humor is something that's ingrained in us when we're beaten way down financially. We can't always be so disgusted with ourselves for being poor and so absolutely grateful and scraping at the feet of those who deign to throw a few scraps at our feet.
(Also, Tyra attended some classes at Harvard by my ex-boss, and he had no idea who she was; a fact that she took extremely personally. I'm not her biggest fan.)
posted by xingcat at 11:59 AM on January 27, 2017 [20 favorites]
Detachment and dealing with circumstances with numbness and also humor is something that's ingrained in us when we're beaten way down financially. We can't always be so disgusted with ourselves for being poor and so absolutely grateful and scraping at the feet of those who deign to throw a few scraps at our feet.
(Also, Tyra attended some classes at Harvard by my ex-boss, and he had no idea who she was; a fact that she took extremely personally. I'm not her biggest fan.)
posted by xingcat at 11:59 AM on January 27, 2017 [20 favorites]
Parents completely absent from the picture, raised in real poverty by a relative, working as a stripper, abusing drugs, her own child with no visible father, hairtrigger temper bad enough to get her bounced from a reality show...yes, looking at all of that together, I'm making the inference that someone somewhere kicked Tiffany around some. It's not an insult, it's an observation, so, while it's certainly possible I might be wrong, I'm not seeing "problematic."
The one thing Tyra could never abide was a girl (or, later, guy) who acted like she didn't "want it enough." Laughing at her dismissal was Tiffany's form of self-defense, "showing" that it didn't really matter to her that much. Intolerable for ANTM.
posted by praemunire at 12:02 PM on January 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
The one thing Tyra could never abide was a girl (or, later, guy) who acted like she didn't "want it enough." Laughing at her dismissal was Tiffany's form of self-defense, "showing" that it didn't really matter to her that much. Intolerable for ANTM.
posted by praemunire at 12:02 PM on January 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
See it's the raised in poverty/single mother/works as a stripper therefore abused kind of inference that I find problematic. It's a big inference to publicly make about someone, especially the "probably" rather than "possibly" even, and it speaks to several assumptions about poor people/women/sex workers that I find uncomfortable. The article is about how the show and especially Tyra constructed a narrative for Richardson and then were not happy when she didn't conform to the role she was assigned, so it feels like adding insult to injury to further assign stereotypical back-story that she hasn't commented on herself.
posted by billiebee at 12:35 PM on January 27, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by billiebee at 12:35 PM on January 27, 2017 [4 favorites]
Oh, wow. I remember seeing this episode! And how Tyra's reaction seemed completely bananas in context. Tiffany wasn't willing to play that game, as was her prerogative, for several episodes before getting cut.
And that was exactly it: Being hyper-demonstrative and grovelingly grateful was half the show. I recall one interview with a former contestant who said that they'd spend literally hours shooting and re-shooting the contestants faking reaction shots/meltdowns when Tyra made an appearance.
posted by mochapickle at 12:48 PM on January 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
And that was exactly it: Being hyper-demonstrative and grovelingly grateful was half the show. I recall one interview with a former contestant who said that they'd spend literally hours shooting and re-shooting the contestants faking reaction shots/meltdowns when Tyra made an appearance.
posted by mochapickle at 12:48 PM on January 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
Being hyper-demonstrative and grovelingly grateful was half the show. I recall one interview with a former contestant who said that they'd spend literally hours shooting and re-shooting the contestants faking reaction shots/meltdowns when Tyra made an appearance.
Not to make this about politics, but I think the reality-show tie-in lends legitimacy: this statement about Tyra feels like what our (USian) president currently expects. Groveling and grateful. Only we can't be forced to re-shoot the scenes over and over again. OR CAN WE
posted by gorbichov at 1:05 PM on January 27, 2017
Not to make this about politics, but I think the reality-show tie-in lends legitimacy: this statement about Tyra feels like what our (USian) president currently expects. Groveling and grateful. Only we can't be forced to re-shoot the scenes over and over again. OR CAN WE
posted by gorbichov at 1:05 PM on January 27, 2017
I didn't see the show, but I can empathize with Tiffany. She sounds like a number of my friends and coworkers at the strip club where I work: raising young children, living in poverty, using drugs, taking her clothes off for money and being drop-dead gorgeous all the while.
Part 1: "It's not her fault."
Our culture romanticizes "saving" women from poverty and sex work, so it doesn't surprise me that America's Next Top Model jumped on the opportunity. People hear those facts I just mentioned, and they assume that the gaps in the story must be filled with horror.
Part 2: "... Well, at least part of it is her fault."
Our culture also likes assigning blame, especially when attempts to "save" the poor sad stripper don't end with a happily-ever-after. So as people get to know the stripper, they fill in the gaps not with stories of abuse, but with judgment: she doesn't work hard, she didn't want it enough.
Part 3: "You're a victim of poverty/sex work until someone tries to help you. After that, you're a volunteer."
I cannot tell you how many customers try to "save" strippers* and are both shocked and offended when their efforts are not met with success and gratitude. And the strippers are shocked and offended that everyone's first instinct is to save them. Because those gaps are not all filled with abuse. Some, sure — but there is a lot of good stuff as well that rarely makes it into the narrative, because it doesn't fit with the trope of the lonely, trapped stripper who would rend her garments if only the patriarchy would give her back her clothes.
*Whyyy are you here, patronizing this establishment, if you think this is a terrible, soul-stealing place to work? ... A question for another day.
"How dare you?" Tyra screamed at Tiffany in the clip shown in the article. "Learn something from this!"
I think the intended message in these situations is, "You should feel lucky that we are taking the effort to try and lift you out of poverty," but it usually comes off as, "You should feel lucky to not be in poverty." And that distinction makes all the difference.
ANTM was making a television show. But their "reality" ain't.
posted by Peppermint Snowflake at 1:17 PM on January 27, 2017 [17 favorites]
Part 1: "It's not her fault."
Our culture romanticizes "saving" women from poverty and sex work, so it doesn't surprise me that America's Next Top Model jumped on the opportunity. People hear those facts I just mentioned, and they assume that the gaps in the story must be filled with horror.
Part 2: "... Well, at least part of it is her fault."
Our culture also likes assigning blame, especially when attempts to "save" the poor sad stripper don't end with a happily-ever-after. So as people get to know the stripper, they fill in the gaps not with stories of abuse, but with judgment: she doesn't work hard, she didn't want it enough.
Part 3: "You're a victim of poverty/sex work until someone tries to help you. After that, you're a volunteer."
I cannot tell you how many customers try to "save" strippers* and are both shocked and offended when their efforts are not met with success and gratitude. And the strippers are shocked and offended that everyone's first instinct is to save them. Because those gaps are not all filled with abuse. Some, sure — but there is a lot of good stuff as well that rarely makes it into the narrative, because it doesn't fit with the trope of the lonely, trapped stripper who would rend her garments if only the patriarchy would give her back her clothes.
*Whyyy are you here, patronizing this establishment, if you think this is a terrible, soul-stealing place to work? ... A question for another day.
"How dare you?" Tyra screamed at Tiffany in the clip shown in the article. "Learn something from this!"
I think the intended message in these situations is, "You should feel lucky that we are taking the effort to try and lift you out of poverty," but it usually comes off as, "You should feel lucky to not be in poverty." And that distinction makes all the difference.
ANTM was making a television show. But their "reality" ain't.
posted by Peppermint Snowflake at 1:17 PM on January 27, 2017 [17 favorites]
Shocking to learn that at the intersection of the fashion industry and reality TV, ugliness exists.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 2:23 PM on January 27, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Kirth Gerson at 2:23 PM on January 27, 2017 [2 favorites]
Our culture romanticizes "saving" women from poverty and sex work, so it doesn't surprise me that America's Next Top Model jumped on the opportunity.
I suspect this is one of the effects of classism in the US. The idea that here one can become wealthy if one works hard enough is both pervasive and inaccurate, and I think blaming poor people for not behaving as expected by those deigning to assist them is one of the mechanisms which polices the behavior of poor people while shifting the blame for their lack of success to them.
posted by Deoridhe at 2:29 PM on January 27, 2017 [2 favorites]
I suspect this is one of the effects of classism in the US. The idea that here one can become wealthy if one works hard enough is both pervasive and inaccurate, and I think blaming poor people for not behaving as expected by those deigning to assist them is one of the mechanisms which polices the behavior of poor people while shifting the blame for their lack of success to them.
posted by Deoridhe at 2:29 PM on January 27, 2017 [2 favorites]
Tyra was this close to barfing up a "something something bootstraps." She really has bought in.
Gross as shit
posted by Joseph Gurl at 4:12 PM on January 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
Gross as shit
posted by Joseph Gurl at 4:12 PM on January 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
I have to say that I find the new, Tyra-free ANTM to be a vast improvement on the series. The cycle before, Tyra was using it to shill her multi-level marketing scheme.
posted by LindsayIrene at 4:53 PM on January 27, 2017
posted by LindsayIrene at 4:53 PM on January 27, 2017
Sorry, if you don't think that complex of circumstances taken all together doesn't strongly suggest extreme vulnerability to abuse/severe neglect and the use of imperfect coping mechanisms for trauma, you're mistaken. But, either way, it's just not a criticism of her. Tiffany was (as she herself says) a young woman in a bad situation she wasn't handling well who ran into an older woman with a particular complex of ideas about how you're supposed to cope with adversity and the power to enforce them (within the confines of the show). Result: gruesome.
I hope she's happier in her life now. From the article, I can't tell.
posted by praemunire at 9:21 PM on January 27, 2017
I hope she's happier in her life now. From the article, I can't tell.
posted by praemunire at 9:21 PM on January 27, 2017
ANTM was one of those shows I had on as homework/background noise for its first few seasons; I distinctly remember stopping my research and watching as Tyra was screaming at Tiffany.
I watched it for maybe one more season then it just got depressing.
I didn't care what happened to the contestants after the show, but I am glad to see Tiffany's story, which I didn't bother reading through to the end because while reading I realized I don't care that much.
As a side question: is Buzzfeed considered genuine news?
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 5:17 AM on January 28, 2017
I watched it for maybe one more season then it just got depressing.
I didn't care what happened to the contestants after the show, but I am glad to see Tiffany's story, which I didn't bother reading through to the end because while reading I realized I don't care that much.
As a side question: is Buzzfeed considered genuine news?
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 5:17 AM on January 28, 2017
Buzzfeed isn't Teen Vogue (yet), but its quality has really improved lately.
posted by elsietheeel at 10:47 AM on January 28, 2017
posted by elsietheeel at 10:47 AM on January 28, 2017
Being mostly a reality TV hater (except for Cesar Milan and Shark Tank) I had never seen this drama unfold. But after watching Tyra's Tyrade (sorry, had to) I had to look her up to see exactly what she meant when she said "You don't what I've been through". Turns out her dad is a computer consultant and her mom's a medical photographer and they lived in Inglewood. Maybe not Beverly Hills, but not exactly Compton either. So she was raised by perfectly white collar, educated professionals. Her bio also says that in early high school she says she was a "mean girl", popular, who voted out girls she didn't like. But then her Day of Reckoning came when she got teased for being too skinny when she changed schools and was an Out Girl. Oh, and her parents divorced but by her own admission, she got "two Christmases and double the love".
So that's what she's been through? Seems to me that she traded on the stereotype that a black girl could only come from the projects amidst shooting and drug addiction with unemployed addict parents, and she let the audience think that she had been through what Tiffany had when she shrieked at her. No wonder she couldn't see Tiffany's stance as realism, she didn't have any idea what Tiffany really had been through.
Abuse or no, Tiffany had to have some realistic conceptions in life in order to not be completely crushed when big dreams didn't come true. And modelling is a pretty big dream.
Tyra reminds me of a couple people I knew in college who did the same kind of preaching- their parents were doctors and physicists. I've worked with people in homeless housing; never have I heard them preach to one another.
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 12:13 PM on January 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
So that's what she's been through? Seems to me that she traded on the stereotype that a black girl could only come from the projects amidst shooting and drug addiction with unemployed addict parents, and she let the audience think that she had been through what Tiffany had when she shrieked at her. No wonder she couldn't see Tiffany's stance as realism, she didn't have any idea what Tiffany really had been through.
Abuse or no, Tiffany had to have some realistic conceptions in life in order to not be completely crushed when big dreams didn't come true. And modelling is a pretty big dream.
Tyra reminds me of a couple people I knew in college who did the same kind of preaching- their parents were doctors and physicists. I've worked with people in homeless housing; never have I heard them preach to one another.
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 12:13 PM on January 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
Metafilter: Being mostly a reality TV hater (except for Cesar Milan and Shark Tank)
posted by Joseph Gurl at 3:11 PM on January 28, 2017
posted by Joseph Gurl at 3:11 PM on January 28, 2017
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I have never heard of this incident before. Clearly I am not the target audience here.
That said, man, reality TV. Look what it's done to us. Even those of us who aren't paying attention to it. Reality TV is everyone's problem now. Everyone in the world.
posted by Naberius at 8:27 AM on January 27, 2017 [19 favorites]