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ANTM Cycle 8's Brittany Corinne Hatch Speaks Out: “We Were Not Just Contestants. We Are Survivors.”
- Brandon West
- 22 minutes ago
- 4 min read
As conversations around the legacy of America’s Next Top Model (ANTM) intensify ahead of the upcoming Netflix docuseries and continued franchise buzz about a Season 25, more former contestants are stepping forward to share their experiences. One of them is Brittany Corinne Hatch, who placed fifth on ANTM Cycle 8 and quickly became a fan favorite during her time on the show.
Now, years removed from the modeling competition, Hatch says the renewed attention has resurfaced painful memories—and she wants to make her position clear. In an exclusive statement shared with Front Page Pop, Hatch describes her experience not as a career opportunity, but as part of what she calls a deeply harmful system. She says she hopes speaking out will help shift public perception and stand in solidarity with other former contestants who have also begun to share their stories against the ANTM machine and Tyra Banks.
Below is Brittany Corinne Hatch’s full, unedited statement.
"It has been decades since I was a young woman participating in that world. I’ve lived a whole life since then, but seeing the headlines—and worse, seeing fans defend the abuse—brings it all back. I feel compelled to stand alongside the other women who went through this machine.
And I want to be very specific about the words I use here. We weren’t just “contestants” on Top Model.
We are survivors.
We are victims of a system designed to break us.
So, let’s get one thing straight because I am seeing the nostalgia goggles come back on: The “She” in charge deserves the hate.
This wasn’t just “reality TV.” It was a systemic labor violation and a psychological experiment.
SHE. DESERVES. EVERY. OUNCE. OF. HATE.
We need to stop talking about Top Model as just “problematic TV” and start talking about it for what it actually was: a fraudulent enterprise built on the misclassification of labor and psychological warfare that mirrors coercive control tactics found in cults and trafficking rings.
As a survivor who was there, who lived in that house and saw the production mask slip, here is the reality that the “it was just a different time” crowd ignores.
THE “CAREER LAUNCHPAD” FRAUD
The central premise of the show was a lie. We were sold a “bootcamp” for modeling. In reality, the show was a career killer.
Legacy agencies in major markets (NY, Paris, Milan) generally want blank slates. ANTM branded us as “reality TV characters,” making it actively harder to get booked than if we had just walked into an agency off the street as a total nobody. We weren’t edited to look like models; we were edited to look like unstable caricatures to drive ratings. That isn’t “exposure”; that is defamation of professional character.
THE ABUSE: COERCIVE CONTROL & “TRAUMA MINING”
The tactics utilized to get “good TV” align disturbingly well with coercive control and breakdown tactics used by traffickers to groom victims:
Isolation: Confiscating phones, cutting off contact with support systems, and controlling information flow.
Sleep Deprivation: Filming for 20+ hours, preventing REM sleep, which scientifically lowers cognitive defense mechanisms and increases emotional volatility.
Trauma Mining: Producers would identify our deepest insecurities (sexual assault, poverty, abandonment, medical issues) during casting and intentionally trigger them on camera. This is not “coaching”; this is Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress. BY THE WAY - it is criminal… literally illegal.
THE LABOR SCAM: WE WERE EMPLOYEES
This is where the legal reality needs to be hammered home. We were classified as “contests” to avoid labor laws.
Under California labor law (where much of this was filmed), the primary test for employment is CONTROL. They controlled what we wore, when we ate, when we slept, what we said, and where we went 24/7. By any legal definition, we were employees. Yet, we were paid pennies (often a per diem that amounted to less than sweatshop wages per hour) while the network made millions. We were dragged in to be exploited workers without the protections of OSHA, SAG-AFTRA, or basic HR.
TO ANYONE SAYING: “BUT THAT’S WHAT YOU SIGNED UP FOR...”
No. No, it isn’t.
And I need you to understand EXACTLY why that argument is legally and morally bankrupt.
Informed Consent vs. Concealment: You cannot consent to risks that are intentionally concealed from you. We signed up for a modeling competition. We did NOT sign up for systematic sleep deprivation, rigged outcomes, and psychological torture. When a production hides the true nature of the environment, the contract is based on fraudulent inducement.
Contracts of Adhesion: The contracts we signed are textbook “contracts of adhesion”—take-it-or-leave-it documents drafted by a powerful party (network lawyers) against a weaker party (naive, unrepresented young women). In many jurisdictions, terms that are overly oppressive or unconscionable are unenforceable.
Illegality: You cannot sign a contract that permits a crime or violates public policy. A piece of paper does not give a production company the right to false imprisonment or to violate basic labor codes.
"You signed a contract” is not a defense for the physical negligence that led to victims suffering hypothermia and frostbite during shoots.
It is not a defense for the psychological violence of finding out a participant suffered the loss of a friend, and then mind-fucking her by making her play a dead body and stating to “look like you OD’d”—the exact way her friend died. That isn’t art; that is sadistic, calculated emotional abuse that no contract can justify.
We were young, naive women who were promised a dream, lured into a trap, psychologically gutted for entertainment, and then spit out with scars that took years of therapy to heal.
The fact that these monsters are planning a Cycle 25 is literally disgusting. They don’t belong on TV; they belong in a defendant’s chair."
-Brittany Corinne Hatch, ANTM cycle 8
Tune in to Netflix's Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model on February 16, 2026 to see how the drama unfolds and hear former cast members share their stories.