ANTM: The Drinking Game*
by Racialicious special correspondent Wendi Muse
I was originally going to write a full article about all the patronizing, classist, and racist things Tyra & the Gang (T&tG) said on the most recently aired America’s Next Top Model Cycle 8, but our friend Malena Amusa over at Race Wire beat me to it :- )
So I thought I’d made a fun little game for those of you who have TiVo-d all the episodes or pre-ordered the Cycle 8 box set (no judgment—we all have our guilty pleasures). I mean, Tyra did say that ANTM “is not just about a pretty picture . . . it’s about more than that,” so here’s your opportunity to prove her right.
Please be warned, if you decide to use alcohol for this game (highly un-recommended considering the frequency of T&tG’s slip-ups), be sure to keep a cell phone pre-programmed with “9-1-1” close by. My suggestion, however, is to use water. You’ll be sure to get in your daily recommended dose of 2 liters.
Take a shot for each time anyone from T&tG (including, but not limited to Tyra Banks, Jay Manuel, Miss Jay, Nigel Barker, Twiggy, the contestants, and the special guest judges):
- makes a reference to a track, weave, and/or wig when speaking to a contestant of color
- says someone “looks foreign”
- questions Natasha (the Russian contestant)’s ability to understand English
- switches into an accent when speaking a person whose first language is not English
- refers to Jaslene, the Puerto Rican contestant, as “spicy” or “fiery”
- says the word “fierce”
- questions Jael (the half black/half white contestant)’s “realness,” “blackness,” national origin, and/or racial identity
- uses the term “ghetto” as a surrogate term for trashy, cheap, poorly made, and/or uneducated
- attempts to speak for his or her entire ethnic/racial group, sexual orientation, and/or place of origin
- asserts her “American-ness,” gratitude to America, and/or tells a sob story about her native country or old neighborhood
- praises/thanks Tyra
- asks a contestant to say something in her native language
- uses subtitles
- expects the contestants to behave in a stereotypical way, then questions their effort and commitment to the competition if they do not do so
- uses the term “cha cha”
- compares modeling to “acting like a ho”
- treats his/her moment on television as a public service announcement on otherness
- makes a sweeping statement about lesbians or gays
- supplies Latin music as an aural backdrop to appearances made by Jaslene
- supplies hip hop as background music during appearance made by Jael in order to remind us she is half black even though she “doesn’t look it”
*Please note, this game also doubles as a youtube scavenger hunt!
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
Brazil Files: Not So FIERCE - America’s Next Top Model Goes to Brazil at Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture on 29 Apr 2009 at 8:00 am
[...] have previously covered ANTM’s behavioral faux-pas (read: extreme insensitivity in relation to the respective racial/ethnic/national identities and/or [...]