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"I was rooting for you! We were all rooting for you!"
Tyra Banks' infamous meltdown during "America's Next Top Model" contestant Tiffany Ricardson's elimination in 2005 is one of the most memorable reality TV moments ever, and now, Richardson is now speaking out about the show that turned her into an Internet meme.
After being told she needed anger management when she auditioned for Cycle 3 of the show, Richardson tried out again the following year.
"I don't think they really cared about me going to anger management," Richardson told BuzzFeed News. "It looked good for TV... fake-ass Cinderella story."
She said she made it onto Cycle 4 after telling casting directors "what they wanted to hear," adding "I was still the same person.[I was] playing the f---ing role. I fed into the crap they was telling me and I ran with it."
While she thought of Tyra as "f---ing God" going into the show, that impression didn't last. "To actually see her and the vibe is completely different. It was just weird," she confessed.
Richardson said weekly judging panels were especially brutal. "We'd get picked apart for like 15, 20 minutes each," she revealed. "If you say something back, you're going to be up there for a minute — and sometimes they'd be going at it, like roasting the f--- out of us. Back to back to back."
"Every time I did something wrong, I'd shut down a little bit more, and it just got to the point where I was over it. I felt like we were just there to be humiliated," Richardson added. "It was like, 'What the f--- [else] could we do to them?'"
It all came to a head during Richardson's elimination, when Banks read her to filth over her behavior.
Re-watch the epic moment below:
According to Richardson, the argument was "1,000 times worse," but much was left on the cutting room floor.
"Why are you yelling at me, because I'm grown as f---," Richardson added. "It was just, like, bulls---. It was so over-the-top for no reason."
Richardson said Banks and the host's mother came by her hotel room the next day to seemingly smooth things over, but looking back now, she sees it a bit differently.
"I didn't think she cared. I don't think she gave a f--- about none of us, except for the ones who made it big," she explained. "But hey, it is what it is."
These days, Richardson lives in Miami and works at a group home assisting people with mental disabilities.
According to Buzzfeed, Banks' rep was unresponsive to "multiple requests" for comment.
TooFab recently interviewed another memorable "Top Model" alum, Jael Strauss, who opened up about her life after getting an intervention on "The Dr. Phil Show." Watch that below.
