Key Points
Ambreal Williams exclusively tells EW what she witnessed when Ebony Morgan quit cycle 9.
“Tyra ran off the stage, spoke to Ken Mok, then came back to stage and started talking.”
At the time, Banks told Morgan that quitting is the “most unattractive thing in the world.”
In the world of America’s Next Top Model, few things could rile up Tyra “I Was Rooting for You” Banks quite like a contestant who gave up during the show. Ebony Morgan, who quit 2007’s cycle 9 halfway through, learned that the hard way, as fellow model Ambreal Williams exclusively tells Entertainment Weekly what allegedly really happened the moment Morgan decided to oust herself from the competition.
After Morgan and Williams received criticism over an episode 6 photo shoot that saw the models posing with recyclable materials, the pair landed in the bottom together. Banks and the panel of judges ultimately chose to eliminate Williams — that is, until Morgan told the supermodel, “I no longer want to be here,” saying modeling just wasn’t for her.
The edit of the episode that aired showed Banks immediately telling Morgan to talk her through the issue, before advising the contestant, “You know what I think is not for you? I don’t think it’s modeling. I think it’s people telling you what to do. I think it’s people telling you you’re not perfect. I think that’s what you can’t handle. And the most unattractive thing in the world to me is a quitter. And for that, you can go. Good luck.”
Williams, however, tells EW that a different version of events unfolded than what made it to air during the cycle’ original run.
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Ambreal Williams and Ebony Morgan on ‘America’s Next Top Model’ cycle 9
“When Ebony quit, they paused filming. Tyra ran off the stage, spoke to [producer] Ken Mok, then came back to stage and started talking, telling me that this is when I would get my chance and that I got to stay,” Williams recalls.
In the episode, the host is shown telling the remaining model that a “free pass has been given” to allow her to remain in the competition.
Williams says Banks and Mok “had so many conversations off stage” throughout the cycle, and that, when it came to her place in the competition after Morgan quit, Banks “had to go get permission to keep me” in the moment.
“They loved Ebony. The whole time she wanted to be a nurse,” Williams explains, adding that it was well known among the other cast members that the competition weighed on Morgan more than it did the rest of the group. “I don’t know if that’s what she’s doing now, but she had family back at home, and was helping to take care of them. Once she realized this is not what she wanted to do, she told a couple of us that she was ready to go home. She didn’t tell us that she was going to quit, but she expressed to us that she wasn’t feeling it.”
In that moment, Williams says, “It already started to click that they didn’t want me there,” and that the already negative feedback she received from the panel and shoot creative director Jay Manuel “snowballed” from there.
EW has reached out to Banks and Mok for comment, and has attempted to reach Morgan and Manuel for comment.
Williams also reveals that when she was eliminated several weeks later, she performed a secret hand gesture that the contestants had cultivated amongst themselves as a secret code to say “f— you” to members of production staff when they weren’t allowed to speak behind the scenes.
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Tyra Banks reacts to Ebony Morgan quitting on ‘America’s Next Top Model’ cycle 9
“We had an inside joke within the group,” Williams explains. “It was a ‘f— you.’ So, when I was eliminated, you saw me [raise my hands] and walk off the stage.”
Williams isn’t the only cycle 9 contestant to have spoken out about the show. Fellow cycle star Sarah Hartshorne recently released a memoir, You Wanna Be on Top? A Memoir of Makeovers, Manipulation, and Not Becoming America’s Next Top Model, recounting her experience on the program.
In the book, Hartshorne alleged that the production crew instructed the cast not to hug Banks after one contestant gave the supermodel an impromptu embrace on the premiere episode, and that Hartshorne clashed with a staff member after Heather Kuzmich fainted during an Enrique Iglesias music video shoot.
Yancey Wells
Ambreal Williams from ‘America’s Next Top Model’ cycle 9
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Banks has addressed sustained criticism for the show in recent years, which has also seen fans and show alums speaking out against the reality competition’s photo shoots that darkened models’ skin to portray different races.
Through a representative, Banks adamantly denied claims that the show put the models in blackface, with a 2023 statement to EW explaining that the intention of the shoots were not blackface, and were intended to combat a fashion industry where “lighter skin and straight hair were pervasive beauty standards,” which “perpetuated deep insecurities within women.” The spokesperson maintained that such shoots were “meant to be a moment celebrating and spotlighting underrepresented ideologies of beauty — textured hair and darker skin — on a global scale.”
While EW previously reported there are no current plans to bring ANTM back for new episodes following cycle 24’s conclusion in 2018, we exclusively reported in May that Banks sat for an on-camera interview that’s set to air as part of an upcoming Netflix documentary series about the influential reality show.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
