Janice Dickinson Says That She Was Encouraged to ‘Be Harsher and Cruel, Like Simon Cowell’ on “America’s Next Top Model”
Janice Dickinson Says That She Was Encouraged to ‘Be Harsher and Cruel, Like Simon Cowell’ on “America’s Next Top Model”
Angela AndaloroWed, March 11, 2026 at 8:00 PM UTC
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America's Next Top Model Judges Nigel Barker, Janice Dickinson, Tyra Banks, and Eric Nicholson.Credit: John P. Filo/CBS Photo Archive/Getty -
Janice Dickinson served as a judge on America's Next Top Model from 2003 to 2006
Dickinson is opening up about her judging experience on E!'s new series, Dirty Rotten Scandals
The docuseries features Dickinson, 71, talking about the pressure to be "cruel" and shares why she thinks creator Tyra Banks was hard on contestants
Janice Dickinson is reflecting on her time as a judge on America’s Next Top Model.
Dickinson, 71, appears in E!'s new series, Dirty Rotten Scandals, where she opens up about being on the judge's panel and her take on Tyra Banks.
"The producers on America's Next Top Model, especially Tyra, were begging me to be harsher and cruel, like Simon Cowell was on American Idol," Dickinson claims in the episode.
At the time, Cowell's snarky responses were ratings gold for the competition series, one of several that inspired Top Model.
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Janice Dickinson on "America's Next Top Model"Credit: Cliff Lipson/CBS Photo Archive via Getty
Elsewhere in the episode, Dickinson talks about Banks' attitude toward the contestants, which would range from supportive to adversarial at different points in the show's run.
"Tyra didn't want any competition," Dickinson stated, along with her belief that Banks "would go harder on the Black girls on the show, because it's about competitiveness and jealousy and her being older than these young models."
Dickinson also added, "She was always trying to be this tough team mom to the girls, but she just did not build up enough confidence in the girls. They left the show completely depressed and depleted while she got so effing rich."
Janice Dickinson in Oct. 2025Credit: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
Dickinson was officially replaced on the judging panel by Twiggy in 2005, but continued to appear as a guest judge through 2006. She went on to star in VH1’s The Surreal Life and landed her own show, The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency, which ran from 2006 to 2008.
Dirty Rotten Scandals: America's Next Top Model premieres Wednesday, March 11 at 9:00pm ET/PT on E! with two back-to-back episodes.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
