Tyra Banks: The New 'Dancing with the Stars' Host's Most Iconic Moments
Dancing with the Stars has announced it is going in a "new creative direction," axing hosts Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews and bringing in former America's Next Top Model host Tyra Banks. While Bergeron was known for his solid dependability and dry sense of humor, the former Tyra Banks Show host is known for a wilder type of presenting that is sure to give the ABC dance show a very different feeling—though hopefully, she will not ask anyone to bite her neck mid-interview on DwtS, as she once did to Robert Pattinson.
Tyra Banks' most iconic presenting moments
"We were all rooting for you"
Tyra's most iconic moment, a TV scene destined to live forever in GIF immortality, came as she lost her cool at eliminated contestant Tiffany Richardson during a 2005 episode of America's Next Top Model after she felt forced to eliminate her as she no longer cared about the competition. "I have never in my life yelled at a girl like this," Banks shouts, "When my mother yells like this it's because she loves me. I was rooting for you, we were all rooting for you! How dare you!"
This rant, which according to Richardson was much longer than what was shown on TV, has had a life of its own, with Banks regularly asked about it in interviews even today. In 2017, for example, she told Buzzfeed News: "It was such an emotional, visceral moment for me. I had so much love for this girl." Richardson herself, meanwhile, told Buzzfeed News: "I would not take anything from her career ... but she's a human. I went into it thinking Tyra was f***ing God. ... To actually see her and the vibe is completely different. It was just weird."
Investing smizing
The 13th cycle of ANTM was the season of smizing, as Tyra invented a new word to describe the model's technique of 'smiling with your eyes' to take an impactful photo. In a 19th cycle "Dictionary Hour" segment, she explained: "Smize...that's a verb meaning smiling with your eyes. I got tired of saying that every judging on Top Model...and I shortened it to 'smize.'"
Tyra vs. Naomi
Tyra was known to have a strained relationship with model Naomi Campbell, whom she accused of not being welcoming of her in the 1990s despite them being the only two Black supermodels working at the time. This was soon dubbed a 'rivalry' by the fashion press and came to a head when Tyra invited Naomi onto her talk show in 2005.
In this interview on The Tyra Banks Show, Tyra accuses Naomi of calling her the b-word and of telling her, "you'll never be me. Don't think you can be me," to which Naomi gives the classic not-quite-apology of "if that's what you remember, I accept that person, but that doesn't sound like me to people who know me."
Fake fainting
Tyra became known across her tenure on Top Model for going to extremes to get strong performances out of her girls, but she never quite matched her fake faint in the 6th cycle. As Tyra pretended to faint, all the contestants run to her and one even starts crying before the model stands up saying "I was acting, acting, ACTING!"
The rabies hoax
Amazingly, Tyra's Top Model faint is not the only time she collapsed on TV. In 2010, she opened her talk show by saying she was not feeling well after claiming she had been bitten by a dog. Cue the model falling, barking and literally foaming at the mouth to pretend she has rabies, in a prank that to this day has never been fully explained.
Vaseline mania
A gig like Dancing with the Stars requires a presenter to keep up the energy in the room, and one moment from The Tyra Banks Show proved she can whip up a crowd into a cult-like frenzy when she wants to. True, Oprah can get great reactions from her audiences by giving away cars and holidays, but Tyra managed to create a frenzy by just giving away her 'beauty secret,' bejeweled bottles of Vaseline.
Dancing with the Stars returns to ABC this fall.
