Verbal abuse of reality competition contestants by judges is not only common, it’s something expected of them. On the sixth season of America’s Next Top Model, show creator and host Tyra Banks, mocked the gap in contestant Danielle Evans’ teeth:

“Do you really think you can have a CoverGirl contract with the gap in your mouth?”

—“Yeah, why not?”

“This is all people see,” pointing at her own teeth and making a derisive grimace, “Easy, Breezy, Beautiful, CoverGirl [the brand’s slogan]. It’s not marketable.”

Evans agreed to close the gap in her teeth a little bit and won the season, securing contracts with brands such as CoverGirl and Sephora. However, in May 2020 she revealed that prior to the filming of that episode no one had told her that Banks wanted the gap closed to create tension and controversy between them. The scene, as insensitive as it was rehearsed, was shot several times until it was engaging enough to generate ratings. And even if many of Banks’ shenanigans on the show were not “genuine,” their effects were real. In January 2021 Banks was accused by several former contestants of verbal and psychological abuse. 

Just like Ronald Reagan, whose manners became the interstice where lies spring forth and truth disappears (4.14), in our time a gap in a model’s teeth is an opening as good as any for hyperreality to seep into our world.