Gen Z TikTok users have been left shocked by resurfaced footage of ‘s Next Top Model, the n spin-off of Tyra Banks’ infamous ANTM.
Fashion designer Alex Perry looked almost unrecognisable when he was spotted taking a trip to Coles in Sydney’s inner west last week.
The rarely-seen 61-year-old showed off a filled out physique in his white T-shirt paired with some black grunge cargo pants.
In the first few seconds of the viral video montage, Perry can be heard asking: ‘What are those feet? Gorilla feet? Transgendered feet?’
He appears throughout the two-minute montage of un-PC clangers, with a measuring tape in hand, and a hard word for the often teenage models about their weight.
‘Just stop chowing down, you guys have got to exercise. Just get on the treadmill,’ he tells one model in the clip.
In another moment, he assessed one model: ‘She’s really pretty, she’s really sleek. Beautiful skin,’ before asking another judge, ‘do you reckon she’s got to drop some K-Gs?’
Model Cheyenne Tozzi, Alex Perry, Jennifer Hawkins, and Zac Stenmark question a hopeful model at Season 10 auditions in Melbourne, 2015
‘Alex Perry is living his karma,’ one person commented as they referenced the renowned designer’s recent public appearance.
‘Can’t talk if you see him now,’ another user commented.
‘How is Alex Perry not cancelled?’ asked another.
With a fourth person chiming in: ‘Alex Perry they could never make me like you.’
One Gen Z TikToker was so baffled by what they had just witnessed, that the closest thing they could liken the series to was a Chris Lilley skit.
The show saw young girls, most still teenagers, aspiring toward a high-fashion modelling career as they compete to avoid elimination each week by a panel of high-profile judges.
Fates on the show were determined by a panel of three judges: model, Myer face and former Miss Universe Jennifer Hawkins, sunglasses-topped Perry and, a rotation of high-profile fashion names including Linda Evangelista, Jean Paul Gaultier, Kelly Osbourne and Tyra herself.
Alex Perry with model contestants Yolanda Hodgson and Jess Bush at the world premiere screening of ‘s Next Top Model Series 7 at Moore Park in July, 2011
Models Leah Johnson, Mikarla Hussey, Eloise Hoili, Adele Thiel, Lol Van Vorst and Laura Mitchell pose for a photo at ‘s Next Top Model party at The Loft, Sydney in 2009
Sarah Murdoch pictured announcing the wrong winner of ‘s Next Top Model on live TV
‘She looks like a wild pig,’ Perry said while making snorting sounds at one model of colour.
The guest judges were called in to fill the shoes of the late Charlotte Dawson, the show’s long-time judge who took her own life.
‘Oh my god she’s got a muffin top, it’s coming out over the jeans,’ judge Charlotte said in one clip.
Bullying, verbal and physical abuse, fat shaming, tears, and tantrums were all fair game in the reality format, which raked in the highest number of viewers for a reality series on subscription TV.
Elsewhere in the video, the show’s style director Jonathan Pearce kicked off because models were drinking coffee during a swimwear shoot.
‘We’ve got a swimwear shoot and we’ve got people ordering bloody ice chocolates with cream!’ he exclaimed in dismay.
Pearce asked the model, ‘Do you reckon that’s a good decision? I’m confiscating this one.’
In yet another clip, an enraged model who’d just lost a competition screamed: ‘She’s a f**king ugly dero mole. She’s fat. She’s a size 16.’
Promotional for ‘s Next Top Model
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Rarely seen fashion designer Alex Perry, 61, unrecognisable as he is spotted shopping in Sydney
The n judging panel also asked models who they thought was ‘the fattest’ of their competitors.
‘She looks trashed,’ Perry began in another tear down moment. ‘She looks like she’s been at Arq, rolled out, and just dragged something through her hair.’
Many commenters said that particular comment, referencing Sydney’s gay nightclub, was ‘iconic.’
While observing another runway, Perry said a model’s expression made her look like American cold case victim JonBenét Ramsey.
‘She is JonBenét Ramsey, aged 18,’ he quipped. ‘Murderous beauty queen.’
Speaking to Daily Mail on Friday under the condition of anonymity, one former Top Model said it’s not an excuse, but the TV series was a product of its time.
‘You can’t take that back but that’s just how the industry was, and that’s what the show was. It was the early 2000s.’
‘I grew up watching this stuff. No wonder our body image is so distorted,’ one TikTok user commented on the video.
‘Alex Perry makes gorgeous clothes for women but I don’t know how he manages because good god, he hates us!’ added another.
‘Watching this back is WILD,’ someone else commented.
Perry was the only judge to helm all 10 seasons of ‘s Next Top Model and he famously campaigned for the show’s 178cm height restriction to be enforced.
‘I like sleek, runway greyhounds. It’s my aesthetic,’ he explained in an old interview.
Daily Mail has reached out to Perry for comment.
In May 2020, Tyra took to Twitter to address some backlash America’s Next Top Model was facing after it was added to the streaming site Netflix.
‘Been seeing the posts about the insensitivity of some past ANTM moments and I agree with you. Looking back, those were some really off choices,’ she wrote on Twitter at the time.
‘Appreciate your honest feedback and am sending so much love and virtual hugs.’