“Below Deck” chef Rachel Hargrove is calling out Tyra Banks for referring to her as a “plus size model” when she auditioned for “America’s Next Top Model” in 2005.
“Hey @Tyrabanks remember when you called me a plus size model when I was a size 2?” Hargove, 40, tweeted alongside an unflattering photo of Banks, 48.
The Bravolebrity’s tweet upset many fans who pointed out that she felt “body-shamed” and still turned “around and body shames [sic] someone else.”
“I’ve had alot [sic] of former cast reach out to me and tell me about how the show caused them to have body dysmorphic disorders… so that’s why I made my comment,” Hargrove responded, adding that Banks needs to “take accountability” for her behavior on the competition show.
Another follower pointed out that it was actually Banks’ “ANTM” co-judge Jay Manuel who made the comment about Hargrove’s body.
“You’d be representing more of a plus size,” Manuel, now 49, said on the Cycle 4 episode.
Hargrove appeared on the fourth season of “ANTM” after a casting director approached her while she was working as a bartender in Florida in 2005.
“I thought, ‘Are you f–king high?” she told Entertainment Tonight in January 2021. “They just kind of brought me through; I think it had to do with my personality being just off the wall, so… I don’t know! It was a lot of fun, it was a lot of fun.”
However, when it came to describing Banks, Hargrove simply dubbed her “interesting.”
Banks, whose fluctuating weight has been criticized throughout the years, told the “Today” show in April that she finds it “empowering” to be “curvier” at her age.
Banks has not yet responded to Hargrove’s tweet.
