As a show that often doesn’t get the credit it deserves, some people look down on America’s Next Top Model for a variety of reasons. Whether you like the show or not, twenty-four seasons of it have aired to this day. As a result of the show’s impressive lasting power, it has introduced many hopeful models to its television audience.

A series that is based on the concept of finding a potential supermodel in the making, ANTM can certainly be criticized for falling short of that lofty goal. In fact, in certain cases, some high profile members of a particular season’s cast ended up falling back into relative obscurity or worse before long. Thankfully for fans and the show’s casting directors, there have also been several people from the series that managed to become pretty well-known.

In order for someone to be considered for possible inclusion on this list, they first and foremost need to have competed in a season of America’s Next Top Model. As a result, you won’t find any of the judges included here. After that, we singled out the people that found the most success after leaving the show. Additionally, we also attempted to find the biggest flops in the series’ history. When it comes to the people that did not accomplish much, we limited ourselves to memorable cast members.

Here is America's Next Top Model: 9 Stars Who Became A-Listers (And 7 Who Flopped).

A-Lister: Eva Marcille

Eva Marcille

One of the earliest America’s Next Top Model winners, Eva Marcille, competed in and won the show’s third cycle. Known as Eva Pigford during her reality TV tenure, like other winners of this series, she received several major gigs along with the prize money. On top of that, she also appeared on a long list of magazine covers and did a handful of runway shows as well.

She then surprised many with her decision to leave Tyra Banks and Benny Medina’s management services behind. It seemed like it could have been a disastrous decision; instead, it gave way to Marcille's acting career. This change in focus served her well, and led to Eva has starring in The Young and the Restless, and became a cast member in the reality show Real Housewives of Atlanta.

Flopped: Tessa Carlson

Tessa Carlson

Like many reality TV shows, America’s Next Top Model looks to cast people that will make for entertaining television. Despite their plans for each individual that makes the cut each season, there always is somebody that is has to be eliminated first. Tessa Carlson has gone down in history as the person that was eliminated first in the premiere season.

It certainly wasn't what she had in mind when she agreed to join the series, but it quickly became clear that she was not built to be a model.

Said to not understand how to pose her body, after she was eliminated, Carlson gave up on the business and returned to obscurity. At least she still has a claim to fame within her community presumably.

A-Lister: Winnie Harlow

Winnie Harlow

Winnie Harlow is someone who was bound to stick out in this series right from the start, due to her different look, stemming from a vitiligo diagnosis at the age of four. Born as Chantelle Brown-Young, she used that name during her time competing on this list’s namesake series. Evidently discovered by Tyra Banks on Instagram, this Canadian was so beautiful that she was added to the cast of ANTM’s twenty-first season.

Ultimately finishing sixth in her cycle, her career has since done far better than several ladies who stayed longer on the show.

Not defined by her vitiligo, Winnie has been profiled by many media companies due to her skin condition not holding her back in an image-obsessed industry. Additionally, she has modeled for many high-profile businesses and posed for world-renowned magazines.

A-Lister: Toccara Jones

Toccara Jones

Toccara Jones is another contestant from the third season of America’s Next Top Model on this list, who also went on to great things just like Eva Marcille. A plus-sized model, she was signed by Wilhelmina Models after leaving ANTM in seventh place. Going on to become one of the best-known people in her particular area of the industry, she modeled for Avon, Essence magazine, Vibe magazine, and Smooth magazine.

Beyond that, she acted in several TV shows like Celebrity Fit Club, True Hollywood Story, Celebrity Paranormal Project, and The Ultimate Merger. If all of that weren’t enough, Toccara has also acted in a number of series. If you ask us it seems like Jones has the Midas touch.

Flopped: Ann Ward

Ann Ward

Ann Ward became the winner of the show’s fifteenth cycle in 2010. She was memorable for revealing she’d been ridiculed for her looks as a child, leading us to believe her earnest behavior made her a star in the making. Despite that and all of the work that comes along with winning a season of ANTM, Ann’s career never really took off.

One of her only runway shows was due to the fact that the showrunners wanted her to appear alongside the contestants from ANTM’s next season.

Even though her modeling career amounted to very little, we are pleased to say she seems to have found her passion in life. Currently working hard to make it as an artist, she has shared the results of her talent on Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram.

A-Lister: Yaya DaCosta

Yaya DaCosta

It is really starting to seem like the third season of this show is the most remarkable as we look at yet another competitor from it. As the runner-up, one has to believe getting that close without prevailing must have been a painful experience for Yaya DaCosta. That being said, companies like Garnier, Lincoln Townhouse, Olay, Radioshack, Seda, Sephora, and Dr. Scholl's used her in their ads.

It was once she transitioned to the acting world that she found the lion’s share of her success. DaCosta appeared in shows like All My Children, Army Wives, The Simpsons, and several others. She even played one of the main characters in Chicago Med. In addition to the small screen success, Hollywood also came calling as she acted in movies like The Kids Are All Right, Tron: Legacy, The Butler, and The Nice Guys.

Flopped: Laura James

Laura James

The daughter of the actor John James, Laura’s father rose to prominence during the '80s when he starred in the hit show Dynasty. Clearly, someone that understood the spotlight a little bit better than most, as a result, you’d think that Laura James would have done more with her fifteen minutes.

The winner of ANTM’s nineteenth cycle, James won a management deal, magazine appearances, and a major ad campaign.

At first seeming like her career might continue on an upward trajectory, she landed a deal with Guess and appeared in Vogue Italia. Sadly, that was the last of her high profile gigs in the modeling industry. With that in mind, her attempts to make it as an actor make sense, however, she has only appeared in projects most people have never heard of.

A-Lister: Leila Goldkuhl

Leila Goldkuhl

A participant in the college edition of America’s Next Top Model, Leila Goldkuhl finished in third place. That isn’t to say that everything went smoothly for her prior to the finale, however, as she originally was eliminated much sooner. Thankfully, her season featured a twist that gave fans the opportunity to vote to bring one of the models back, which is when she returned.

A sign of things to come, the faith people had in her was well-placed, as nobody else from ANTM has done better as a model. In fact, Cosmopolitan named her as one of the two best performing American Top Models. On top of that, in 2018, Models.com included Goldkuhl among the top fifty working models in the fashion industry. Finally, we end off this entry with a quote about her from Givenchy designer Riccardo Tisci, she "is going to become an icon."

Flopped: Nicole Fox

Nicole Fox

Many people don’t know this, but Nicole Fox was encouraged to audition for America’s Next Top Model by a photographer who knew a previous contestant. Clearly, that guy knew what he was talking about, as Fox went on went on to win the show’s thirteenth season amid great fanfare. A season named the “Petite Edition,” her cycle allowed models whose heights were under five foot seven.

It seems like this winner’s post-ANTM career may have been held back by her height.

After Fox completed the season, her prospects diminished. In fact, the biggest job she was supposed to have received, serving as the face of Alexander McQueen’s spring/summer collection, turned out to only be a rumor. Worse yet, McQueen’s reps denied plans to work with her in a rather terse statement.

A-Lister: Nyle DiMarco

Nyle DiMarco

The only man to appear on this list, Nyle DiMarco won the twenty-second America’s Next Top Model cycle. As the second guy to beat out the rest of the competition, in terms of making it as a model, he seems to have everything going for him.

Despite that fact, his ability to look great in photographs and on runways was never going to be DiMarco’s only claim to fame. After all, he took on a partner and they prevailed in the twenty-second season of Dancing with the Stars. Also an outspoken deaf activist, he has proven time and time again that his own lack of hearing in no way held him back.

Inspired to found The Nyle DiMarco Foundation, his charity provides resources to deaf children and their families, surely one of his most admirable achievements yet.

Flopped: Teyona Anderson

Teyona Anderson

Winning America’s Next Top Model seems like a dream come true, but also gives hope as to the greatness to come. However, if you look at the career of a winner like Teyona Anderson, it becomes clear that it isn’t always all it is cracked up to be. Named the best prospective model from the twelfth cycle of ANTM, the final episode of her season aired in May 2009.

Somehow in October of the year she won, there was already at least one article questioning what happened to her.

On top of that, her online presence is a major indication of how well her career went. We say that because she is the only ANTM winner who doesn’t have a Wikipedia page of her own aside from the two most recent seasons of the show.

A-Lister: Lisa D’Amato

Lisa D’Amato

A competitor in the fifth cycle of America’s Next Top Model, Lisa D’Amato ended up being eliminated surprisingly early as she only came in sixth.

Her time in the ANTM spotlight had not counted down as she was brought back for an all-star season, during which she reigned supreme.

Even before appearing on this show D’Amato had already modeled as a youngster. Going on to attain even more success after her big win, she received so much work in the immediate aftermath that it would be a fool’s errand to try and list all her achievements here. On top of that, she also appeared in many other shows, both dramatic and reality-based, and has released two albums.

Flopped: Jourdan Miller

Jourdan Miller on America's Next Top Model photo shoot

As a business that can seem pretty inscrutable for fans, modeling can seem really glamorous, but outsiders have no idea what it really is like. Considering the big paychecks these models earn, you'd expect Jourdan Miller, an ANTM winner, would be no stranger to that. The winner of the twentieth cycle of America’s Next Top Model that aired in 2013, she beat out fifteen other hopefuls. That said, by 2016 things had changed in a big way for her.

She was forced to file for bankruptcy -- the court documents revealed the fact that she earned just over one hundred thousand dollars the year she won ANTM. It is an awesome number, but her career fell apart pretty much entirely the following year as she made just barely over seven thousand dollars.

A-Lister: Adrianne Curry

Adrianne Curry

The original America’s Next Top Model celebrity, Adrianne Curry won the first cycle, but has not seen eye to eye with the show's producers since. In fact, within four years of being chosen by the ANTM judges, she claimed the series had “disowned her.” Despite that, it really shouldn’t have been that big of a concern for her considering how well-known she’d become.

She starred in the fourth season of the reality show The Surreal Life alongside Christopher Knight, a former star of The Brady Bunch.

From there she and Knight began a romance that led to marriage and was chronicled in the reality show My Fair Brady. This is only a sample of the many shows she has appeared in, as Curry has also landed several acting roles.

Flopped: Renee DeWitt

Renee DeWitt

As someone who came close to America’s Next Top Model’s ultimate crown, one would think Renee DeWitt's third place in the show’s eighth cycle would launch her career. She was not quite done with the ANTM franchise at that point, which led her to also compete in a spin-off that aired as a part of The Tyra Banks Show, Modelville, where she landed second place.

From there, things in her life did not go down as she’d hoped. This is because she made some bad decisions and found herself in the crosshairs of law enforcement. Arrested in 2013 and charged with a number of crimes, the following year she was sentenced to twelve years in prison following a plea agreement.

Now known as Renee Always, due to returning to her maiden name, she remains in prison and came out of the closet on a no longer active Twitter account.

A-Lister: Analeigh Tipton

Analeigh Tipton

She is the living proof that winning a cycle of America’s Next Top Model may not be all it's hyped up to be, because Analeigh Tipton has gone on to do incredible things after the show. A participant in the eleventh season of the show, she performed well, but only came in third place.

Her loss did not deter her in the slightest, as she went on to land several notable gigs in the modeling world.

Things really kicked into high gear for her once she began to focus on her acting career. She was able to land roles in several high-profile projects, and appeared in movies like The Green Hornet, Warm Bodies, Two Night Stand, and Crazy, Stupid, Love. On top of that, she also had recurring parts in shows like Hung and Manhattan Love Story as well as appearing in two episodes of The Big Bang Theory.

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Did we miss any of your favorite America's Next Top Model contestants? Let us know in the comments!