Top 10 Hardest America's Next Top Model Challenges

#10: Graveyard Shoot

“The Girl Who Gets Bad News” (2005)

In one of the most unfortunate cases of bad timing in the show’s history, Kahlen Rondot found out a friend from home passed away just before the next photoshoot. The dread as the models pull up to a cemetery is palpable. It turns out they are to embody the seven deadly sins while lying in an open grave. Being six feet under and in a confined space is difficult enough. Rondot’s fresh grief makes it an especially difficult experience. Producers of the show have explained that it was not intentional, and that the shoot had been scheduled long before Rondot’s personal tragedy. Regardless, it’s one of the most cringeworthy and complicated challenges for this totally unique reason.

#9: The Spider Shoot

“The Girl Who Is Panic-Stricken” (2004)

Eva Pigford’s stunning portrait with a tarantula is one of the show’s most iconic images. But anyone who saw Cycle 3 knows just how hard-won that picture was. This is not what they had in mind when Jay Manuel told them they’d have another model to pose with. Pigford had the biggest reaction to the Verragio diamonds photoshoot prompt, but she isn’t the only one struggling. The tarantula has a mind of its own, and the models are just expected to let it go wherever it wants. It even ends up on Amanda Swafford’s forehead at one point.

#8: Ice Sculpture Shoot

“The Girl Who Is a True Miss Diva” (2006)

The aspiring models of Cycle 6 have to feel their frozen fantasy when they arrive at a refrigerated warehouse. There’s a reason the place is so chilly. They have to pose on several ice sculptures. And in true “Top Model” fashion, they’re not wearing much in the way of clothes to avoid contact with the ice itself. Noses ran and bodies trembled. As usual, Jay Manuel has the nerve to dress them down when they show any visible signs of discomfort standing around half-dressed in the freezing cold. He says all this while looking awfully snug in his winter coat.

#7: Landfill Photoshoot

“Lana Marks” (2011)

Cycle 16 turns up the ick factor on its ensemble of industry hopefuls. Tyra Banks sends them on a very special field trip for their next photoshoot. They board a bus and head over to the Olinda Landfill for an eco-friendly couture fashion shoot. Yes, Banks sends them to a garbage dump. With its huge mounds of trash encircled by seagulls, it’s certainly a striking backdrop. To their credit, the models are largely good sports about this, but it’s easy to imagine just how hard this one would be to take. Sitting at home, we can only imagine how this place smells.

#6: Rock Climbing Wall Shoot

“The Girls Go Rock Climbing” (2007)

Cycle 9 tapped into the cast’s athleticism for the third photoshoot. Suspended from ropes, the models are made to climb the rock wall in heels and pose while hanging off the structure. It makes for a playful and elegant anti-gravity effect. Fear of heights, cumbersome gowns, and just general muscle fatigue are all in play here. As difficult as it looks, most of the contestants actually nailed it. Still, this is one of those photoshoots that makes us wonder why they couldn’t just simulate a rock wall and let the models act out climbing. But that’s fashion, we suppose.

#5: Zodiac Signs Photoshoot

“The Girl With the Worst Photo in History” (2005)

An astrology-themed photoshoot sees the models of Cycle 4 embodying each of the signs of the Zodiac. Apparently, this requires them to be rigged up in a harness and lifted off the ground. Adding to the balance issues this causes, some models have it way worse than others. The bulky, cartoonish costuming is almost impossible to work with for some. While her competitors have bows and goat horns affixed to their heads, Tiffany Richardson gets saddled with two of the biggest crab claws we’ve ever seen. But as always, it’s the models’ fault they’re not comfortable being suspended by a harness with cumbersome props in their hands.

#4: Fish Market Photoshoot

“The Girl Who Is a Model, Not a Masseuse” (2006)

Remaining contestants in Cycle 6 are flown to Phuket, Thailand, where they are asked to pose as mermaids caught in fishing nets. It’s actually a charming concept. Unfortunately, the set-up Jay Manuel has in mind requires the models to be suspended in a fishing net over a very real Thai fishing market. They must defy gravity in a deeply uncomfortable harness decorated with real, dead fish. Did we mention they’re also being dangled upside down for minutes at a time? The resulting shots are definitely stunning. But it does leave us wondering if the fish juice was worth the squeeze.

#3: Posing Underwater

“Dive Deeper” (2009)

Posing and maintaining grace under pressure in a water tank was hard enough for the cast of Cycle 2. Cycle 13 took things a step further. After being whisked away to Hawaii, the cast of aspiring models are taken to the actual open waters of the Pacific Ocean for undersea glamor shots. This cast has a lot of reasons to be worried. They have to get deep enough for the shots to work. This requires them to complete their poses between puffs of oxygen. Laura Kirkpatrick panics almost immediately, but Sundai Love struggles the most. Between her asthma and an ear injury, she is lambasted for letting her medical issues get in the way of her work.

#2: Posing in Freezing Water

“The Girl Who Grates” (2006)

In cycle 7, the final four modeling hopefuls were asked to pose in a freezing cold pool. This is one of those challenges where we have to wonder: Is this what modeling is like or is this just what the producers came up with to create some extra drama? Creepy crawlies and awkward poses are one thing, but hypothermia is another. CariDee English had to exit the pool because she developed hypothermia. Jay Manuel and Tyra Banks saw her struggling, telling her to push through. The next minute, she’s hypothermic, and it’s her fault for not understanding her limits.

#1: Wind Tunnel

“The Girl Who Wrecks the Car” (2006)

It’s almost as if Tyra Banks and her producers held a personal grudge against the contestants of cycle 7. This crop of models had some of the hardest, most punishing photoshoots in the show’s history. Here, they were made to pose in a wind tunnel skydiving column and serve face and graceful poses at the same time. The shoot proved to be near impossible for even the cycle’s frontrunners. For a minute, this one even had Tyra wondering if they had asked them to do the impossible. Of course, just as she’s about to express some regret, one model’s picture convinces her it was all worth it.

Which of these photoshoots looked the hardest? Tell us in the comments.