Tyra Banks's Major Mindfuck

On last night’s premiere of Cycle 16, instead of the typical semi-finals with the panel of Tyra, Miss J, and Mr. Jay getting to know the girls and making cuts, the pool of contestants were subjected to a cruel fake out. At the start of the episode, the semi-finalists were gathered together, where the 14 girls who had actually made the cut were told that they had been eliminated, while the rest of the group were told that they had made it on to the next round. Naturally, there were tears and screams of elation.

The 14 supposed losers were then brought to an area where they were told to identify their luggage so they could go home. The catch, as Tyra put it, was that they were already home: A curtain was dropped to reveal that they were in their L.A. penthouse apartment. Yay! Except no mention was made about what the producers did to all those other girls to whom they’d given false hope when they were told they were still in the competition.