Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsWhy is Emotional Abuse considered "Mentoring?"
Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2020
While the show itself is compelling enough, given its reality show format and real world challenges, the emotional abuse endured by the young girls supposedly being "mentored" on Naomi Campbell's team was painful to watch. In addition, seeing a grown woman and supposed mentor dismiss a young girl from the competition for "revenge" because the girl did not pick her as her team leader was the lowest point I have ever witnessed on any reality show. This had absolutely nothing to do with the competition or the girl's strengths or weaknesses and everything to do with Caroline's personal issues. If the goal was to give an example of the unfairness and capriciousness of the modeling industry based upon the immaturity of those deciding your fate as models, then this goal was certainly achieved. The rivalry between Naomi and Caroline set such a poor example for the girls being mentored and Naomi's taking it personally when it came to losing in a COMPETITION did nothing to teach them graciousness in the face of disappointment. She demanded perfection from her team but did little to demand a similar high standard of good behavior from herself. Would she have tolerated her girls running from a room and refusing to talk, slamming doors repeatedly in anger, and yelling at their teammates? Yet she did all of these things. Screaming at someone about how terrible you think they are and threatening them or telling them over and over what a disappointment they are to you is not good mentoring. When someone in authority does this to a young person, it is emotional abuse. In this day and age when abuse is finally being called out for what it is, I was surprised to see Amazon championing a series where an adult is constantly berating and belittling young women. And if this what we saw on camera, I shudder for what we did not see. I have sympathy for Naomi Campbell because abusers have generally been abused. Perhaps this is what she experienced as a young model. But to shroud emotional abuse in the label of "tough love" is wrong. We need to call abuse out when we see it and no longer stand for it in any form or in any industry. If this is the standard in the modeling industry, then supermodels such as Naomi Campbell ought to be working to stop the practice, not be perpetuating it. And companies such as Amazon ought to avoid glamorizing the abuse of young women for entertainment purposes.
