Tyra BanksFollowing in the footsteps of Top Chef, Tyra Banks has announced she's putting together past America's Next Top Model contestants for an all-star season this fall. The lovely ladies who didn't  make the show's final cut in the past 16 seasons will get another chance to be declared the winner.

We're hoping Tyra will take a page from Top Chef's book and only pick the top contestants from each season—the girls who made it to the top five at the very least. The show is always more intense when the overall quality of talent is raised that dramatically. It should be interesting to see which gals return and who eventually gets crowned queen. Here's hoping our faves who got booted will return for a second chance. 


I've always said this but, I want to see all the 1st runner-ups battle it out, or all the winners for the Ultimate Top Model Title!

Who would you want to see make another run for the title?

Tyra (PCN)Tyra Banks is no longer Tyra Banks: She's just Tyra.

On Friday, the supermodel-turned-entrepreneur paid a bisit toThe Ellen DeGeneres Show, where she discussed her new makeover site and her plans to ditch her last name.

"We can drop it right now, call me Tyra," the former supermodel said. "Okay, I have officially dropped the 'Banks' from 'Tyra' on the Ellen show."

Nevermind that Tyra's production company, Bankable Productions, takes its name from Tyra's last name.

The America's Next Top Model creator went on to talk about TypeF.com, a customizable fashion and beauty site that launches Tuesday. "Beauty is not one size, one shade, one style, one color—YOU are beauty and typeF.com is the beginning of a movement that starts with and for YOU," Tyra's welcome message reads.

So...do you think Tyra will stick by her word and drop her last name from the credits? Or is this just a well-timed publicity stunt?

Check out the new contestants of AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL (ANTM) Cycle 15 which premieres September 8 at 8pm on the CW.

AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL Cycle 15 Summary: ugust 18, 2010 (Burbank, California) – The CW’s hit series AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL steps into the world of high fashion when cycle 15 kicks-off on Wednesday, September 8 (8:00-9:00 p.m. ET).

Lending their expertise as guest judges during this high fashion cycle are designer Diane Von Furstenberg, designer/stylist Patricia Field (“Sex and the City”), top beauty photographer Matthew Rolston, supermodel Karolina Kurkova, top fashion photographer Patrick Demarchelier, Italian photographer Francesco Carrozzini, designer Zac Posen, designer/model Margherita Missoni, IMG Models executive Kyle Hagler, Vogue Italia editor-in-chief Franca Sozzani and designer Roberto Cavalli.

Fourteen model hopefuls will compete for the new, ultimate career-launching prize package: a contract with IMG Models, one of the top international modeling management companies in the world; fashion spread in Vogue Italia and an additional spread and cover of Beauty in Vogue; and a $100,000 contract with CoverGirl Cosmetics.

Tyra Banks leads the panel of judges, comprised of influential fashion editor André Leon Talley and photographer Nigel Barker. Jay Manuel serves as the photo shoot creative director while Miss J Alexander returns as the runway trainer.

Tyra Banks is finally responding to a growing controversy surrounding an America’s Next Top Model promo featuring a 6’2″ model with a shockingly small waist.

“In an effort to create a fun and entertaining sneak peek of the upcoming cycle, America’s Next Top Model released a trailer that was edited in way that misconstrued our overarching message,” Banks says in an exclusive statement to DIDNTINVITEME.

“As a leader in celebrating and promoting healthy body image, I must admit that I regrettably didn’t see this clip before it was released to the public, (with multiple Top Model departments, it’s just impossible to review everything) but on behalf of the Top Model team, these were not the intentions, and we truly apologize for any confusion, anger or disappointment it may have caused,” the statement continues.

“The passionate response the trailer has evoked proves that the message to promote and celebrate all different — healthy and natural –- body types has resonated with our viewers and I’m so proud of every one of you who voiced your opinion and participated in this conversation. I have experienced body image scrutiny from one extreme to the next –- as an awkward, extremely thin pre-teen who couldn’t gain weight no matter what I did, to later being slammed by the media for my fuller, curvier frame,” continues Banks, who was the victim of body bullying in 2006 after unflattering beach shots were splashed across the Internet.

“Driven by these personal experiences,” she says, “I am committed to expanding the definition of beauty which includes ALL shapes, sizes and proportions, from skinny to curvy and everything in between. It’s about women telling the world to KISS their –- skinny, wide, droopy, flat, cellulite-covered or FAT -– you know what!”

“Through Top Model and my other platforms, I am able to connect with women directly,” says Banks, an executive producer on the show. “During this season of Top Model, you will see that Ann (the woman featured in the trailer) provided another opportunity for me to support a young woman struggling with her own body image issues (she’s 6’2″; and is the receiver of countless stares and ridicule). Helping young ladies, like Ann and countless others that have confided in me, furthers and supports my core mission.”

For more from Banks — and to read her open letter to her fans — visit her official Web site.

In five years on the air, Tyra Banks has gone undercover as a homeless person, an obese woman and even a man. Plus, she's interviewed everyone from Beyoncé to Janet Jackson and Miley Cyrus. But nothing thrilled the host of The Tyra Banks Show like her interview with one particular U.S. senator.

"I was so nervous, sick to my stomach and my hands were shaking," Banks tells PEOPLE of her interview with then-Senator Barack Obama. "I asked him to look into the crystal ball and said, 'What do you see in your future, Senator?' And without hesitation he replied, 'The White House.' That clip ran on CNN and every national morning show. I'll never forget being a part of political history."

She found a place in pop culture history

"I even got bitten on the neck by Twilight's sexiest vampire, Robert Pattinson," says Banks, whose talk show will air its final episode Friday. "I don't think I've ever felt so envied."

But the supermodel-turned-mogul, 36, is hardly slowing down with the end of the talk show. With her company, Bankable Enterprises, Banks plans to branch out into film production. She also plans to publish a series of novels, and cycle 15 of her reality staple America's Next Top Model will feature a new partnership with Italian Vogue.

Looking back on her talk show, Banks says it was, "always about my life's mission of expanding the definition of beauty. I wanted everyone to understand that life is about accepting and loving yourself, flaws and all."

Mission accomplished.

"A woman told me she saw the ‘Kiss My Fat Ass’ episode and put down the pills she was going to use to commit suicide," says Banks.

Of course, she appreciates the lighter moments, too.

Jokes Banks: "Hell, I even love the women who come up and say, 'You rockin' your real hair or a weave today, girl?' "

Vogue Italia coversThe stakes have officially been upped on America's Next Top Model. Instead of a six-page spread in Seventeen magazine, the winner will now be gracing the cover of Vogue Italia. For those not in the know—this is HUGE! It seems judge André Leon Talley has some serious pull.

Only the world's tip-top models have graced the cover of Vogue Italia. The iconic magazine is constantly pushing the limits of fashion and is one of the few publications that has rarely, if ever, put a celebrity on its cover. Whoever wins next season is going to be a very, very, lucky girl indeed.

Dear America's Next Top Model, congratulations, you have officially put yourself back on the fashion radar.

Tyra BanksTyra Banks is back! Not that she ever really left the scene but the supermodel turned media super mogul is getting ready to hit the runways again. Five years after a retiring from modeling in 2005, Tyra has been signed to her old agency IMG. With older supermodels in the spotlight and designers favoring girls with curves, this is a perfect time for Tyra's return.

We can't wait to see where this gorgeous gal appears first, are you excited to see Tyra back in fashion?

She’s a size 14 and fierce: Meet Sheridan Watson, the 17-year-old winner of Tyra Banks’ newest modeling competition, the Fiercely Real Teen Model Search. “Since cycle 1, the teen fans of America’s Next Top Model have written me letters and have approached me…asking me ‘Tyra, when are you going to do a cycle for teens?’” Banks tells PEOPLE. So this year, Banks launched the first ever plus-size teen modeling search, which invited girls between ages of 13 and 19 who wear a dress size between 12 and 20 to compete for a contract with Wilhelmina Models and the cover of Banks’ MagaLine Tyra: Beauty Inside & Out. As the winner, “I’m still waiting for it all to hit me,” says the New Jersey-based Watson. “Growing up it was like modeling was not an appropriate profession for someone my size because I’ve always been curvy.” Now, she says, “I know it is possible.” In addition to expanding “the narrow definitions of what’s considered beautiful,” Banks — who will continue to host this contest annually on her site tyra.com — says she’s looking to redefine the term plus-size. “The term plus-sized is so misleading so I’m renaming it Fiercely Real,” explains Banks. “What’s considered plus-sized in the fashion industry is actually average in the real world. I want women to realize that the women they see in the magazines are not the norm.”

What happens when Beyoncé visits Tyra Banks? She breaks out with Beyoncé fever. The Grammy winner makes an appearance on “The Tyra Show” to promote her new fragrance Beyoncé Heat and have girl talk. The episode, also featuring Robin Thicke, airs tomorrow on The CW. Watch a preview below.

After five seasons, two Daytime Emmy awards and too many girl-power episodes to count, Tyra Banks is announcing the end of The Tyra Show.

“This will be the last season of The Tyra Show,” Banks tells DIDNTINVITEME exclusively. “I’ve been loving having fun, coming into your living rooms, bedrooms, hair salons for the past 5 years.”
Wrapping at the end of its fifth season in the spring of 2010, it will be lights out for the show that brought viewers memorable weave-exposing, cellulite-revealing and tear-jerking moments.

Banks will focus on the launch of Bankable Studios, a N.Y.-based film production company currently reviewing possible projects. Sticking to her mission, Banks aims to bring “positive images of women to the big screen,” says an industry insider.

“My next huge steps will allow me to reach more women and young girls to help us all feel as fierce as we truly are,” Banks says.

Adds the insider: “Tyra is sad because she’ll be missing so much of the daily connection to her viewers, but excited at the same time to be taking on a new challenge.”
With encouragement from filmmaker Tyler Perry and longtime mentor Oprah Winfrey, Banks is “redefining beauty for women in film,” adds the source. “With Oprah’s big announcement this year, I think that gave Tyra the confidence to get out there and follow her longtime dream of film producing.”

But fashion fiends worry not. America’s Next Top Model is slated to return for its 14th season in February along with Banks’s ABC show True Beauty.
“There’s a lot cooking right now and a lot of fire burning in my heart,” Banks writes in an open letter on her Web site. “And I salute you my amazing family of viewers; without you there never would have been a Tyra Show. I really love you all.”

Check out the best print model in my book Tyra Banks on set in Chelsea and Madison Square Park in NYC. Showing the girls you still have it!!!!!

Lil' Mama appeared on The Tyra Show rockin' her real hair. She talked about the VMA's and she also talked about being on ANTM. Check it out.

Tyra Banks in a tiara! What better way for the model and mogul to appear on Gossip Girl in an episode airing Monday.
Her role is that of Ursula Nyquist, an award-winning actress looking to offset some negative personal press by playing a real-life heroine — American-born French stage star Josephine Baker — in an Oscar-worthy movie about the French Resistance during World War II.
“The people at Gossip Girl tell me I set a Gossip Girl hair change record. I had SEVEN hair changes, every single scene you see is some new hair on my head,” says Banks, who also plans to talk about her role on the episode during Monday’s Tyra Show.
According to press materials about Banks’s appearance, the fate of Ursula’s career ends up in the hands of Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively). You’re in good hands, Ursula.

What qualifies Lauren Conrad to be a guest judge on America’s Next Top Model alongside Tyra Banks? Well, she has designed her own clothing line and hired models for runway shows; she’s handled castings for photo shoots and fittings while working for Teen Vogue and People’s Revolution. She’s also a spokesperson for Avon’s mark line, a fashionable fixture at N.Y. Fashion Week and has been the subject of many a magazine spread.

Not to mention she’s a longtime fan of the CW’s model competition. “I don’t watch a lot of TV, but it is one of the few shows I watch. I’m such a fan of Tyra. So when they contacted me, I said yes,” Conrad tells PEOPLE. “I knew it would be a great experience. [Working with the Top Model judges including Miss J Alexander and Nigel Barker] was a treat.”
What wasn’t quite as easy, breezy or beautiful about the experience was the responsibility of taking one contestant out of the running and ending her runway dreams. “That’s the part I hated,” Conrad says. “It was so hard judging someone as every girl had qualities that should allow them to continue on. I am one of those people that wish they could all be winners.”

Conrad’s episode, which airs tonight on the CW (8 p.m. EST), features a classic ANTM challenge — the nude photo shoot. The contestants posed topless with jockeys and racehorses at the Santa Anita Park racetrack.
Not so standard is the season’s twist which required all of the participants less than 5′7″-tall. But Conrad approves of the change. “I love the twist. I think women of all sizes are beautiful, so it is refreshing to see models of different heights. It’s a bit more relatable to us short girls.”

Just weeks ago Solange Knowles caused an internet buzz when she shaved off her long hair into a natural, closely-cropped cut. And now Tyra Banks reveals on her Twitter that she is gearing up to go natural and lose her extensions. “Guess What! I’m rockin’ my REAL hair on my talk show September 8th.” she says. “No fake hair at all! Will be the hair coming out of my scalp! 4 all 2 C!” She continues, “no ponytails, no ballet bun head. hair will be out and free!” We are setting our TVs to record now!

In a new interview with TV Guide magazine, Paulina says the show is not all it's cracked up to be and contestants' careers are stunted by appearing on the show. 

What did you think of Teyona’s win?
Well, I was there. I had a hand in it. But you know what? Honestly, now that I’m off the show I can actually say it. I didn’t vote for Teyona.

Who did you vote for?
Allison. Well, I’m not going to name names. But two of us voted for Allison and two of us voted for Teyona and one of us had to cross the line over to the other one.

Of the three finalists, who do you think is the most likely to have an actual modeling career?
None of them.

Really? That’s sad.
I know. I’m really very sorry. But they’re not models. Look at the history of Top Model. When has a winner not fallen down into that great big hole where the other sock goes? When? That’s because you can’t pick models from a TV show. Those tall, long giraffe things that don’t really look real are rare freaks of nature. And finding a freak of nature with a personality, that’s like finding a double freak of nature. So you’d have a TV show once every 10 years.

Why did they let you go?
Well, they said that Top Model needs to trim the fat. So they cut me. It came as a little bit of a shock. I was a little upset that I was fired roughly four weeks before the new season was starting. I was being told to go have a physical for the show and then I got fired. I think they could have done that better.

Stupid recession.
Actually a lot of my friends from the show got booted, too. Makeup and hair people. And I shouldn’t say this because this sounds bitter. But if Tyra came in on time, they would save somebody’s salary. If she actually showed up on time for the judgings and they didn’t have to pay a lot of overtime, they would save a lot of money.

Do you think you did something to bring this on?
I did get pissy about Tyra being late a couple of times. I said, “I don’t think that’s right.” And they told me I had a big ego. So maybe that had something to do with it.

If they ask you to come back as a guest judge would you go back?
No. I think there’s a little too much bad blood. I mean I don’t wish them ill. But do I want them to blossom without me? No. I’m not going to lie.

Do you have any advice for future auditioners?
Yeah. Go to Top Model only if you don’t want to be a model. These girls want to be models so desperately. And the fact is the show is not even looking for fashion models. They’re looking for personalities. It’s a Cinderella story. But [many of] the girls who succeed on the show won’t succeed [in the industry] because they’re not models. I have become friends with some of the models on the show and they actually have lost jobs when it came out that they were on America’s Next Top Model, because the fashion industry will not touch those girls with a ten foot pole.

So they have to hide the fact that they were on the show?
Yeah. And if you’re a winner you can just flush yourself down the toilet. Unless you marry a Brady, in which case you have a career.

But some of the models, like Ya-Ya DaCosta, have found showbiz success.
Yes. Some of the ones who did not win have done much better than the winners for sure. But none of them have approached top model [status]. Out of the girls that we had this season: I think Aminat might have a future in shows because she’s a terrific walker, she has a great body, and she’s very tall. But that’s the closest anybody’s going to get to fashion.

A lot of young girls look up to the show and it really hasn’t produced a top model.
They haven’t and they won’t. And now they’re doing the short girls. Like that’s ever going to catch on in fashion. It might be terrific TV. But it’s not about reality.

Isis King may not have won America's Next Top Model when she was a contestant on the show's 11th cycle, but she scored an even bigger prize when she appeared on The Tyra Banks Show Monday – a marriage proposal!

King's boyfriend, Desmond, got down on one knee on the show's set and asked King to marry him. King had thought she was on the show to open up about her sex change operation last year.

"I'm very shocked," King told Tyra cameras afterward. "We've been talking about this kind of thing for a while but I would never have thought that it would happen on this show. I'm very happy. We've been best friends for almost three and a half years now. He's everything I want."

King then giggled before giving a Beyoncé "Single Ladies" hand wave and saying: "He put a ring on it!"

Said King's new fiancé: "I feel blessed. I feel like I'm complete."

The casting call will go on!

Tyra Banks issued a statement Monday on how producers of America's Next Top Model will respond after a weekend riot during auditions in New York.

"To all the Top Model hopefuls who were affected by the New York casting, we are doing everything we can to make sure that ALL the girls who weren't seen, get an opportunity to audition," she says. "We'll update you on our plans very soon."

Banks also talked about her goals for the popular CW reality show: "It is so important to me to redefine beauty, and make sure that everyone gets a fair chance to pursue their dream. I am beyond excited for Cycle 13; for the first time ever, young women 5'7" and under have a shot at becoming America's Next Top Model! I encourage each girl to come out ready to rock the runway and show off their fiercest pose. I'm rooting for all of you!"

Two people were taken to the hospital with minor injuries after a panicked stampede broke out while hundreds waited in line to audition for the show.