One of the best moments in the history of reality television happened in the summer of 2007 when Natasha Galinka and Brittany Hatch arrive to judging late, following a series of appointments called “go-sees” on America’s Next Top Model. Hatch, who is the final aspiring model to arrive, all but loses her goddamn mind when she discovers she’s been automatically eliminated from the challenge. Seething, she screams, “It’s not my fucking fault!” as the Russian-born Galinka watches, calmly, from the corner of their holding area.Now, what you really need to know is that Galinka’s language barrier and general disposition are used as punchlines throughout the season, but never more effectively than here. In this moment, the camera zooms in on Galinka as she reminds a hysterical Hatch, “I just want to tell you that some people have war in their countries.”A pop culture masterpiece. Also, one of the first moments that I remember reality TV not taking itself seriously—or rather, as Galinka perfectly summarizes, “that some people have war in their countries.” A rare moment of self-awareness that winks to the fact that this apex of drama is not the most important thing happening right now, even if it is the most entertaining. In the fifteen years since that episode aired, the cultural climate on and off of reality television has shi… Click below to read the full story from Esquire
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