Tyra Banks Reveals She Returned to America's Next Top Model to Save It from Cancellation

America's Next Top Model fans couldn't stop smizing when it was announced that Tyra Banks would return to host Cycle 24, but the news also caught many viewers off guard.

A year prior, Banks made a big point of retiring from the long-running reality show, passing the baton to Rita Ora for ANTM's first season on VH1. She also had recently given an interview in which she explained she had been wanting to quit the show since the show's eighth cycle began in 2007.

However, once the Ora-hosted Top Model began, fans made it crystal clear to Banks that no one could ever fill her shoes. "My fans on social media -- and not just my fans, but the fans of the show -- were very vocal to a point where I was like, 'Maybe it was a mistake for me to have walked away?" Banks told TVGuide.com as the Freeform Upfront red carpet.

The supermodel-turned-business mogul then realized that if she wanted to see Top Model continue and not face the ax, there was only one solution: she had to return. "From a pleasing the fans and then looking at the business side, I think I have to be there for it to continue," she explained.

So although Banks might have preferred to leave Top Model in her rearview mirror, fans are thrilled the host decided to return -- particularly because that means Banks will be bringing back all of her signature Tyra-isms. During her 22-season tenure on the reality show, Banks gave us so many new words and phrases that have since become the things of legends. But we bet you couldn't guess her favorite Tyra-ism.

" 'Hoe, but make it fashion' is my all-time Tyra-ism," Banks revealed. "There was one model that was looking very too sexy and I was like, 'Ok, pose sexy in the shot, but make it fashion," she recalled, before recreating her now-iconic demonstration.

(via)