Allison Harvard Burke, known online as Creepy Chan, was the internet’s original e-girl, and videos on her fame have been gaining traction online amid the release of Netflix documentary Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model.
The new documentary takes a look at the long-running competition series through a modern lens, examining its most controversial moments, from body-shaming and forced surgeries to an alleged sexual assault.
Host Tyra Banks and her former co-stars J. Alexander, Jay Manuel, and Nigel Barker all appear in Reality Check, alongside contestants including Dani Evans, Shandi Sullivan, Ebony Haith, Keenyah Hill, Giselle Samson, Bre Scullark, and Joanie Sprague.
But one former model who doesn’t make an appearance is Allison Harvard. Even so, her legacy as one of the show’s most unforgettable stars is being revisited in light of the docu-series.
Where is Allison Harvard Burke now?
Allison Harvard Burke, now 38, continues to work as a model and artist while balancing family life, raising her nearly-two-year-old child with her husband and maintaining a strong presence online.
On Instagram, where she has 737,000 followers, she’s credited as a casting assistant producer at Wyldside Media, a casting and content company based in California. She’s married to Jeremy Burke, a creative based in LA.
In December, they celebrated their four-year wedding anniversary, with Allison writing, “I’m so proud to call you my husband. You’re the love of my life and my best friend forever. Also we have a son and that’s crazy?! I love our little family so much and I love every day we get to spend together.”
Harvard first rose to broader fame as a contestant on 2009’s America’s Next Top Model Cycle 12, where her distinctive look and fascination with the macabre made her a fan favorite, ultimately finishing runner-up in both the original season and the All-Stars edition.
Following her reality TV success, Harvard built a varied career in fashion and media. She walked runways including New York Fashion Week, appeared in magazine editorials and fragrance campaigns, and ventured into acting and visual art.
Why is Allison Harvard called Creepy Chan?
Before ANTM, Allison gained early internet notoriety for posting eerie, surreal self-portraits on platforms like MySpace and DeviantArt in the mid-2000s. The photos were picked up and shared on forums like 4Chan, leading to her becoming the meme known as “Creepy Chan”.
Speaking about this to the Business of Business in 2021, she said, “It’s crazy because I was turned into an unwitting queen of 4Chan when I was 16 years old. Memes are part of internet culture and it’s hard to have any control over how they are used.”
“I learned the hard lesson as a kid, when you put something on the internet, it doesn’t really belong to you any more. You have to accept it can be saved and used and put anywhere. The damage is already done,” Allison added.
“I’ve seen it used in some ads in – I don’t even know, some of them were so annoying – like, they were making me the face of some child abuse thing! I did not consent to this, it’s crazy!”
2021 is a significant year, as it’s when she decided to reclaim control of her images by putting them on Foundation, a marketplace that helps artists tokenise their works, before selling them as NFTs.
Two of her most famous images were put on auction, and within a day, she’d made over $150,000. “I feel like I’m very lucky because overall, the way my life has changed for the better because of these images is kind of crazy and hilarious,” she added.
Last September, Allison was interviewed by i-D for a piece titled ‘I was the original e-girl’, where she opened up about what it was like to come of age when the internet did, her online fame, and her time getting cast on America’s Next Top Model.
She went on to describe her life now, stating, “Currently, I have a 15-month-old, so life looks a little different now (f**king insane and magical). Being a mother is such a fascinating and psychedelic experience. You get to experience life again through a child’s eyes…
“Eventually, I want my child to be exposed to amazing information, and people, and art, and music online, but also I want to do it in a safe way. Who knows what the internet is going to look like even in five years.
“Now, there are so many different social media platforms. Now, you can monetise everything. I know that people want to get a lot of engagement, and a lot of traction on posts. That’s the goal for a lot of people – to get noticed, because everything’s so saturated…
“But I would encourage people to try to post authentic things: their authentic self, work they’re proud of. It might not resonate with everyone, but it resonates with the people that matter.”
ANTM clips resurface amid Netflix documentary
Allison finished by writing, “As for me? I’ll post on Instagram still, here and there, and Twitter. I’m always doom-scrolling. I’m definitely lurking, always lurking.”
Although the new Netflix documentary focuses more on America’s Next Top Model’s controversial past, clips of Allison’s time on the show have been going viral on social media amid its release.
TikToker Aqua Fantasea shared a video last week which has since been viewed more than 17,000 times. “Before she was an All Star she was an undisputed queen of the early internet,” he says.
“I follow her on twitter, she’s still amazing,” said one commenter, while another wrote, “Aw I remember her!”
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