'Germany's Top Model' draws fire

BERLIN, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- The German version of the reality TV show "America's Next Top Model" is being criticized for promoting eating disorders.

Germany's top newspaper, Bild, cautioned the show could drive young women to become anorexic, Deutsche Welle reported Wednesday.

Under a headline reading, "Skinny Madness," Bild interviewed a 19-year-old anorexic who said the show hosted by supermodel Heidi Klum "destroys young girls and drives them to an obsession with being thin."

The Berlin daily Der Tagesspiegel said Klum's show has launched a debate about whether anorexia has become a "status symbol."

It noted one contestant -- 5-foot-4 and 114 pounds -- was voted off by the show's panel for being too fat.

"That is clearly in the range of anorexia," the director of an eating disorder clinic told the newspaper.