America's Next Top Model Audition Stampede Video

Pandemonium erupted outside of an "America's Next Top Model" casting call at CW Studios in midtown Saturday when an overheating car triggered a stampede of catwalk-craving cuties. Screaming as they ran for their lives, hundreds of hotties in heels toppled over barricades along W. 55th St. after several people in the crowd started yelling, "There's a bomb!"

This is madness!

Chaos at 'America's Next Top Model' Audition in Manhattan.

Two days after a stampede derailed the New York auditions for America’s Next Top Model, theories continue to fly as to what caused the chaos.

A clutch of the reality TV show’s hopefuls claim the crush, which put two people in hospital, began after an overheated car drove past the queue of aspiring models. One contestant reportedly saw the vehicle and shouted, “there’s a bomb”, causing the thousands of applicants to panic and surge away from the car.

Other reports say the 10,000 women assembled outside a midtown Manhattan hotel trampled one another after someone yelled “fire”.

Accounts from some contestants suggest a fight broke out and that as chaos ensued two men leapt from a car and grabbed at the contestant’s purses adding to the panic.

Model Tyra Banks, who hosts the show, was unable to throw any light on Saturday’s mayhem, which left shoes and clothes strewn across the pavement outside the Park Central New York hotel.

Yesterday, she released a joint statement with executive producer Ken Moke, saying: “We are concerned by the events that occurred Saturday afternoon in the vicinity of the New York City casting call for the next cycle of 'America's Next Top Model.

"At this time, we still don't know all the details of what happened or what triggered the incident. We appreciate the efforts of the NYPD and will assist them in any way possible in this matter," the statement said.

Three people were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and inciting a riot, while two were taken to hospital. [TIMES UK]