Highlights
- Season 18 marked the go out of Jay Manuel and Nigel Barker from ANTM regardless of their luck and experience within the industry.
- The former judges admit there used to be no bad blood at the back of the scenes and their departure was motivated through private career expansion.
- Both Manuel and Barker reveal one of the most struggles and controversies they confronted on ANTM, including their relationships with Tyra Banks.
On America's Next Top Model, Mr. Jay and Nigel Barker sat beside Tyra Banks, helping her pass judgement on younger wannabe fashions. After 18 cycles, the inventive director and photographer left the display. Jay and Nigel joined America’s Next Top Model in the first actual season. Nigel, was an established type photographer, and Jay labored as a stylist and make-up artist for magazines like Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar. The pair used their enjoy to assist trainer women to deliver excellent photos week after week.
Fans were surprised when the pair had been let go from ANTM after years on the display. In the years folllowing, the judges have spoken up about their lack of dating with Tyra Banks and the actual reason they left the preferred truth TV display. “To my Nigel Barker, Miss J, and Mr Jay: Thank you for all of our years together on America's Next Top Model,” Tyra announced on her Facebook page in 2012. “Working with you is all the time an absolute pleasure. Excited for what the future holds for us."
In the following, we take a look at why Jay Manuel and Nigel Barker left America's Next Top Model and what their relationship is like with Tyra Banks since leaving the show. We also reveal what Nigel Barker and Jay Manuel have said about their time on ANTM.
Why America's Next Top Model Cut Ties With Jay Manuel And Nigel Barker After Season 18

In 2012, ANTM saw a decline in its viewing figures, forcing Tyra and the modeling festival's different govt producer, Ken Mok, to make “main changes planned for [season] 19." Mok and Banks claim it had nothing to do with Jay or Nigel's personality, nor was there any behind-the-scenes drama.
Jay Manuel claims he was now not fired from ANTM's judging panel and had no aim of returning for cycle 19.
"It was 100% my decision to leave the show, as I was ready to move my career in a different direction, but unfortunately at the time, my departure was misreported to the press, and contractually, I could not speak about leaving the show. Now, I can speak about it, so I can be clear that my departure from the show was one of choice."
Although there was no dangerous blood at the back of the scenes, Jay Manuel did admit there used to be some drive due to the low rankings. "I had to juggle what the sponsor wanted and what production wanted for TV ratings and also create the creative, so it just became very difficult to manage."
"By the time I finished with Cycle 18, there was just so much more I needed to do with my career and I wasn’t offering anything new to the show, at that point."
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Nigel Barker also sponsored up Jay Manuel, claiming it wasn't about his relationship with Tyra. “We had an incredible run and there aren’t any hard emotions,” the photographer defined.
“This isn’t a Tyra thing. This is a network factor.”
He admitted the low rankings resulted in him being got rid of from the show, however he almost did not make it to cycle 18.
“There were a discussion that scores had been down and that something like this would occur. There had been earlier years where discussions about me being eliminated from the show had happened, and I had in fact survived the slicing block earlier than.”
Tyra Banks' Relationship With Jay Manuel And Nigel Barker Today

In 2020, Jay Manuel opened up to Variety about his relationship with Tyra Banks, eight years after he used to be forced out of ANTM. Manuel admits their dating never recovered from his firing, although he helped to seek out his own replacement.
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Jay advised Variety that he and Banks had “no dating” and had best observed each and every different once at BeautyCon in 2017 since he left ANTM. “Over the past few years, we’ve emailed,” Jay stated about Tyra Banks.
“To be very fair, we in reality don't have any dating to speak of, which is in reality sad. Our time together on ANTM was once amazingly productive and, every now and then, magical. We were given to revel in being part of a global phenomenon.”
Jay Manuel wrote a novel, "The Wig, The B---ch, and The Meltdown," closely impressed via his time on ANTM. The tale makes a speciality of a fictional modeling competition show and is described as a cautionary story about status and the cutthroat world of style. While he claims the entirety is fictional, lovers cannot help however find the similarities between the characters in his guide and Tyra Banks.
What Nigel Barker And Jay Manuel Have Said About Their Time On ANTM

Jay Manuel admitted he felt “scared to speak up” about a few of Tyra’s arguable comments on ANTM. As the display changed into standard on streaming, folks took to social media to criticize much of the judges behavior. Throughout the cycles of the display, the judges made insensitive remarks about the weight of contestants, forced them to alter the appearance and wondered their sexuality.
Jay Manuel admitted that all of the controversy wasn't all the way down to the producers and judges. “There have been on occasion a number of objections via different producers and myself about layers that were added to ingenious, and we had been simply told to execute,” Manuel advised Variety.
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“I do assume it’s a little unfair for other people to persecute Tyra now, particularly because she has already taken heat for her past executive selections in previous years," Manuel added.
“However, I can’t really defend her either because when ratings were high and things were great, she remained a clear figurehead, because it was her show.”
Nigel Barker believes his appearances on ANTM had a negative impact on his career. Before appearing on the CW show, he was shooting for the likes of Jill Sander and Versace. He believes his career took a hit after he signed up to judge alongside Tyra Banks.
“The Vogues and various people – they wouldn’t touch me,” Barker reveals. “They wouldn’t even look at my book.” Contestant Yaya DaCosta also admitted she struggled in her acting career due to her appearance on the infamous reality TV show.
Nigel also published that Tyra purposely picked bad photos of the girls to help her follow the narrative.
"Tyra would have final say, ultimate say. There had been instances the place I’d be like 'wait, that’s now not the best picture that I picked!'"
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