Where are the "America&x27;s Next Top Model" judges now? Inside their abrupt exit from the series Randall ColburnTue, February 17, 2026 at 1:00 AM UTC 0 Former 'America's Next Top Model' judges Nigel Barker, Miss J. Alexander, and Jay Manuel Netflix America's Next Top Model is back on the catwalk thanks to a new Netflix docuseries, Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model, and the announcement of a new season.
Where are the "America's Next Top Model" judges now? Inside their abrupt exit from the series
Randall ColburnTue, February 17, 2026 at 1:00 AM UTC
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Former 'America's Next Top Model' judges Nigel Barker, Miss J. Alexander, and Jay Manuel
Netflix
America's Next Top Model is back on the catwalk thanks to a new Netflix docuseries, Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model, and the announcement of a new season.
Reality Check isn't a particularly flattering revisitation, touching on how, despite host, creator, and executive producer Tyra Banks' best intentions, the show promoted unrealistic beauty standards as it tasked contestants with participating in tone-deaf photo shoots that included race-swapping and dressing up like unhoused citizens.
Banks, for her part, accepts the criticism, and will surely tailor the upcoming 25th season (or "cycle") to our times. "I feel like my work is not done," she says in the docuseries. "You have no idea what we have planned for cycle 25."
Will the new cycle see the return of longtime collaborators like Jay Manuel, Miss J, and Nigel Barker? That's still unclear, and based on the docuseries, the three former judges are still a bit salty about their abrupt dismissal following cycle 18. Banks claims on Reality Check their exit was an order from top brass at the CW, the network airing the show at the time.
"It shocked me," says executive producer Ken Mok of the trio's dismissal. "There was no need to replace them."
Below, see what the former America's Next Top Model judges have to say about their time on the series — and what they've been up to in the years since their departure.
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Jay Manuel
Jay Manuel in 2005; Manuel on 'Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model'
Monty Brinton/CBS Photo Archive/Getty; Courtesy of Netflix
Prior to joining America's Next Top Model, Jay Manuel was a successful makeup artist and stylist to the stars, including to Banks, who asked him to help her launch the show as its photo shoot director.
"He was such a visionary," Banks says of Manuel in Reality Check. "One of the most talented creators I've ever worked with."
In addition to his duties as creative director, Manuel was also a frequent onscreen presence, judging select panels and assisting in challenges. As he explains on Reality Check, the job began to wear on him over time, specifically some of the more controversial shoots of later seasons.
"As I reached cycle 8, I kind of felt things really changing," he says. "We were supposed to be showing the behind-the-scenes of what the fashion world was, helping change the industry... but the show had evolved in a way I'd never expected."
Manuel says he emailed Banks to say he wanted to depart the show following cycle 8. Her response, he claimed, was just three words: "I am disappointed." Though he was convinced to stick around for several more seasons, he says his relationship with Banks never recovered.
"On camera, we learned to play, laugh," he says, "but it was just clear I was not allowed to speak with her outside of that." He went on to describe the experience as "psychological torture." (When asked by producers to speak about what happened between her and Manuel, Banks demurs, saying she'd prefer to call him herself.)
Around this same time, he hosted and served as the lead judge on cycles 2 and 3 of Canada's Next Top Model (2007–2009).
Manuel was eventually let go from ANTM following cycle 18 in 2012. "When I wanted to leave, I wasn't afforded that," he alleges. "And then I work on the show from cycles 10 through 18. I made so many concessions."
Following his departure, Manuel served as a fashion correspondent for E! and launched his Jay Manuel Beauty brand. In 2020, he published The Wig, The Bitch & The Meltdown, a novel about a "fictional reality model competition show" led by the "ruthless and vulnerable antihero Keisha Kash."
In Reality Check, Manuel emphasizes that it's "just a novel." But in an Instagram post promoting the documentary (and the book) he wrote, "Three days until Netflix tells its version. Mine's been out for a while."
In a February 2026 chat with Interview Magazine, he reflected on his time on the series. "Do I regret being on America's Next Model? Absolutely not. I own it. But I wish I had a better sense of boundaries and the ability to help create a truly safe environment for all of the girls."
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Miss J. Alexander
Miss J. Alexander in 2008; Alexander on 'Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model'
Eric Liebowitz/The CW; Courtesy of Netflix
Miss J. Alexander, born Alexander Jenkins, was a model who transitioned to coaching due to his talent for teaching models how to work the runway. "Miss J taught me how to walk," Banks says in Reality Check. "He was the real deal."
Alexander was with America's Next Top Model from the beginning, his role as runway coach eventually expanding to a seat at the judge's table. He also published a book, Follow the Model: Miss J's Guide to Unleashing Presence, Poise, and Power, in 2009.
He left the series along with Manuel and Barker following cycle 18, and continued his longtime work with students in the fashion school at the Savannah College of Art and Design.
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As he reveals in Reality Check, Alexander had a stroke in 2022 that put him in a coma. "I couldn't walk, and I couldn't talk," he says. "And I thought to myself, what was I going to do?"
Though he's learned to speak again, he's still working on his motor skills. "I miss being the queen of the runway. The catwalks, of course," he says. "I'm the person who taught models how to walk. I taught models how to walk, and now I can't walk. Not yet... I'm determined to walk."
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Nigel Barker
Nigel Barker in 2005; Barker on 'Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model'
Michael Yarish/CBS Photo Archive/Getty; Netflix
Nigel Barker, the son of a model, spent several years in front of the camera before becoming a professional photographer. He joined ANTM during its second cycle, serving as both a judge and a photographer.
Like Manuel and Alexander, Barker was dismissed from the show following cycle 18. "It was difficult because I didn't have a backup plan at that point because I had been on Top Model for 17 seasons," he says on Reality Check. "It was disappointing, and we felt a little bit betrayed."
He had little reason to worry, though, as he quickly became the host of the Oxygen reality competition The Face (2013–2014). Later, he joined Holland's ANTM spinoff as a judge during its 10th, 11th, and 12th cycles. He also returned to the mothership for a cycle 24 photo shoot.
He's since directed several documentaries about causes that are important to him. He sought to raise awareness about seal-hunting in Canada with A Sealed Fate?, and to shine a light on the poverty afflicting Haitians in Haiti: Hunger and Hope.
Professionally, he's put the skills he honed on ANTM to use. "What happened after the show is because I became known for doing such elaborate photo shoots, I also got booked to do those sorts of shoots in real life," he says on Reality Check.
In 2012, he collaborated with Taylor Swift on 8 Hours, a limited-edition photo book featuring the singer that, per a press release, "represents the different sides of Taylor: every day casual, Hollywood glamour, and performer-chic."
Barker is also the co-founder of his own cocktail brand, the Barker Company, an outgrowth of his previous podcast, the booze-focused Shaken & Stirred.
He's been married to his wife, Cristen Chin, for more than 25 years. The couple shares two children, a son and a daughter.
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Tyra Banks
Tyra Banks ahead of 'ANTM' cycle 3; Banks on 'Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model'
Daniel Garriga/CBS Photo Archive/Getty; Netflix
Tyra Banks was one of the most ubiquitous models of the 1990s and 2000s, making history as the first Black woman to grace the cover of a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue. She also turned heads with memorable roles on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1993), John Singleton's Higher Learning (1995), and the Disney Channel movie Life-Size (2000) with Lindsay Lohan.
After achieving global success as a model, she conjured the idea of a show that honestly depicted the struggles and sacrifices demanded by the fashion and beauty industry. "What if I created a show where you saw what it took to become a model?" she recalls herself thinking on Reality Check. "And for this show to represent not 'all white,' not 'all skinny,' but just showing all the types of beauties. I had a feeling that I was going to change the beauty world."
America's Next Top Model premiered on UPN in 2003. Banks led the series as its host and lead judge for 23 of its 24 cycles, during which she continued to act in episodes of Gossip Girl (2009), Glee (2013), and Black-ish (2016).
She expanded her brand as an executive producer on the reality competition True Beauty (2009–2010), and as the host of The Tyra Banks Show (2005–2010), which nabbed her a pair of Daytime Emmys.
As America's Next Top Model was winding down, Banks pivoted to ABC for hosting gigs on America's Got Talent (2017–2018) and Dancing With the Stars (2020).
Currently, she lives in Australia, where she recently opened the Smize & Dream ice cream shop in Sydney. She's also working to revive ANTM for a 25th cycle.
After several years of fertility struggles, Banks welcomed a son, York Banks Asla, into her life via surrogate. She shares York with her ex-boyfriend, photographer Erik Asla. Since 2019, she's been dating businessman Louis Bélanger-Martin.
Where can I watch America's Next Top Model?
America's Next Top Model is available to stream on Hulu.
Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model is now streaming on Netflix.
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Published: February 17, 2026 at 04:45AM on Source: RED MAG
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