Jay Manuel is opening up about his experience trying to leave America’s Next Top Model.
“I chose to leave the show after cycle eight,” Manuel, 53, claimed on the Tuesday, February 24, episode of “The LadyGang” podcast. “I wanted to leave on really good terms, which I did.”
The judge also tried to be as thoughtful as possible by sending a personal email to host Tyra Banks to inform her of his decision.
“I really wrote the most gracious email of love and gratitude for the opportunity and that I was so excited to have stood by her, especially as a Black woman in the industry,” he shared with cohosts Keltie Knight, Becca Tobin and Jac Vanek. “For her not to respond, from someone who would call me twice and three times a day, it was really painful.”
According to Manuel, producers wanted him back. At the same time, he had a “commitment” with other networks as he pursued hosting and commentary gigs.
Manuel claimed that business affairs from the parent network stepped in to help him stay on the show.
“They came back and said we would pretty much guarantee he would not work on any of our airwaves,” Manuel claimed. “That, in essence, is blacklisting, the threat of, and when you’re in your 30s and your career trajectory is here, it stuck the fear of God in me.”
Manuel ultimately continued serving as a judge of America’s Next Top Model up until season 19. At that time, both Manuel, Nigel Barker and Miss J. Alexander did not have their contracts renewed.
While Manuel shares some of his experience in Netflix’s new documentary Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, he’s not done talking about his time on the reality show.
Andre Leon Talley, Tyra Banks, Nigel Barker, Jay Maneul Martina Monica Tolot / The CW / Courtesy Everett Collection
When Manuel returned to set for cycle nine, he claims Banks, 52, was not friendly to him.
“She was not going to speak to me unless cameras were rolling and I just froze,” he claimed on the “Lady Gang” podcast. “That’s how I knew to just play with her when the cameras rolled. When the cameras even shut off to change tape, her back was to me and she would not answer anything. I’ve worked on so many shows and so many difficult environments like live event television. Those were just pressure environments. This environment was something completely different and unhealthy.”
Manuel said the powers that be promised him a “safe work environment.” With time, he was able to improve his relationship with Banks.
“I felt like she was trying and we did talk off camera, on camera and we were able to make things work,” he claimed. “But it never went back to what it was well before that.”
In Reality Checked, Banks addressed the moment when Manuel, Barker, 53, and Alexander, 67, were let go from America’s Next Top Model.
Netflix’s tell-all docuseries about America’s Next Top Model allowed Tyra Banks and Jay Manuel to finally address their infamous falling out. Created by Banks, America’s Next Top Model aired across multiple networks from 2003 to 2018, following aspiring models as they competed for the title of “America’s Next Top Model” and a chance at a […]
She described it as “some of the hardest news I have ever had to deliver in my existence.”
“They were some of the closest people to me in my life and I had to deliver that news that the deal is up and that it’s over. You can imagine what that feels like,” she said. “But bosses have bosses, and the big boss was very clear — there are no sacred cows. And I heard that meaning, ‘You too, Tyra. So pick up the phone and do what I’m telling you to do.’ And the thing is, I don’t believe that they knew that it came from above. No matter how much I was explaining, ‘This was not our decision.’ To this day, I think they think that it was me.”
Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model is streaming now on Netflix.
