‘ANTM’ Controversy: Jay Manuel on Getting Iced Out by Tyra Banks (Exclusive)

“Extra’s” Mona Kosar Abdi talked to Jay Manuel about the shocking new docuseries “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model.” 

Jay, who was by Tyra’s side for 18 seasons, said he told Tyra he wanted to leave the show and she turned on him, refusing to speak to him back then or speak about him now in the Netflix doc. 

“I don’t know what her reasoning is,” he said. “I’ve never gotten an answer from her, but she just chose to immediately shut me out.”

Jay did decide to return for one more season after that, telling Mona, “That shooting of Cycle 9 was the most painful time for me. Someone that you’re that close with who even when the cameras are off, their back is to you and they literally act like you don’t exist. I mean, we can call it childish behavior, which it was, but I know, and I do want to say this, I know that this comes from a place of pain for her.”

Manuel said it is the same for “a lot of her behavior that people are challenging her on right now.”

He said of Tyra, “I truly wish that Tyra had brought the vulnerable woman, the woman who has been through the gauntlet with this industry as a Black model when they’re so underpaid, mistreated, thrown away like used Kleenex. And she also has her other wounds and I know that person and I think if she had brought that person to the table, the world would have embraced her. I encourage her to do that.”

We also talked to Nigel Barker, a photographer and judge for most of the show’s run, who said there were “a lot of things that were said and done that shouldn’t have happened.”

Mona mentioned that when it came to some controversial moments on the show, Tyra said in the doc that she wasn’t as involved on the production side of things. 

Jay disagreed, telling Mona, “She was 100 percent involved.”

Nigel agreed with Manuel regarding Tyra being involved in production, saying, “Tyra is pretty much hands-on on all levels. Her level of creative input and control was almost more than I’ve ever seen anyone have in any situation in anything I’ve ever done since. She micromanaged a lot of what happened in general.”