“America's Next Top Model” Panelists Recall Being ‘Betrayed’ by Tyra Banks and the Network When They Were Fired
- - “America's Next Top Model” Panelists Recall Being ‘Betrayed’ by Tyra Banks and the Network When They Were Fired
Angela AndaloroFebruary 13, 2026 at 10:49 PM
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Tyra Banks (left), Nigel Barker, J. Alexander and Jay Manuel in 2012
Don Arnold/WireImage; Craig Barritt/Getty
Tyra Banks' beloved America's Next Top Model panelists walked the journey from the show's beginnings through the height of its popularity.
In April 2012, changes at the network led to a "shake up" of ANTM, which wrote Jay Manuel, J. Alexander and Nigel Barker out of the show
The three recall learning their time on the reality competition series was over and dealing with the emotions of how it all played out
An America’s Next Top Model shakeup was not handled with grace, according to the three people who were told to leave as a result.
In April 2012, as the reality show's network changed hands, the team behind the competition waited to learn what it would mean for them.
"I remember I was getting a phone call from the network every day saying they need to talk to me. They need to talk to me. And I just kept putting it off, putting it off, putting it off. My assistant would be telling me this, 'They really need to talk to you,' " Tyra Banks recalls in Netflix's new docuseries Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model.
When Banks finally did take the call, she would learn that there would be changes to the show's format to try to shake things up after the seasons' preivious success had started to slow down.
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Nigel Barker, J. Alexander and Jay Manuel
Michael Loccisano/Getty
"I took his call, and I'll never forget, he said, 'This show is the biggest thing in the world. But it won't always be. It's taking a dip.' "
Banks recalls being told that "there are no sacred cows" and learning she was being asked to replace J. Alexander, Jay Manuel and Nigel Barker, who she calls "three of my hearts."
Alexander recalls receiving birthday flowers from Banks just days before getting the call that they were being let go.
"I said, 'Oh, how sweet.' There was a note, that said, 'Happy Birthday, love Tyra,' " he recalled. "And then, I was fired, five days later."
Miss J Alexander
Courtesy of Netflix
Manuel added, "I remember them saying, 'We've decided we're gonna go in a completely different direction.' "
Barker said, "We were not going to be renewed."
Manuel said the news felt like "Being slapped across the face and slapped right back," especially as he had tried to part ways with the show just a season prior and was talked into staying. He was further insulted by the fact that the firing was approached as "cutting the fat off the show that was bringing the ratings down."
"The implication, that it was us three," he noted, which Barker added was "really tough."
"It's somewhat mercenary," Barker continued. "Unless you are Tyra Banks, I'm afraid you're expendable, and they will swap you out just like that... As people got eliminated on our show, we also got eliminated."
"When I wanted to leave, I wasn't afforded that. And then I work on the shows from cycles 10 through 18. I made so many concessions. That's the part that's the most hurtful," Manuel said, noting they'd all agreed on how the news would be made public.
Jay Manuel
Courtesy of Netflix
"We were going to put out one joint press release, and they said we would all get a quote in this press release. We see it all the time in television shows, people saying, 'So and so and so and so have decided to part ways.' And Tyra, she's like, 'We'll put out in our press release how, you know, we're going to continue to work together,' and blah blah blah. So we agreed to that."
It was for that reason that the three were shocked when news broke that they had been "fired" after a "leak" to the media.
"A leak to Page Six? That show, the way we ran confidentiality. We were all on those conference calls. There's no leak to Page Six. Anyone can assume where that came from. You now put that out there that way, and we can't undo that, no matter what we say."
"That's the part you have to live with. That was probably the lowest point for me," Barker said, as his fellow panelists noted that he was "quite upset" at how the situation played out.
Nigel Barker
Courtesy of Netflix
"It was difficult because I didn't have a backup plan at that point, because I had been on Top Model for 17 seasons and I had been really in the show, kind of growing up with my family on America's Next Top Model," he explained, adding, "It was disappointing and I, we felt a little bit betrayed."
Robbed of the ability to "move forward in their career with grace," the three appeared in an interview addressing the firing. In that interview, they were asked if they felt "blindsided" by the decision.
"We had to speak very carefully, contractually at the time. There are only certain things you could speak about around the production and what you legally could say. Ken, Tyra, they were all watching us live," Manuel said.
Banks maintained that letting them go was "probably some of the hardest news I have ever had to deliver, in my existence," adding, "I cried myself to sleep that night. You know? They were there from the beginning... They were some of the closest people to me in my life, and Ken 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 continued, "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 Ken and I were 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 available to stream on Netflix beginning Feb. 16.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
