Toronto-raised Jay Manuel is spilling the America’s Next Top Model tea
“If I never spoke to Tyra again in this lifetime, I’m okay with that,” said the former ANTM creative director
The new America’s Next Top Model documentary, Reality Check, is a reckoning of sorts—and the promo cycle has been juicy. As Netflix describes it, the film is “a look back at the reality show’s complicated legacy,” which from 2003 to 2018 consisted of intense competition between aspiring models.
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The show’s host, Tyra Banks, has been criticized by some participants and collaborators, who argue that she perpetrated unhealthy conditions for the competing cast members, who saw the show as their one shot at success.
In light of the documentary’s release, the show’s former creative director, Toronto-raised Jay Manuel, is also speaking out about unpleasant experiences. In the doc, Manuel divulges some details about his falling out with Banks. She declined to talk about it and said she was going to personally call Manuel instead.
“I haven’t gotten a phone call, but I don’t think I will get that phone call, to be honest with you,” Manuel told Entertainment Tonight after the documentary started streaming. “And I’m not expecting it.”
In the thoughtful interview, he shared that he doubts Banks will ever take accountability for the show’s toxic elements and added, “If I never spoke to Tyra again in this lifetime, I’m okay with that.”
It’s sad when friends break up, but this behind-the-scenes intel is as riveting as the Olympics.
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
