‘Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model’: Where are the judges now?
Netflix dropped the most explosive documentary of the year, Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, on Monday, and the Internet collectively lost its calm, which is no surprise considering America’s Next Top Model was the cultural touchstone of the early-2000s reality TV landscape.
The Netflix documentary revisits the show’s biggest moments, including the most controversial ones, accompanied by behind-the-scenes insights through interviews with the show’s ultimate players.
Although the documentary probe was not exactly the kind of spotlight exposure these players were looking forward to in 2026, things particularly didn’t look well for Tyra Banks, who served as the host of America’s Next Top Model for 24 seasons, as the former judges spoke up without sugarcoating.
Nevertheless, with Reality Check highlighting a showbiz era known for its cutthroat approach, it’s only natural that the curiosity surrounding the present whereabouts of the judges would surface. So, for those wondering where they are now and what they’re doing today, here’s all you need to know.
Where are the America’s Next Top Model judges now?
Jay Manuel
Tyra Banks’ ex-makeup artist, Jay Manuel, entered America’s Next Top Model’s inaugural cycle as a judge and creative director. In Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, he shares how personal bonds and power dynamics defined the show, particularly behind the scenes. Now, thanks to his experience and growth, the role in the reality series appears far differently than it did back then.
“When we were making the show, I was very much a people pleaser, trying to support the network, the producers, Tyra, and the contestants all at once. I was pulled in too many directions, and I wasn’t always as anchored in my own voice as I should have been,” he reflected to Tudum.
But in the present day, Manuel’s work has clearly undergone a shift, inclining towards storytelling. He now produces and develops projects with those whose voices feel “personal and urgent.” Inspired by life behind the cameras of America’s Next Top Model, Manuel is currently writing and adapting his novel, The Wig, the Bitch, and the Meltdown for the screen.
Nigel Barker
Photographer Nigel Barker joined America’s Next Top Model in the second cycle and went on to assist the series’ core panel for almost a decade. In the Netflix documentary, Barker opens up about the tension between judging a modelling competition with thought and care and delivering feedback within a format essentially designed to uplift and highlight controversial and buzzy moments.
Although Barker always aimed for “constructive criticism,” he acknowledged how easily those intentions could take a backseat in the edit. “The reality of television editing meant that often only one dimension made it to air, which could create the impression that feedback was purely negative,” he explains. “What appeared as a brief, sometimes harsh critique on screen was actually part of a much longer, more nuanced conversation designed to help these young women grow and succeed.”
Leaving ANTM actually opened the door ajar for new opportunities, according to Barker. This included hosting NBC’s The Face with Naomi Campbell, launching YouTube’s Top Photographer, and transforming his Shaken & Stirred podcast into a new bottle-cocktailed endeavour, the Barket Company. Of course, Barker still accepts big-budget, high-profile shoots, but nowadays, he’s more open to taking on “small and meaningful” work.
Miss J
J Alexander, AKA Miss J was America’s Next Top Model’s runway coach since cycle one. Once regarded as the mainstay of the judging panel, in the Netflix docu-series, he reveals surviving a stroke in December 2022, resulting in a long road to recovery. “After spending five weeks in a coma and one year and five months in the hospital, I’m alive to tell it as I lived it,” he says.
Miss J unveiled the reason he chose to revisit the ANTM era with Reality Check, saying, “Why not take the chance [to] revisit, to set the record straight – I was the most fabulous one on the show.” While he also dropped a few bombs along with it, for those still uninitiated, Inside America’s Next Top Model is currently streaming on Netflix.