There has never been a show I've been more obsessed with than America's Next Top Model. Growing up, I would watch entire seasons in one day, and spent the earlier part of this quarantine watching the 22 cycles that were available to watch on Hulu. I've always wondered though, how much of that show is even real? What happened behind the scenes? The show's Creative Director, Jay Manuel, seemed ready to break his silence and give us all the tea.
Jay Manuel started an Instagram live series breaking down the behind the scenes secrets of cycles 1-18. During this time, we found out some crazy things like how the winner was picked from the beginning of filming, and how the judges' famous debates were just each one saying a few positive and negative statements about each girl. Around this same time articles about his strained relationship with Tyra were also hitting the surface. What was all this leading to? A fictional telling of Jay's time on the show of course!
The Wig, The Bitch, & The Meltdown by Jay Manuel follows Pablo Michaels as he becomes friends with legendary supermodel Keisha Kash. Together they create Model Muse, a model competition reality show. Everything is amazing at first! Pablo quickly rises to fame himself, but he quickly discovers that reality TV isn't what it seems to be, and his supposed BFF might not have his best interests at heart . Though the book is satirical and allegedly not based on real events, I couldn't help to think that Jay was spilling tea. Which puts into question how much of this piece of fiction actually happened.
An #Extra Breakdown
Perfect For: Lovers of ANTM, The Face, and Making a Model with Yolanda Hadid
Favorite Character: Miss Thing. His need for catty drama and sassy one liners were iconic.
Where To Read: Wherever you normally binge watch any trashy competition show
Escape To: New York City
Best Wine To Read With: Obvious Wines, Light and Lively (Cosmopolitan stated that this wine was the best to binge reality TV with on their Wine Awards). I would also recommend having a pint of ice cream on hand.
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