‘Times are different now’: Nigel Barker on America’s Next Top Model
Barker spent almost a decade as a judge and fashion photographer on the show.
TV personality Nigel Barker has said that “times are different now”, and that it is important to look back at America’s Next Top Model with “kindness and nostalgia”.
Barker, 53, spent almost a decade as a judge and fashion photographer on the American reality TV series, during which aspiring models competed for the chance to begin their career in the modelling industry.
Speaking on ITV’s This Morning, Barker spoke about his time on the “incredible show”, which he said was a “cult phenomenon” during the height of its popularity in the early 2000s.
He said: “I think it’s important to remember how much we fun we had with this incredible show and how much people enjoyed it.
“When you look back at things like your old haircut from the 80s, you think, ‘oh I’ll never do that again’ – but times are different now.
“You have to look with kindness and nostalgia, at the same time as feeling sorry for the things you did that were wrong.”
America’s Next Top Model has faced criticism for its allegedly harsh treatment of contestants and its outlandish stunt shoots and compulsory cosmetic transformations.
Contestants were tasked with dressing up as a race different from their own for a photoshoot, and models were encouraged to undergo dental procedures such as tooth extractions.
Barker said: “It certainly started to take on a life of its own and things got more extreme, that’s for sure.”
He added: “We were also very much about creating television. So the same old, same old doesn’t really work.
“We were taking the most exciting, outrageous and avant-garde ideas and putting them into one show, versus just having a little bit here and a little bit there.”
Barker said the show’s outlandish photoshoots highlighted the extremes of the modelling industry, adding: “That being said, any one of those pieces could have happened in the real fashion world, and do.”
He features in a new Netflix documentary released on Monday, Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, in which judges, producers and previous contestants revisit the show eight years after it ended.
Barker said the three-part series is “painful to watch”, adding: “The storytelling is amazing. It really takes you on highs and lows, and it’s real.
“Yes, it’s painful to watch, and yes, it’s difficult – but there are still highs and good parts of it.”
Barker left the show in 2013 with co-stars Jay Manuel and J Alexander, after a network switch-up.
In 2018, America’s Next Top Model was cancelled because of a decline in viewers.
Barker continues to work as a photographer, has gone on to host a podcast and has launched The Barker Company, a line of ready-to-drink cocktails.
