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America's Next Top Model: College Edition

Tyra Banks fires 'Top Model's Nigel Barker, Jay Manuel, J. Alexander

By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 04/20/2012

Tyra Banks has eliminated three people on America's Next Top Model, but they're not contestants.

The Top Model creator and judge has fired fashion photographer Nigel Barker, runway coach Miss J. Alexander and photo shoot director Jay Manuel. The longtime pack of Top Model participants learned their contracts would not be renewed for the show's nineteenth season on Thursday, Us Weekly reported.

"To my Nigel Barker, Miss J, and Mr Jay: Thank you for all of our years together on America's Next Top Model. Working with you is always an absolute pleasure. Excited for what the future holds for us," Banks wrote on her Facebook page early Friday morning.

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"Nigel Barker, Jay Manuel and J. Alexander have been an integral part of the America's Next Top Model brand and they helped turn this show into the household name it is today. They have been amazing assets to the show and will always be a part of the Top Model family. We will continue to actively work with each of them on future projects," Banks and fellow executive producer Ken Mok said in a statement released to Us.

Current America's Next Top Model: British Invasion judge Kelly Cutrone is reportedly expected to return to the show for her second season alongside Banks. She joined the show this season as a replacement for Andre Leon Talley -- who joined America's Next Top Model's judging panel four seasons ago for the show's fourteenth edition.

The CW had previously announced it had ordered a nineteenth edition of America's Next Top Model for fall broadcast and revealed the season will feature a "College Edition" twist in which all the contestants will be participating in some type of program to further their educations.

(Photo credit The CW)

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