- - Nigel Barker Recalls Getting 'Repetitively Electrocuted' While Shooting “America's Next Top Model” Cycle 6

Angela AndaloroFebruary 10, 2026 at 2:52 AM

0

Nigel Barker working on set with models on cycle 5 of "America's Next Top Model"

Monty Brinton/CBS Photo Archive via Getty

Nigel Barker was a photographer and panelist on America's Next Top Model from 2004 to 2011

The competition modeling series aired from 2004 through 2018

Barker is among the personalities from the series appearing in Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model, premiering Feb. 16

Nigel Barker is sharing memories from some time on America’s Next Top Model.

Ahead of his participation in Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model, the photographer, 53, is looking back at some of his most memorable shoots from his time on the show, from 2004 to 2011.

Sharing photos from cycle 6 contestants in Thailand, Barker recalled, "Cycle 6 of Top Model we traveled to Thailand and I shot the girls for ElleGirl Magazine wearing swimsuits by OP. I actually got repetitively electrocuted by my camera because it was actually pretty stormy and the waves were crashing."

'Thailand was definitely one of my favorite Top Model destinations. Scroll all the way to check out a shot of Jay I took while hanging out! He sets the bar high! 😘."

— sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

The photo he referenced showed fellow panelist, Jay Manuel, wearing a mermaid tail and striking a pose for the camera. Manuel commented, writing, "LMAOOOOOO—this mermaid tail. I’ll never live this down. 😝🤪"

Barker also shared some shots from the cycle 9 trip to China, calling it "one of the most amazing cultural trips on Top Model."

"Not just did we do the final runway show in the Forbidden City, but I had the pleasure of photographing our contestants with dancing dragons in this beautiful group of shots!" he captioned the photos.

The documentary aims to deliver a definitive account of what really went on behind the scenes of America’s Next Top Model, which aired for 24 series from 2003 to 2018.

View this post on Instagram

In recent years, criticism of the show's decisions — from commentary on contestants' bodies to promoting unhealthy lifestyle choices to using blackface in a challenge where contestants were asked to embody races and ethnicities outside their own — have come under fire.

Banks touched on the show's complicated legacy in Feb. 2025, while accepting the first-ever Luminary Spotlight honor at the ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Awards.

“Over 20 years ago I created a show called America’s Next Top Model,” Banks began. “And you guys have no idea how hard we fought to bring the diversity to that television show at a time when it didn’t exist; to show different beauties at a time when the world was like, ‘What? You casting that?’ A time when people in the fashion industry were telling me, ‘You putting the girls from the hood on your show?’ “

“I was like, ‘Why can the girl from the trailer park become a supermodel but the girl that’s chilin’ in the park in the hood can’t?’ “ she continued. “And we fought and we struggled and we made it happen.”

“Did we get it right? Hell no. I said some dumb s--t,” she said, which was met by laughter from the audience. “But I refuse to have my legacy be about some stuff linked together on the Internet when there were 24 cycles of changing the world. And I am so excited that I, and so many of us, have opened that door for others to follow.”

Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model debuts Feb. 16 on Netflix.

on People

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”