Tyra Banks

America's Next Top Model will look very different next season, as long-time contributors Nigel Barker, Jay Manuel and J. Alexander were let go from The CW series this week.

What was the basis for their ousting?

"We reached a point where were feel the show needs a new boost," head honcho Tyra Banks told Access Hollywood at New York City's Matrix Awards. "It's very difficult because I love my guy."

Banks added that she's not against working with any of the trio down the line ("My partner Ken Mok and I have projects we're developing, and we're a family - it doesn't end," she said), though it's unclear if they feel the same way.

Barker has said he wasn't shocked by the decision to not renew his contract, but he also sounded a tad bitter this week when he wished good luck to his eventual replacement.

America's Next Top Model averages around one million viewers and will return for Cycle 19 this fall.

[Photo: WENN.com]

Hmmm.... upon second thought, perhaps we should change the headline of this post to: America's Next Top Model Shake-Up: Who is NOT Out?

Indeed, Tyra Banks has cleaned house at her long-running reality show, firing three veteran personalities, all of whom have been with the series since its first cycle in 2003:

1. J. Alexander, who served as a runway trainer/mentor to the models.
2. Jay Manuel, the show's creative director.
3. Nigel Barker, a photographer/panelist.

America's Next Top Model is currently in its 18th season, a cycle dubbed "British Invasion" because it features a handful of international hopefuls.

An ANTM insider tells The New York Post that "major changes" are planned for the following season, hence this wholesale changes.

“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," Executive producer Ken Mok said in a statement. "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.”

Tyra Banks is now a single, self-serving woman.

According to The New York Post, the America's Next Top Model host has split with Brooklyn businessman John Utendahl after three years of dating - and subsequently embarked on a quest to find herself and her faithful roots in Bali.

“Tyra has gone away with a female friend and has been island-hopping, visiting Bali and taking a spiritual retreat," a source tells the newspaper.

Have no fear, though fans. We're sure Banks will return and make everything about herself again in no time.

[Photo: WENN.com]

Janice Dickinson has a message for Tyra Banks: F*ck you! Eat a bag of royal skank!

Indeed, the former America's Next Top Model panelist now takes extreme issue with the show and its host, telling Janice TV at FilmOn.com that The CW competition is "rigged" because "CoverGirl are the ones who choose the model - not any of the judges."

The show made headlines this week when Lisa D'Amato was named the first winner of America's Next Top Model: All-Stars, following the dismissal of finalist Angelea Preston, reportedly because she leaked spoilers prior to the finale.

"The fact of the matter is [Tyra Banks] makes like $90 million," Dickinson said. "She makes a lot of money per year still hawking that franchise worldwide - they're doing it in every country - and it's CoverGirl who chooses the winner."

In response to this allegation, The CW has released a simple statement that reads: "This is completely untrue."

[Photos: WENN.com]

You won't believe this, but Tyra Banks has managed to make Kim Kardashian's upcoming wedding all about herself. Or at least one key component of it.

Asked about the realty star's dress at Sunday night's Do Something Awards, Banks bragged: “I gave [Kim] the advice of going with a silhouette that the world isn’t used to seeing her in. So we’ll see.”

Who looked better on this red carpet? Vote NOW!

Banks, however, claims she's already seen, as Kim supposedly showed some friends a few photos of her Vera Wang gown.

“What she showed me was so beautiful,” the annoying America's Next Top Model host said. “It’s interesting because they were pictures from a fitting, but it actually looked like the wedding, like her hair was done. So it was like a real almost dress rehearsal and she looked absolutely beautiful.”

How is Kim feeling leading up to the big day? A recent Tweet sums it up: OMGGGGGG!

[Photos: WENN.com]

This THG Teen Choice Awards Fashion Face-Off features two stars who really need better stylists. These dresses make the Kardashians look like couture icons.

Honestly, you have to wonder what Fergie and especially Tyra Banks, the host of a program called America's Next Top Model, were thinking Sunday night.

Bumblebee color schemes are in, apparently. As are designs reminiscent of a small child's bedroom wallpaper, and zip-up leather bodysuits. Who knew.

Whose dress was your favorite (relatively speaking)? Cast a vote below!

 

Fergie

Click Here to

Vote for Fergie

Tyra Banks

Click Here to

Vote for Tyra

Who dressed best, Fergie or Tyra? Or put another way, who dressed the least badly? Cast your vote in THG's Fashion Face-Off now!

View Poll »

You can't sue someone for being an awful, self-obsessed human being. Fortunately, a Georgia woman has found another reason to take Tyra Banks to court.

As first reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Beverly McClendon has sued Banks for $3 million because she alleges her 15-year old daughter appeared on Tyra's talk show without parental permission.

McClendon says her child answered an open website call to appear on an episode that centered around sex addiction, as the program's producers invited the minor on without seeking her mother's approval first.

How do you know when you've made it big as a model?

When you're referred to by only one name; and when you can turn an unusual look into a trend-setting item.

Both Gisele Bundchen and Tyra Banks fulfill these requirements, as they each attended French Vogue’s 90th Anniversary Party in Paris last night in unique face-wear. Will these masks soon become a must-have accessory for women around the world? It wouldn't shock us...

It's a matchup of self-centered celebrities in this edition of the THG Fashion Face-Off!

In one corner, we have Tyra Banks, a recently-retired talk show host that made every episode of her gabfest about herself.

Opposing Tyra, there's Kim Kardashian, who will pimp out her nephew and guzzle down QuickTrim if it means she can be featured on magazine covers.

Fortunately, we're not asking readers which of these annoying celebrities sucks more - because that would be difficult to answer. Instead, we're posing a fashion-based question below, based on the dresses they are donning here:

Who looks sexier in this dress?

** Remember to visit the THG Style Store to purchase this dress and many others worn by stars!

Last summer Lauren Conrad walked away from The Hills.

But the drama continues in Sweet Little Lies, the best-selling author's follow-up to the critically and commercially acclaimed (well, at least the latter) L.A. Candy.

While visiting The Tyra Show, the reality star opened a page in her second young-adult novel and began to read. It was a watershed moment in literary history.

"'Jessie, give me your keys. You can't drive right now. You're too drunk,' she said firmly," Lauren Conrad read. Banks then took a terrified turn at reading herself.

Lauren Conrad with the second novel in her series.

LC's book just reached the top of the New York Times Best-Seller List again in the Children's Chapter Books category after being on shelves less than a month.

Not a bad post-Hills career. As for her former reality rival, well, we've seen Heidi Montag nude in Playboy and getting plastic surgery a lot. To each her own.

To find out what Conrad has to say about her new book and to hear her read from it, follow the jump to hear the beautiful 24-year-old read an excerpt ...