Model talent

Jay Manuel. Photo / Supplied

I am trying to picture Jay Manuel in polar fleece and a beanie. Nope, I just can't do it. The normally zhuzhed-up America's Next Top Model personality is trying to convince me he is a mad-keen hiker who loves the great outdoors.

"Polar fleece? It's literally what I wear. It's been freezing here," Manuel tells me on the line from the US where he has returned after a recent visit to New Zealand to film part of the latest season of ANTM.

Manuel, the man every smart chick would love to have as her gay best friend, likes nothing better than long tramps in the Catskill mountains, where he has a holiday house.

During his visit to New Zealand he researched plans for doing some tramping here. It's a change of pace for the normally fashion-forward makeup artist, photographer and model famous for his immaculate grooming, quick wit and platinum crop. "I pass people on the trails all the time and hear them say 'That guy looks like Jay Manuel'. But I have a hat on, I don't shave and I'm in hiking boots. Some people walk right up to me and don't recognise me."

Canadian-born Manuel, 38, has a background as a medical student and opera singer but ended up being a makeup artist to models Tyra Banks and Iman before ascending to the celebrity stratosphere as coach to the models on ANTM.

He is used to strutting the red carpet or commentating on it but says he enjoys having a down-to-earth alter ego. "I'm a bit Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde." Manuel is characteristically motor-mouthed about his visit to New Zealand. "Oh my gosh, it was so great, the people there were wonderful."

On ANTM he isn't scared to tell it like it is, especially to model wannabes who are being precious or lazy. "Some girls needs a little coddling and some need a swift kick."

But ask him to dish the dirt on New Zealand women's dress sense and he comes over all diplomatic. What does he think about our style? "Oh, I don't think I can 100 per cent answer that question accurately. I got welcomed by the media and then we taped every day I was there so I didn't get a lot of chance to get a sense of the fashion. But when I looked out the hotel window everybody was always working out, and running so they seemed very health-conscious."

This is the 14th "cycle" of ANTM and Manuel says the format remains as fresh as ever. This season there's a new judge, Vogue eccentric Andre Leon Talley, and a return to its basic formula featuring only girls who are taller than 1.7m.

Running since 2003, the show was prescient, says Manuel, as it seemed to predict how obsessed the world would become with celebrity. "Look at the way the world has changed since the era of the supermodel. There has been a shift in focus," he says.

"There is no shortage of crazy new challenges to give the girls. And a lot of these extreme shoots we really do pull from experiences Tyra has had in her career." There has been criticism of ANTM because the contestants, even the winners, have not really gone on to international modelling fame and most remain non-entities.

Manuel says "people are a little stuck on the title. The girls do go on to get work, even if they are not on catwalks of the big designers. There are so many success stories of [contestants] earning a good living at modelling. ANTM's philosophy has been that success at modelling is not just about what's on the outside but depends on a wannabe's attitude and personality."

Cynics might scoff at this 'if you want it badly enough you can make it happen' naivete, but Manuel maintains it is the truth. He cites the example of one Montreal model, now a spokesmodel for Chanel, who was turned down by designer Karl Lagerfeld initially, but won him over after the casting with her razor-sharp knowledge of his brand and her dynamic personality. "It's not just about being pretty," he says. But bet you won't catch any of this cycle's contestants wearing polar fleece.

* America's Next Top Model's 12th season debuts on TV3, Friday at 7.30pm.