America's Next Top Model Netflix Documentary Drama Reveals Tyra Banks Has Not Visited Miss J Alexander Since Suffering A Stroke

Netflix's new Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model is not just revisiting its runway challenges and iconic meltdowns. It is also reopening conversations which fans had no idea about.

In its final episode, Miss J Alexander, the flamboyant runway coach who became one of ANTM's most beloved fixtures, reveals he suffered a severe stroke on 27 December 2022 and guess who never got in touch with him since?

Alexander shared that the stroke left him paralysed from the waist down, spent five weeks in a coma and was hospitalised for more than a year and a half, but the creator and star host of the show, Tyra Banks, never showed up.

The Question That Changed the Tone

'I taught models how to walk,' Miss J says in the episode. 'And now I can't walk.' However, he added that he is 'determined to walk.'

During the same episode, a producer asks whether Tyra Banks has visited him since the stroke. 'No, not yet,' Miss J replies. He adds that she sent a text saying she wanted to come see him, 'but no. Not yet.'

Jay Manuel and Nigel Barker, his former co-judges on America's Next Top Model, are shown visiting him in an emotional reunion, taking selfies with him. However, Banks is not part of that scene.

It's a brief reveal, but given the growing scrutiny around Banks, the moment became one of the docuseries' biggest highlights.

Fans Are Reacting to Miss J's Admission

Within hours of the documentary's 16 February premiere, clips of Miss J's admission were circulating across social media. Fans have called the moment 'heartbreaking' and 'hard to watch' as they reacted to the revelation.

Several pointed out that Miss J and Banks go back decades, as he famously coached her runway walk when she was just 16. For many fans, that history made the revelation sting more.

Given the show's repeated framing of the judges as 'family' Banks absence in Miss J's post-stroke life has raised questions by the viewers who adored the show once.

Meanwhile, Banks has not publicly responded to the specific exchange shown in the documentary.

ANTM's Legacy Under Scrutiny

The three-part series, directed by Daniel Sivan and executive produced by Ken Mok, revisits the highs and controversies of ANTM's 24-cycle run. The series features behind-the-scenes moments and interviews with former contestants who discuss intense challenges, harsh critiques, and moments that have aged poorly.

Banks appears in the series reflecting on parts of the show that have since drawn criticism for making comments on how the 'demand from fans' made her push harder content-wise.

Meanwhile, Miss J, now 67, speaks candidly about his recovery and his determination to walk again. According to reports, he continued coaching models for the international version of ANTM. Miss J left the show in 2012.

While Banks may not have visited Miss J since his stroke, she did speak of him in the docuseries, saying he was the first person that came to her mind when she began pitching the idea.

'He was just this godfather, mother, diva, extraordinaire,' Banks shared in the docuseries, adding that he was the real deal.