Meanwhile, according to Manuel, he was not warmly welcomed back by Banks. “She later admitted she behaved inappropriately and she did apologize to me,” Manuel pointed out, “so I want to preface it with that, but I walked onto set to shoot casting and it was just Miss J, her and me and she wouldn’t talk to me unless the cameras were rolling and you try and tape a whole cycle that way and it was extremely difficult.”
The author of The Wig, The Bitch & The Meltdown noted, “There were other things, a lot of things that contributed to the shift and there was a shift in culture behind the scenes and it was not a great work environment…It was difficult, it was really difficult, but I did go back.”
Still, he acknowledged that he ended up staying on the show through Cycle 18. “They asked me to come back for four more, and then you end up under contract and you can’t speak about it,” Manuel added.
Ultimately, as he put it, “Everyone has the right to tell their own story and I can now.”
