Canada's next top ego

"Okay, let me put it out there," said fashion guru Jay Manuel, the driving force behind Canada's Next Top Model.

"I'm very proud of being Canadian. But when people look at this production, I don't want them to say, 'Canada's Next Top Model is a nice Canadian show'.

"Canada in the fashion industry has produced huge talent in the international arena. So why is it that a lot of Canadian shows end up, well, very Canadiana?

"Why can't a show be produced in Canada, and be called Canada's Next Top Model, but it can compete on an international level? And I already can tell you, CBS Paramount, before we even have aired here, already has sold it internationally, officially."

The second season of Canada's Next Top Model debuts this Wednesday on City-TV. For this cycle, Manuel has taken on the role that Tyra Banks plays on America's Next Top Model — namely, the overall narrative voice but also the executioner.

"I was prepared for everything within the show, with the exception of when I'm standing in front of that desk and I have to hand out those photos," said Manuel, referring to the elimination process on Canada's Next Top Model.

"You're dashing a young girl's dream, but it was important for me to let that girl understand what she had learned and what she still needed to learn. It wasn't just a diss. And I really wanted people to see the nurturing side of me, because I really like to empower people, women especially. It's one of the reasons I got into this business."

Manuel, 34, was born in Springfield, Ill. — "it has been mis-reported many times that I was born in Toronto," he said — but moved with his family to Canada when he was two years old.

"So I am a Canadian citizen and I really do relate to the upbringing, because I lived here till I was 19," Manuel said.

"I don't get to come up here as often as I would like. My parents still live here, so they visit me more in the States, because I'm on planes all the time, flying all over the world. But it was really exciting to come back here and actually be able to work for a chunk of time.

"It's strange. I've worked in Canada for different projects, but it's different when you come and work in your hometown, like Toronto, and work in a building like Chum/City-TV. When I was growing up, Saturdays at 5 p.m., it was religion for me, Fashion Television. So it really feels like closure, full circle, because that show was such a huge inspiration for me as a young teenager."

Having now become the executive producer for Canada's Next Top Model, Manuel has overseen every detail. And that hopefully is a good thing, because the first season, quite frankly, was a little flat.

"They missed that important narrative in the first cycle, you know, the Jay Manuel role on the American show," Manuel said. "And it's such an important part of the show.

"But also, on the American show, the first five girls who go, you sort of can say, 'Oh yeah, I can see them going, they never were going to win.' I didn't want that. I didn't want the first five girls to be obvious. I wanted it to be a tighter competition, and I'm really proud of it."

In other words, Manuel has set up Canada's Next Top Model to appeal to Canadians ... but not only to Canadians.

"I think a lot of Canadians get insulted by that," Manuel said. "And as a Canadian, I do, too."