America’s Next Top Model judge Nigel Barker has been reportedly fired from the show, but he says it wasn’t really much of a shocker for him.

According to reports, Nigel Barker, along with Jay Manuel and J. Alexander, have been fired from America’s Next Top Model. Nigel said, “Good luck to whoever replaces me. I would imagine it’s a tricky thing to replace someone who’s going on their 19th season.”

The “Top Model” judge was somehow expecting it already, so it didn’t quite come as a surprise for him.

“It wasn’t a shock. I’m friends with Tyra [Banks] and the producers,” the 39-year-old British photographer told E! News. “There had been a discussion that ratings were down and that something like this would happen.”

Nigel Barker then adds, “Who knows if this is going to work? I don’t necessarily think it’s a good idea … Maybe it will work. Maybe it won’t. I wish them luck.”

Barker, Alexander, and Manuel had been with America’s Next Top Model for all 17 cycles since the show began in 2003.

Tyra Banks announced the trio’s departure in Facebook on Friday, writing, “Working with you [three] is always an absolute pleasure. Excited for what the future holds for us.”

Nigel Barker also said that he’d been up for elimination before: “There had been previous years where discussions about me being eliminated from the show had happened and I had actually survived the chopping block before.”

And the celebrity photographer insists there’s no bitterness against host and producer Banks: “We had an incredible run,” Nigel Barker said. “This isn’t a Tyra thing. This is a network thing. My contract was so exclusive that it was holding me back from other projects.”

Barker adds that he’s working on “creating my own show that focuses on some of my passions like photography.”