“She has — pardon the pun — that extra something special,” judge J. Alexander tells In Touch about Isis, the 22-year-old transgender contestant who’ll be competing on the 11th cycle of America’s Next Top Model. “Please — she could probably teach me something on the catwalk!”

Even though Isis was born a man and is still saving for a sex-change operation, “Miss J” says this wasn’t an issue when it came time to compete: “We put her in a bathing suit and there was nothing dangling.”

In fact, J. asserts, transgender models have long been a part of the fashion industry — although many haven’t been as open about it as Isis. “Over the past 15 years, there have been several highly successful ones,” he says. “I know five, easy, who’re passing as women, doing shows, with really great careers — and no one knew. Well, I knew! So the great thing about Isis is that she actually goes into this competition with no luggage, per se. The struggles of her formerly being a man aren’t hindering her challenges — just everything else that makes modeling difficult. She’s just one of the girls.”

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