Though the rumor mill has been grinding this tasty little nugget into ground beef for months now, Women’s Wear Daily has finally (sort of) confirmed the inevitable: fashion blogger Bryanboy (aka Bryan Grey Yambao) will be joining America’s Next Top Model for its 19th season. But can this colorful powerhouse, front row on the runway though he is, fill the tailored shoes of J. Alexander, Jay Manuel and Nigel Barker?

The three mentor/judges were unceremoniously given the knee-high boot a little over one month ago, with Tyra Banks doing the chopping herself. And though ANTM is known for rotating its experts, never before had the show cut three integral players at the same time. (As we noted at the time, Miss Jay and Mr. Barker have been on the show since the second cycle, Mr. Manuel since the first.)

Bryanboy will be joining a new group of lesser-known faces–model Rob Evans and celebrity Johnny Wujek–as well as People Revolution’s Kelly Cutrone, who has signed on for a second season.

The only issue? Neither Bryanboy (and we really need to learn whether to capitalize the b in Boy…any help, please?) nor CBS has confirmed that there has been a contract signing. But seriously,  source close to Mr. Yambao and the show “confirmed he has signed a contract and at press time was en route to L.A. with a one-way air ticket.”

We know shows like to keep casting decisions like this on lock-down so not to destroy the fragile house of cards which is contract negotiation, but we’ll put our money on Bryanboy joining the show. (He  alludes to the confirmation by tweeting another WWD article earlier today,) With two relative unknowns, the flamboyant fashionista will need to be picking up a lot of the fabulous slack that left with Miss Jay and Mr. Alexander.

Follow Drew Grant via RSS.