Naomi Campbell arriving at The Face launch

Naomi Campbell arriving at The Face launch

Naomi Campbell is delighted people think she's scarier than Simon Cowell.

The supermodel has turned TV judge for her new Sky Living HD modelling show 'The Face', and enjoys leaving everyone quivering in their boots with her "tough love" attitude and cutting comments, which rival the 'Mr Nasty' 'X Factor' boss himself.

Asked what kind of mentor she is at the launch of 'The Face' at the Royal Opera House in London today (26.09.13), Naomi chuckled: "You know what type of mentor I am ... I am the drill sergeant and I'm tough love with my girls. I push them to their limits."

Host Nick Grimshaw quipped: "You make Simon Cowell look like a wuss!"

A gleeful Naomi exclaimed, "Really? Good!", before bursting into peals of laugher.

The notoriously no-nonsense beauty butts heads with her rival judges Erin O'Connor and Caroline Winberg in the show, as they all compete for one of the models from their team to be crowned the new 'face' of Max Factor cosmetics.

Naomi acknowledged: "I'm very competitive, yes I am. The show is a competition between us as well as between the girls. I go for it! I love my girls. I feel like mother hen and I want to protect them, but I want them to win!"

Asked if she's a graceful loser, the 43-year-old icon scoffed: "Absolutely not. No, no, no, no! I don't want to hear the word. It always seems to be me that loses the girl first."

The iconic beauty - who is rumoured to be eyeing up a chat show deal - has finally decided to take the plunge into TV on the advice of her good friend and fellow 90s supermodel, Kate Moss.

Naomi said: "I was always afraid to do TV for many years. It was either to follow my life, which I would never do, or to judge, which I didn't feel comfortable doing.

"So when they asked to do mentoring, I thought, 'Well that's different - I get to share what I've been doing for 27 years.' Kate [Moss] always says that I say she was my first pupil, so I thought, 'OK, I like this idea.' "

'The Face' debuts on Monday 30 September at 9pm on Sky Living HD.

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