Janice Dickinson has slammed Tyra Banks as a "hardcore b****"

Speaking on E!'s Dirty Rotten Scandals, Janice said: "The producers, especially Tyra, were begging me to be harsher and cruel, like Simon Cowell was on American Idol.'

"Tyra didn't want any competition.

"She went off on one girl and it was so frightening that I was going to get up and hold her down.

"She would go harder on the Black girls on the show because of competitiveness and jealousy and her being older than these young women.

"She was always trying to be this tough teen mum to the girls but she didn't know them, she didn't give them enough confidence."

Janice also claimed that the show "tortured these girls for Tyra's ego".

She said: "They left the show completely depressed and depleted while she got so rich.

"America's Next Top Model really tortured these girls for Tyra's ego. I was there and I saw it for four seasons. She was a hardcore b****."

Meanwhile, it was recently revealed that Tyra Banks refused to speak to Jay Manuel when he returned to America's Next Top Model.

The 52-year-old star brought the 53-year-old makeup artist on board as a creative director when the series first launched in 2003, but he decided to move on eight seasons into the show.

In new Netflix documentary Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model, Jay recalled emailing Tyra to thank her for the opportunity.

He revealed: "She didn't respond. It was probably the longest three days ever.

"And she ultimately wrote back just three words. 'I am disappointed.'

"After that email exchange, all communication just stopped. It should've been the opportunity to have a heart-to-heart, but that did not happen."

Higher-ups at network UPN convinced him to return for one more cycle while they tried to figure out his replacement.

Reflecting on that period, he told PEOPLE magazine: "Tyra chose not to speak with me at all while the cameras were off. When they were on, she'd speak to me.

"After [trying to leave], I did cycle nine, which was ... torture for me. I was so broken by the end of that cycle because of the mental torture of what was going on."