SHE was tough as nails as an America's Next Top Model judge.

Now, Janice Dickinson is trying to prove she can wing it in the Costa Rican jungle.

The self-proclaimed 'world's first supermodel' joins 10 other celebrities - or 'celebrities' - as they live in the wilderness Survivor-style on new reality show I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!

Star World (StarHub Ch 18) will air two episodes back-to-back weekly, starting 8 Jul at 9pm.

Can a former supermodel - and a 54-year-old one at that - really survive the outdoors?

Dickinson, speaking from her home in Los Angeles, bristled at the question.

'I think being in nature is one of the finest choices one can have. It's fantastic to communicate with God and nature,' she said.

This is her second time on the show. She was part of the UK version of the show in 2007 and came in second.

'I've done the show before and I was perfectly happy not being on a cell phone, not being in traffic and not having to check the mail.

'I love the outdoors. I grew up surfing and cycling. I love to go camping. That's the side of me you don't know about and that could surprise people.'

But when we spoke to her before she flew off to Costa Rica late last month, she sounded ill, pausing several times to blow her nose.

'I'm sorry, darling,' she explained. 'They made me take 11 different inoculations against Hepatitis A, B, C, malaria, rabies. It's terrible.'

When we suggested that it was only for her own good, she scoffed.

'Are you kidding? They only care about their insurance, if I happen to die.

'Actually, Tyra Banks almost killed me. No, I'm joking. But she is a righteous *****.'

Harsh words, but Dickinson's obviously still sore about being fired from Banks' modelling talent show, a fate which has also befallen her successors Twiggy and, more recently, Paulina Porizkova.

'Tyra fires everybody. The minute someone deserves to get paid after a couple seasons, she goes and fires them,' she said.

Her word of warning to Banks?

'Everyone always gets caught. It's just a matter of time.'

Game as she may be to badmouth Banks, she only had kind words to say about her competition on the show.

In trademark Janice style, though, she could care less about names.

'I'm interested to get to know the wife of that governor in jail - Bloyovich?' she asked, mangling the last name of Patti Blagojevich.

She is serving as a replacement for her husband, a then-Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich, who had to pull out after being indicted for attempting to 'sell' a senate seat.

But of fameballs Sanjaya Malakar and Speidi (The Hills' off-screen and on-screen couple Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag), she was generous.

'I think it takes a lot of courage to be on American Idol. I've worked with Sanjaya before and I think he is the sweetest darling.

'Heidi and Spencer are really good at what they do - running around in Hollywood and getting their faces in the newspaper. I think they're cute and great. '

And she's not worried that the notoriously attention-grabbing couple might try to outshine her.

'I think she (Heidi) will get more competition from insects and mosquitoes.

'I have appeared on every cover of every magazine in every country in the late 70s. My show (reality show The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency) is on re-run and syndication. I was a judge on America's Next Top Model. So I don't know, you tell me.'

Showbiz empire

While Dickinson is the first to trumpet her own achievements - you can trust that she never misses an opportunity to do so even while washing dishes in the bushes - the producers have seen it fit to downgrade her occupation to mere 'TV personality' on the show.

Oblivious as ever, she spoke about plans to expand her showbiz empire.

She wants to create a fragrance line and is currently writing her fourth book, My Wild Weekend With Janice Dickinson.

Like her other books, which had titles like Everything About Me Is Fake and Check, Please!: Dating, Mating and Extricating, this fourth project will be all about Janice's fabulous, jet-setting life.

'It's another wild ride. I have all these crazy jobs and I'm writing them all down to entertain you.'

Some of these eyebrow-raising weekend activities include being a judge for an adult industry version of the Oscars.

It's no wonder, then, that Dickinson feels the next step in her celebrity evolution should be to do a Janice Dickinson version of Borat.

Called Jan-at, the project is still in the works and she says she's still working with writers.

'I think it's going to be the craziest, wildest movie you'll ever see in your entire life,' she said.

Crazy and Janice Dickinson - who would've thought?

This article was first published in The New Paper