Tyra Banks has been living in Sydney incognito for 18 months - here's how the world famous supermodel blended in as a start-up boss

Tyra Banks has been living the Aussie life for the last 18 months, with most fans not knowing she's been working undercover as a start-up boss Down Under.

The American supermodel, 51, has been jumping between Los Angeles and Sydney for over a year now as she launches her ice cream store chain Smize & Dream. 

And on Sunday, the former America's Next Top Model host revealed just how she's managed to blend in with the locals, reported The Daily Telegraph. 

She told the publication she and her family enjoy spending their days just hanging out at their local shopping centre and partaking in everyday Aussie activities. 

'We'll get some breakfast in the mall, then we'll go to a Hoyts cinema,' she said.

'We'll get some ice cream at the cinema, see a movie, then we might get a foot massage. Then we'll have some lunch... Then we go to Target or Kmart.'

Tyra, who is set to open her first Smize & Dream store in Darling Harbour by midyear, went on to say she loves the Australian Kmart. 

Despite walking the runway for luxury fashion houses like Saint Laurent, Chanel and Dior, the supermodel said she thinks the Kmart Down Under is 'fancy'.

She added that after a bit of shopping, she and her family will go and do the groceries. 

'We'll do Coles, Woolies, Harris Farm, whatever, and so that is a whole day at the mall and we don't do that in America,' she said. 

Tyra explained that the 'mall' culture in America is a dying pastime because it's just about shopping for what you 'want' instead of what you 'need'. 

The opening of her new ice cream store comes as critics have been slamming the shocking comments once made to models on America's Next Top Model. 

Bullying, verbal and physical abuse, fat shaming, tears, and tantrums were all fair game on the reality series, which Tyra was the face of.

Several clips have resurfaced in recent years of Tyra and her co-hosts shaming contestants they considered 'fat' or otherwise unfit to be a model on the show.

Now, after walking the Victoria's Secret runway as a plus-size model last year, Tyra has received a slew of her own backlash from critics who grew up watching ANTM. 

'Did ya'll forget ANTM?' one person wrote under an interview Tyra did for her plus-size runway. 

'It's crazy for us too and not in a good way!' another person commented, referencing Tyra saying in her interview that it felt 'crazy' to be on the runway at 51-years-old.

A third added: 'They can never make me like you Tyra.'

Tyra isn't the only Next Top Model cast member to cop backlash over the problematic scenes which came out of the modelling competition reality show over the years.

Longtime co-host of Australia's Next Top Model Alex Perry was hit with heated criticism just last month.   

Gen Z TikTok users were left shocked by resurfaced footage of the Down Under rendition of the series. 

In the first few seconds of the viral video montage, Alex, 61, can be heard asking: 'What are those feet? Gorilla feet? Transgendered feet?' 

He appears throughout the two-minute montage of un-PC clangers, with a measuring tape in hand, and a hard word for the often teenage models about their weight.

'Just stop chowing down, you guys have got to exercise. Just get on the treadmill,' he tells one model in the clip. 

In another moment, he assessed one model: 'She's really pretty, she's really sleek. Beautiful skin,' before asking another judge: 'Do you reckon she's got to drop some KGs?'

'Alex Perry is living his karma,' one person commented as they referenced the renowned designer's recent public appearances which show him rocking a more filled out physique while running errands in Sydney's inner west. 

'Can't talk if you see him now,' another user commented.  

'How is Alex Perry not cancelled?' asked another. 

With a fourth person chiming in: 'Alex Perry they could never make me like you.' 

'I grew up watching this stuff. No wonder our body image is so distorted,' one TikTok user commented on the video. 

'Alex Perry makes gorgeous clothes for women but I don't know how he manages because good god, he hates us!' added another. 

'Watching this back is WILD,' someone else commented. 

One Gen Z TikToker was so baffled by what they had just witnessed in the video, that the closest thing they could liken the series to was a Chris Lilley skit. 

The Next Top Model franchise saw young girls, most still teenagers, aspiring toward a high-fashion modelling career as they compete to avoid elimination each week by a panel of high-profile judges.

Fates on the show were determined by a panel of three judges: model, Myer face and former Miss Universe Jennifer Hawkins, sunglasses-topped Alex and a rotation of high-profile fashion names including Linda Evangelista, Jean Paul Gaultier, Kelly Osbourne and Tyra herself. 

Bullying, verbal and physical abuse, fat shaming, tears, and tantrums were all fair game in the reality format, which raked in the highest number of viewers for a reality series on subscription TV.

Speaking to Daily Mail last month under the condition of anonymity, one former Top Model said it's not an excuse, but the TV series was a product of its time. 

'You can't take that back but that's just how the industry was, and that's what the show was. It was the early 2000s.'   

Alex was the only judge to helm all 10 seasons of Australia's Next Top Model and he famously campaigned for the show's 178cm height restriction to be enforced. 

'I like sleek, runway greyhounds. It’s my aesthetic,' he explained in an old interview. 

In May 2020, Tyra took to Twitter to address some backlash America's Next Top Model was facing after it was added to the streaming site Netflix.

'Been seeing the posts about the insensitivity of some past ANTM moments and I agree with you. Looking back, those were some really off choices,' she wrote on Twitter at the time. 

'Appreciate your honest feedback and am sending so much love and virtual hugs.'