EXCLUSIVE: 'We respect each other... but we also want to WIN!' Naomi Campbell on battling fellow models Erin O'Connor and Caroline Winberg as The Face hits the UK

It's already been a huge hit Stateside, and now Naomi Campbell is hoping that the UK version of The Face will be just as successful.

But while the 43-year-old relished the chance to be joined by fellow models Erin O'Connor and Caroline Winberg as mentors on the new series, she admitted that the fact it was a competition was always at the back of their mind.

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Naomi revealed that as well as using the show as a tool to impart her 27 years' worth of modelling experience, she also wanted to be the winning mentor.

'I want to WIN!' Naomi Campbell spoke exclusively to MailOnline ahead of the premiere of the UK version of The Face

  Naomi Campbell talks exclusively to the Mail Online

She said: 'I've known Erin for a very long time, we've been to South Africa together. She's always been very supportive of the charities I've been doing, like Fashion For Relief - and Caroline has been the same.

I've known Caroline a little less but I like all our personalities because we are all so different, and that's why I think it was cool to put us together. 

'We respect each other but we know that it's a competition and we want to win!'

Competition: Caroline Winberg and Erin O'Connor join Naomi as mentors to the contestants on the new series

Naomi added that despite the success of the show in America, when she was joined by Karolina Kurkova and Coco Rocha on the mentoring panel, she is feeling more than a little apprehensive about the premiere of the UK series on Sky Living on Monday night.

She said: 'I'm very nervous about launching in England because this is where I was born, this is where I'm from.

'And I think when you do something in your home country, you care more. You do care, and you want people to support and like what I'm doing.'

Battling it out: Naomi, Erin and Caroline appeared to get on well during a press conference for the show last week

Sharing her knowledge: Naomi said she relished the chance to be a mentor on the show and share her 27 years worth of modelling experience to the hopefuls

Naomi Campbell in the British version of The Face

Back in the day: Naomi modelling in Paris back in 1991

Naomi added to MailOnline that the process of signing up to The Face was even more nerve-wracking for her because she had waited before agreeing to sign up for a television project.

She said: 'I waited 10 years before going to do television. I said no before because it was really not my thing. It was a nerve-wracking thing for me to do also, I found I was fearful of it. 

'It's different, but I wanted to do something different.  The timing of it came at a perfect time but it was also the ingredients of it.'

But Naomi is the biggest supporter of the new venture, and insists it's perhaps the most true-to-life reality show about modelling.

She said: 'I committed to this because it's authentic in terms of what girls will get when they go out there into the world of fashion.

'And what attracted me is that I could share my 27 years of experience. I would much rather be a mentor than a judge.'