Britain's Next Top Model beauty when she was an ugly bug

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Years later, an older and wiser Leanne is finally getting the last laugh after she was chosen from thousands of hopefuls to be a contestant on reality show Britain's Next Top Model.

Strike a pose: Leanne Nagle is hoping to be Britain's Next Top Model

Leanne, left, as she is today, and as a bullied youngster aged eight, right

The 18-year-old, from Colchester, Essex, was taunted from the ages of five to 14 due to her glasses, braces and lazy eye.

During her tough schooldays, Leanne even wore an eye patch to help correct her eyesight, leading nasty bullies to call her 'Hook' after the one-eyed pirate character in Peter Pan.

Leanne said: "I was a little scrawny girl with scruffy hair, big glasses and an eye patch.

"Every day girls who were meant to be my friends ran away from me in the playground, they called me four-eye and Hook because of my patch.

"One boy got my patches out of his bag and stuck them all over the wall. I was devastated.

"I used to lie awake at night wondering why nobody wanted to be my friend. I didn't want to go to school, I wanted to run away.

"One boy snatched my glasses off me and stamped on them.

"Another time a boy took my book and threw it out of the bus window. I had to get off and walk an hour home."

After overcoming nine years of taunts, Leanne believes she has the thick skin to cope with the notoriously competitive modelling world.

Leanne has managed to survive elimination a month into the fourth series competition of the Living TV show, which is hosted by George Clooney's ex Lisa Snowdon.

The 5ft 9 brunette is one of nine contestants out of the original 14 left in the competition.

The winner will win management and representation by Models 1, a £100,000 contract with Max Factor cosmetics and a fashion spread and cover of women's magazine Company.