Better send a thank you card, girls! Tyra Banks credits America's Next Top Model with helping reality stars like Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid find success on the catwalk 

Now that popular America's Next Top Model has concluded after 22 cycles, creator and host Tyra Banks can sit back and reflect on her body of work with pride. 

And according to the 42-year-old fashion veteran, there is a lot to be proud of. Because not only does Tyra believe – and rightly so many might argue – that the competition show has left an indelible mark on the fashion industry as a whole, but she has also revealed that she thinks the careers of Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid may not have blossomed without it. 

'I think [Top Model] has opened up the world to accepting reality television stars as models,' Tyra told Entertainment Weekly. 

Scroll down for video 

End of an era: Reflecting on the end of America's Next Top Model, Tyra Banks, 42, claims that the show changed the modeling world and 'opened up the world to accepting reality television stars as models'

The new wave: Tyra singled out Gigi Hadid (left) and Kendall Jenner (right) as successful models who moved on from reality TV

'If you think about Kendall and Kylie [Jenner] — people think Kylie’s not a model, but I think she’s a model — and Gigi [Hadid] and all of these girls from reality television, I think Top Model knocked the doors down for that to be okay in the high fashion world,' she added.

Former Victoria's Secret Angel Tyra seemed to be referring to the origins of the girls on their respective reality shows, Keeping Up With the Kardashians and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, where Gigi has appeared periodically alongside her mother Yolanda Foster, who still stars in the show. 

It's likely that Gigi and Kendall will be inclined to disagree, however, as both young women have made repeated attempts to shrug off their images as reality stars. 

For Gigi, that fact is a bit easier to establish given she was a child model long before her mother joined the reality TV world. In fact, the blonde beauty was discovered at just two years of age.

She modeled for Baby Guess several times before signing with IMG Models in 2011. 

Musing model: Tyra reckons that 'Top Model knocked the doors down' for young women like Gigi and Kendall

Strutting her stuff: It's likely that the girls would disagree with Tyra. Gigi began her modeling career at the age of just two, years before her mother Yolanda Foster joined the cast of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills

On her way: Although Kendall grew up in front of the Keeping Up With the Kardashians cameras, she attempted to pave her own career by dropping her last name at casting calls

The 20-year-old also told US Weekly last year that: 'I don't want to be a reality star. I want to focus on my own career'.

She added: 'I was on a couple of episodes to try and support my mom, and obviously for it to make sense because I'm her daughter, but I really am working hard to make my modeling career my own and make a name for myself​.' 

Of course, things were more difficult for Kendall, having grown up in front of the reality cameras among her sisters.

However, rather than being an advantage, Kendall has previously insisted that her famous name was a hindrance in her career as 'people didn't want to take a chance on me,' she told US Weekly. 

In an effort to find her own way, Kendall famously dropped her last name for casting calls and banished the KUWTK cameras from following her modeling career.  

The younger: Tyra added that 'people think Kylie [Jenner] is not a model, but I think she’s a model'. The 18-year-old walked for her brother-in-law's Yeezy fashion show in February (pictured) and September

'I don't want to be a reality star': Gigi has previously said that she only appeared on Real Housewives to support her mother

As for Tyra, she will be moving onto new projects after America's Top Model has come to an end. However, it did finish on a high note with the final winner, Nyle Dimarco, also having been the show's first ever deaf contestant. 

Nyle, who was announced as the winner during the series finale on Friday, told Daily Mail Online that there 'are not enough words in the English dictionary' to describe his elation over the win.

The New York native and Washington resident came to the show after the producers spotted him guest-starring in sitcom Switched at Birth and contacted him through social media.

'I want to point out that this is not only about breaking the barriers for the entire deaf community all over the world, but also about educating the world on what being deaf is truly all about - that it has a culture and a beautiful language, American Sign Language (ASL),' he said.

'I can see the world already moving forward, and I have to give a huge thank you to ANTM for giving me this platform. And, the best part is, I will not stop breaking down barriers!'