Controversial model turned reality TV star *Lara Bingle *has landed herself in hot water with yet another photo scandal.

On Wednesday, the 25-year-old, left, who is reportedly in New Zealand this week, tweeted a photo of what appeared to be two impoverished children smoking cigarettes.

The confronting image was also accompanied by Bingle's commentary, which read: "Poverty stricken but still cool as f**k."

Within minutes of uploading the photo, a string of comments from outraged Twitter users followed.

The photo has since been taken down.

In wake of the backlash, Bingle's new management, Tailor Made Communications, released a statement which said: "Lara felt the imagery was beautiful but after reflection and understanding of people's feedback and comments, Lara decided to pull the image down."

Tuesday's episode of *Being Lara Bingle *has continued her ratings plummet, having pulled a national average of 684,000 viewers to rank 17th.

Locally, the show failed to make the top 20, coming in at 21 with an average viewership of 70,000.