There were plenty of candidates for the series villain title at the start of Celebrity Big Brother 4, with basketball star Dennis Rodman and politician George Galloway looking likely contenders. But Dead or Alive star Pete Burns trumped the lot with his foul-mouthed tirades, which showcased his sheer contempt for his fellow contestants. Chantelle Houghton was a "brass-faced little slag", singer Preston was a "little whore", while he ranted one evening for 40 minutes about how the "insincere" Tracy Bingham made his "sphincter squeeze like a lemon". It was venomous, jaw-dropping TV.
Every series of Big Brother has had gobby, loud-mouths who don't know when to stop, but self-professed 'It' girl Charley Uchea took the biscuit. Uchea managed to be obnoxious, argumentative and self-obsessed all in the same breath and came away with very few friends at the end of the series. Her motor-mouth and constant desire to be the centre of attention led to major run-ins with pretty much every one of her rivals. Charley's nadir came after a fake eviction from the house, where she discovered how much of a hate figure she had become for the British public. However, rather than change her ways, Uchea went back in the house bragging about her popularity and acted ten times' worse!
There's been plenty of idiots, schmoozers and bulls**ters who have taken part in The Apprentice over the years, but nobody riled up the boardroom and public quite like Hopkins. She proudly admitted that she would steal married men, called one rival "a dog" and said that she hoped Adam Hosker would be run over. Compared to everyone from Cruella De Vil to Miss Piggy by the press, she walked out of Sir Alan's boardroom at the semi-final stage, leading many to suspect she didn't want the job in the first place. After her firing, revelations in the tabloids continued about her bed-hopping, which only intensified her villain status further. She was so bad, she made Sir Alan look like a pussycat!
"You should sue your singing teacher!", "You have invented a new form of torture", "You have the personality of a handle". 'Nasty' Nigel Lythgoe may have laid the groundwork on Popstars, but Simon Cowell took talent show villainy to a whole new level when he took the role as head judge on Pop Idol. Cowell's scathing asides have destroyed the dreams of thousands of deluded singers and generated several multi-million TV franchises in the UK and America. His withering looks, blunt metaphors and sneering put-downs have become the blueprint for all other reality TV judges to follow.
A man so bad he has the word 'Nasty' pre-fixed to his name is always going to be a wrong-un. He was the very first reality TV villain, but there has arguably been nobody better since. When Big Brother first aired, no one knew it would be a success and it may not have been without Bateman's tactics and lies. He was willing to make up a story about his wife dying in a car crash and successfully manipulated his rivals into voting each other off with ease. His gameplaying and ploys were clever and have been mimicked by hundreds of reality contestants since. When he was eventually caught out and thrown out, Nick had reached such infamy that he made every national newspaper front page.
Who are your all-time favourite reality TV villains? Has 'Nasty' Nick ever been beaten? Voice your opinions below!
