,Facing the media for the first time since his eviction from the fly-on-the-wall Big Brother gameshow, "nasty Nick" .Bateman (32) yesterday claimed he was a much misunderstood man.
Nick's already high celebrity profile grew taller and taller yesterday as, surrounded by television cameras and photographers at a press conference in London, he gave his side of a murky story. He had been thrown Out of thevoyeuristic Channel Four gameshow Big Brother on Thursday over his attempts to manipulate the eviction nominations of the other contestants on the programme.
Fans of the show have seen Nick scheming, but it was not until Thursday that his housemates rumbled his tactics. That night Big Brother drew the highest Channel 4 audience this year with an average of 5.5 million viewers, to see the six others in the house round on him.
The showdown left him shaken as he tearfully packed his bags before being given his marching orders by the show's referee. He has accepted psychiatric counselling offered by the show.
"Those tears were genuine sorrow at having to leave the house," he said yesterday. Viewers may have thought it was a "garden party" watching the contestants stretching Out in the sun and playing cards, but he countered: "It wasn't like that. It's 24 hours a day being under immense pressure and scrutiny."
Nick denied suggestions he was a Channel 4 "plant" to stir up the show and that he had taken a mobile phone into the house. Brushing aside his attempts toinfluence the votes of others - each of the 10 participants have had to nominate two other people for eviction each week - he still couldn't resist playing thevillain: "I did it in a very overt way which was picked up quite nicely. It was enjoyable because it was meeting 10 new people for the first time. It appealed to my imagination. I think you have to go for that 100 per cent."
If Nick was eyeing up his future with some trepidation yesterday, he did not need to worry. The celebrity PR "fixer" Mr Max Clifford, was on hand to offer some financial advice. "In the next year he could make up to a million pounds," Mr Clifford said.
After the conference, Nick was driven back to a nearby five-star luxury apartment where be has been staying since his eviction. A spokeswoman said he had been offered a "week's refuge" at the apartment, one of several whichcome complete with butler service and health spa. As the bookmakers began taking bets on whether Nick might be the new presenter on Channel Four's breakfast programme, The Big Breakfast, the broadcaster announced that Nick's replacement would arrive in the Big Brother house this weekend. But his or her identity will be kept a secret until they walk through the door of the house.
There will be a number of conditions imposed upon the new man or woman, Channel Four said. The new contestant will be barred from nominating anyone for eviction and the current residents of the house will be barred from nominating the new contestant, but only for the first week.