What Happened To Big Brother's Nasty Nick?

Nick Bateman, or “Nasty” Nick as you might know him, was reality TV’s original bad boy.

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Not to be confused with EastEnders’ Nasty Nick Cotton, this guy earned his nickname for his real life antics in front of the nation.

The former city trader, who is now 48, came into our lives in 2000 in the UK’s debut series of Big Brother - which was based on a Dutch TV series of the same name created in 1997 - after beating off competition from around 40,000 others who applied for the show.

As one of the lucky 10 original housemates who made it onto the then-Channel 4 reality TV show, Nick wasted no time making his mark by telling a torrent of lies in the house, including an awful fib that he had a French wife who had died in a car crash in Australia.

Not content with that, he set about playing his housemates off against one another and attempting to influence who they voted for by passing notes to several housemates - back in the days when you were allowed a pen and paper in the house.

His deceit and general awfulness earned the moniker Nasty Nick from the tabloids, but his reign of terror didn’t last long as eventual winner, loveable Liverpudlian Craig Phillips, took him on in the mother of all reality TV showdowns across the BB kitchen table.

Left with nowhere to hide, Nick - who seemed to have forgotten the whole show was being filmed 24/7 - uttered his infamous line, “if you live by the sword, you die by the sword”, and after 36 days Big Brother booted him off the programme.

The confrontation attracted six million TV viewers and his ejection from the show made it onto the front page of all of the UK’s national newspapers, but his antics only made page three of the Financial Times. He was dubbed an “evil genius” by the Guardian.

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Countless TV Roles

Such was Nick’s global rise to fame after being booted out of the Big Brother house, he appeared on the Craig Kilborn-hosted The Late Late Show in America in August 2000 - way back when James Corden was getting ready to star in a series called Fat Friends.

Nick went on to present TV game show Trust Me in November 2000 in which he would go between two booths of strangers, drip feed them information about their opponents and offer them money.

They were given the options to take the cash - which would signal the end of the game - split it with the other booth, which also ended the game, or carry on, with the money on offer increasing each time until £3,000 is available.

Needless to say that didn’t last long, but it’s not the only game show he featured on.

Back in 2000, he starred on Show Me The Money and a year later appeared on The Weakest Link, while in 2005 he made an appearance on 8 Out Of 10 Cats.

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His colourful career has also seen him appear in several reality TV shows following his Big Brother rise to fame, including 2004’s Back To Reality, which featured a number of high profile names including Peter Andre, Kerry Katona, Jodie Marsh and Maureen Rees from Driving School (link to Maureen feature).

While Nick avoided being chucked off this show - which was advertised by Channel 5 as the “biggest reality show of all time” and featured a host of Z-listers living in a studio-built mansion - he was evicted after just eight days on the programme, which was won by Hewitt and lasted just one series.

Just four years after being kicked out of Big Brother he clearly couldn’t get of the series and returned to the show, sort of, in the TV production of Big Brother Panto, which saw several former BB stars reunite to star in Cinderella.

He played Baron Hardup in the play, while the part of Cinderella was won by the late Jade Goody, who beat off competition from Big Brother 4 housemate Anouska Golebiewski.

Nick has also appeared on Hell’s Kitchen II in April 2005 alongside the likes of Nicole and Natalie Appleton and Myleene Klass, plus he’s been a panellist on Big Brother spin-off, Big Brother’s Bit On The Side, on several occasions since the show’s Channel 5 revival in 2011.

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How To Be A Right B*****d

In between his countless TV appearances in the early Noughties, Nick found time to write a book aptly titled: Nasty Nick: How to be a Right B*****d.

The 201-page tome saw Nick reveal his “secrets” about how to be a complete chump and it managed to sell 60,000 copies in 2002.

Despite this and a few positive reviews, one buyer describing it as a “must read for fans of Nasty Nick”, the book was slammed by a number of Amazon customers with one being particularly scathing.

Entitling their review “garbage”, they wrote: “This is cheap, exploitative trash aimed at capitalising on short term popularity. I bought it as a joke, but the joke was on me.”

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‘Not So Nasty Nick’

While the star made a name for himself as “Nasty” Nick, his return to Big Brother in 2010’s Ultimate Big Brother show saw him dubbed “Not So Nasty Nick” by the narrator after a change in behaviour compared to his first series dishonesty.

The 18-day programme marked the end of the show on Channel 4 ahead of its move to Channel 5 and saw the return to the house of several “favourites” from past series, including Nikki Grahame, Michelle Bass, Chantelle Houghton and Brian Dowling, who was crowned Ultimate Housemate.

Brian admitted shortly after the show that he was worried about Nick after he had poked fun at his weight, comparing him to TV presenter Eamonn Holmes.

He said at the time: “I went mad when he said that because I’ve struggled with my weight. He’s apologised and said he didn’t mean that.

“I suppose I expected him to be nasty. But when you think about it, he’s only called that because he wrote down some names on a piece of paper. He didn’t call anyone’s mum a w***e!”

Nick finished fifth in Ultimate Big Brother and his appearance on the programme meant was the only contestant in Big Brother history to be there on the first and last day of the series.

And he also got a smooch off former Gladiators host Ulrika Jonsson in the show at the end of their duet of Diana Ross’ Endless Love.

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Other Jobs

While Nick has never strayed too far away from Big Brother appearances since he first graced our screens on July 18, 2000, he seems to have had more jobs than he’s given out nasty jibes in his time.

Among his occupations, the reality TV star has worked a travel journalist for Good Holiday Guide and the Reading Evening Post, trained at the BBC as a single camera director, and in camera operation and avid editing.

He holds a private pilot’s licence and racing car licence, was the narrator in the stage production of The Rocky Horror Show, worked as an after-dinner speaker, including giving talks at both Oxford and Cambridge University’s Unions.

Nick’s varied career has also seen him host a radio show in Kent in 2011 on 107.8 Academy FM on Sundays from 10am to 2pm.

What’s more, his Big Brother Panto experience has come in handy for getting work as he’s appeared in several pantomimes up and down the country.

In 2011, he starred as Baron Flescreep in Jack and the Beanstalk at the Granville Theatre in Ramsgate, Kent, and in 2012 he appeared in Cinderella (again) as an ugly sister in Skegness.

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Looking For Love

While he didn’t appear to have any issues finding jobs after Big Brother, Nick did have some landing a woman.

He boasted that he had "no problem” with women before he entered the Big Brother house, but after his infamous stint in the abode he moaned about how potential love interests couldn’t “get away fast enough”.

However, that all changed in the mid-Noughties when he met fashion magazine writer Lynnette Peck and went on to marry her in 2007.

Nick went into business with his significant other, helping her out with her online fashion company, Lovely’s Vintage Emporium, in March 2011.

Sadly, things did not work out and the pair separated in August 2012. His divorce from “lovely” Lynette, as she is affectionately dubbed by her pals, was finalised in just 30 seconds at a central London court hearing in early 2016.

Going Down Under

While Lynette has tasted continued success with her fashion business - attracting clients such as Dawn O'Porter and Holly Willoughby - Nick now lives in Sydney, Australia.

He moved Down Under in 2013 to study and while he didn’t return our emails, his Twitter account indicates he is most definitely still in Oz as he posts regular picturesque photographs of Sydney sunsets, some of which are simply stunning.

He is also a regular on the city’s famous Bondi Beach and recently stayed in the same hotel as the cast of the Australian version of I’m A Celebrity…. Get Me Out Of Here!, which he is not a fan of!

In response to a fan who had written about the lack of “celebrities” in the reality TV show on Twitter, Nasty Nick replied: “Totally agree ! Great hype , no delivery (sic)”

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What’s more, the star also recently gave up smoking which led him to start craving calorific treats at 6am, and in August 2015 he set off for his first holiday for three years only for it to be rudely interrupted by an Indonesian ash cloud which halted several flights. What are the chances?!

He also clearly still follows the lives of some of his Big Brother pals as he mocked BB 5 star and fellow Ultimate Big Brother housemate Victor Ebuwa recently over the “calibre of women” he knows.

After Slick Vic, as he was affectionately known on the show, made a dig at reality TV show Love Island, which all of his female friends were apparently watching, Nick tweeted him: “Shows the calibre of women you know mate ! (sic)”

While Nick appears to be having fun in his new life Down Under away from the TV cameras, his pals are unlikely to get an invite round to his for a plate of fish 'n’ chips when the news is on.

He recently tweeted: “The only things Australia does badly are curries, news, fish and chips! (sic)”

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Big Brother Return

Despite enjoying Australia, Nick’s link to Big Brother is never too far away.

In June 2015, he claimed he had been offered the measly sum of £1 per hour to make a sensational return to the Big Brother house in the UK during the show’s 16th series.

But he swiftly rejected the opportunity and proceeded to mock the star guests who do make cameo appearances on the show.

He wrote on Twitter at the time: “decided to turn down the generous offer of £1 ph to go into the BB for one night! I am sure they will find another mug or hooker to do it (sic)”

It appears Nasty Nick hasn’t been completely replaced by Not So Nasty Nick just yet.