It's hard to believe that Big Brother's Nick Bateman is as nasty as he is portrayed, writes Zahra Akkerhuys.

He was transformed into the nation's villain after he was caught cheating in the popular TV game show which chronicled the lives of 10 people living in a house.

Each week two contestants were nominated and viewers were asked to vote for who they thought should be evicted from the house.

Nick, a 33-year-old former banker, was thrown out when he was caught cheating by smuggling in pens and paper and creating divisions as he played the other contestants off against each other.Ignore the smile: Nick Bateman

When 'Nasty' Nick left the house, after a 33 day stint, he came up against a barrage of criticism and nobody could believe that he really was as unpleasant as he appeared.

Surely there was some chink in the armour?

But he has just produced a book talking about his time in the house, called Nasty Nick - How To Be a Right B*****d, which proves he lives up to his name.

It's little more than a trite Christmas stocking filler, something to flick through when you're lying on the sofa after eating too much turkey. It's full of snide jibes about his fellow Big Brother housemates and inane schoolboy lists on topics cataloguing topics including his favourite cartoon characters and his top 10 films.

He claims to have written it when he went into hiding after leaving the Big Brother house.

While in hiding he stayed at several secret locations across the country including Oxford's Randolph Hotel.

"I needed to stay at a place where nobody would recognise me and the hotel was full of tourists who didn't have a clue who I was. It was the perfect place, although I couldn't go out and see Oxford because then I would have been recognised."

He says he was taken aback by the attention he and the other housemates have been given since Big Brother was launched.

"I never thought that 10 people in a house would be of interest. I didn't think it was going to be popular - I know that I wouldn't never have watched it."

When Nick was accused of deceit by chirpy scouser Craig - who later went on to win the 70,000 prize - he was close to tears but he brushes that aside now - presumably because it doesn't fit in with his new image.

"I have never felt guilty for what I did.

"I was just playing the game. It was just a game and there was a lot of prize money at stake. Channel Four always wanted the programme to be interesting. As far as I was concerned it was just everyone for himself," he laughs.

And that seems to be the motto Nick has lived by since Big Brother.

He has become a regular on the celebrity party circuit and enjoys hobnobbing with the stars, although he says fame hasn't changed him in the least.

The other contestants are also on the same ritzy party lists and Nick's ill-concealed contempt for some of them reveals his true colours.

"As long as you keep both feet on the ground and keep focused then it won't change you. Unfortunately others in Big Brother have their heads stuck somewhere else and they are behaving awfully.

"Not everyone is like that and I am regularly in touch with Darren, Tom, Andy and Craig. The others I see at parties.

"I am living like I lived before giving up my job as a banker.

" I had a good salary when I was in the City but doing what I am doing now is a great opportunity to do what I have always wanted. Family and true friends will always be proud of me," he says.

When asked whether he minds being labelled 'Nasty,' Nick he says he doesn't mind at all.

"Everyone has a certain amount of nastiness in them - even you. I am happy to be seen as calculating. People don't give me flack in the street though."

It's certainly true that he is cunning and he hasn't missed out on cashing in on his celebrity status.

"I had so much time in hiding and I like to write so I decided to write the book. It didn't take long to dash off. And tactically I had to make sure it came out at the same time as the Big Brother book."

I wondered whether he had had to be careful about libelling everyone he has criticised in the book but he says that wasn't a consideration. "I was not at all worried about libel. I think it's all true so there is not a question of anything being libellous."

Nick likes to think that he is cleverer than the rest of us and because he's making a lot of money out of his 15 minutes of fame, he thinks his place in the Hall of Fame is secure.

He says he wants to be the next Jeremy Paxman and host a heavy-weight current affairs programme on TV. He may have been educated at Prince Charles' former school Gordounston but he seems to forget that at the end of the day he's just a game show contestant - who lost.