Princess Nikki
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Princess Nikki | |
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| Genre | Reality |
| Starring | Nikki Grahame |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | 6 (as of first season) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 min |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | E4 |
| Original run | 6 September 2006 – 11 October 2006 |
| Links | |
| IMDb profile | |
Princess Nikki is a reality television show that stars former Big Brother 7 UK house mate Nikki Grahame. It ran on Wednesday nights between 10:00 - 10:30pm on the digital and satellite television channel E4 from 6 September 2006, for a total runtime of 30 minutes. The show was devised by Endemol, the company that also devised Big Brother. It was narrated by the presenter and comedian, Alex Zane.
The format saw Nikki attempt several jobs on each show, which included various unpleasant tasks such as rubbish collecting, deep sea fishing, and waste management.[1] The show's premise was to see whether or not Nikki would perform the tasks given to her and keep her job for a day, or whether she would quit or be sacked due to her infamous tantrums.[2] The concept of the show was taken from one of the tasks Nikki undertook while in the Big Brother House. During the task, she was assigned as Big Brother's personal assistant and had to carry out various duties, which often resulted in Nikki throwing a tantrum and refusing to comply.[3]
The theme music for the programme has been adapted from the 1982 hit single Hey Mickey! by Toni Basil, with the lyrics "Hey Nikki!" used as a replacement.
E4 recently ordered a second season of Princess Nikki, to be filmed in and around England and will air in the time slot of 9:30pm Wednesdays in 2007.[citation needed] Eight episodes have been ordered for a total runtime of 30 minutes each. A second season had been viewed as unlikely due to Grahame complaining numerous times, that she had been misled in what jobs she would be expected to do.
Contents |
[edit] Episodes
[edit] Episode 1 (6 September 2006)
The first episode involved Nikki entering the fishing industry. She spent a day on the English Channel catching and gutting fish, and then returned to land to work in a fish and chips shop in nearby Folkestone. At the end of the show, her employers commented on her performance, enthusiasm, etc. The person who worked on the fishing boat praised Nikki for not leaving, but complained that she didn't actually do any work. Her fish and chips shop employer seemed to show obvious dislike for Nikki by calling her a Diva, a child, and stroppy. This episode was watched by 530,000 individuals on average.[4]
[edit] Episode 2 (13 September 2006)
In the second episode, Nikki was sent to Andrew Fuller’s farm in Gloucestershire to assist as a farm hand.[5] Her duties included cleaning a pig pen, tending the farm animals, and performing a rectal examination on a pregnant cow, which she refused to do. She later went to assist a butcher where she made sausages, and visited the shop's abattoir. Once again, Nikki failed to make a good impression on her employers with Andrew Fuller commenting that the only way he would employ Nikki is if she paid him. This episode had an overnight rating of 308,700 viewers.[6]
[edit] Episode 3 (20 September 2006)
The third episode of the series had a 'waste' theme. Nikki was initially sent to work as refuse operative (dustman), collecting people's rubbish from the streets of West London. After two hours of working the streets, Nikki managed to lift only five bags of garbage. Nikki was then sent to assist a colon hydro therapist, to perform a colonic irrigation on one of her customers. Nikki didn't act very professionally and burst into laughter several times during the therapy. She was eventually asked to leave. Nikki's final job of the day was to work at a sewage works in Chelmsford, where she was forced to scrape old tampons, human excrement and condoms off a huge sewage plant roller. Again, Nikki failed to impress her employers with one of the binmen exclaiming "She’s on Anne Robinson tonight! She’s the fucking weakest link."[7] This episode was watched by 343,000 individuals on average.[8]
[edit] Episode 4 (27 September 2006)
This episode had an animal theme. Nikki was originally sent to work as a kennel maid at a dog kennel. Here she was made to clean out dog faeces from each kennel, before churning up the excrement in a blender for disposal. That part went well. She also groomed the dogs, but threw a tantrum when dog hair went up her nose, and then refused to finish her tasks. She later went to work as a zoo keeper at Bristol Zoo. Here she cleaned an Okapi pen, handled rats, and dressed as a seal in order to coax visitors to attend the seal feeding. Nikki managed to infuriate her bosses at the zoo by screaming loudly on several occasions. She was eventually prohibited from working with the animals as her screaming was deemed to be too upsetting for the animals, and she was removed."[9] This episode had an overnight rating of 179,000 viewers.[10]
[edit] Episode 5 (4 October 2006)
This episode had an outdoor theme. First, Nikki was sent to the Lake District to help a mountain rescue team "rescue" a woman who had broken her leg (it was an actress for training purposes). She threw a tantrum when climbing out of the boat to shore as the leader of the team shoved her for her petulance. Nikki was more concerned about getting a tissue to blow her nose than helping the woman in distress. She then abseiled down the side of a small cliff, which she said was the activity she had enjoyed most in the series to date. Nikki was then coached in surviving outdoors by an instructor. He showed her how to build a simple outdoor home made of trees and branches, how to dig a hole in the ground for a toilet, and how to fish. The instructor was easily annoyed by Nikki's behaviour, leading to the usual tantrums and arguments from her. This episode had an overnight rating of 236,000 viewers.
[edit] Episode 6 (11 October 2006)
In the final episode, Nikki visited the Harlequin Ladies Rugby team. Here she was made to train and play rugby with the women. It started off well enough, but then the team was instructed to roll around on the cold damp grass; she didn't. She saw one player go into a large container of iced water, in order to cool her muscles after the strenuous exercise. Eventually, the others dunked her into the bath, which Nikki didn't appreciate (describing the rugby players as "butch"). Her final assignment was to assist some environmental health contractors in cleaning a filthy, vermin-ridden house. Here she was made to remove maggots and cockroaches from the house, before cleaning a bath full of festering sewage. Nikki spent most of her time screaming and crying, although she did eventually manage to complete the tasks given to her.
At the end of the episode, Nikki was asked to summarise and reflect on her employment experiences, commenting: "I thought, when I got this series, that I would get nice jobs that would help me learn how to do a working day...but it's been ghastly."[11]
This episode had an overnight rating of 167,100 viewers .[12]
[edit] References
- ^ Katt, Tabby (2006-09-01). Nikki Grahame Gets Her Own E4 Show, Princess Nikki!. Unrealitytv.co.uk. Retrieved on February 25, 2007.
- ^ "Nikki gets her own show", BBC News Website. URL last accessed on 2006-09-02.
- ^ "Nikki Works Hard For TV", Sky Showbiz. URL last accessed on 2006-09-08.
- ^ "[1]", BARB Multichannel Summary w/e 03/09/2006. URL last accessed on 2006-11-13.
- ^ "Big Brother star Nikki spends day on a farm", Farmers Weekly Interactive. URL last accessed on 2006-09-13.
- ^ "Network Statistics", Channel 4 sales. URL last accessed on 2006-09-14.
- ^ "Princess Nikki Of Poo!", UnrealityTV. URL last accessed on 2006-09-22.
- ^ "[2]", BARB Multichannel Summary w/e 24/09/2006. URL last accessed on 2006-11-13.
- ^ "E4 Princess Nikki: A Whole Lot of Pooing Going On", UnrealityTV. URL last accessed on 2006-09-28.
- ^ "Network Statistics", Channel 4 sales. URL last accessed on 2006-09-21.
- ^ "E4 Princess Nikki: Something’s stinking…", Unreality.TV. URL last accessed on 2006-12-16.
- ^ "Network Statistics", Channel 4 sales. URL last accessed on 2006-10-11.
