Katie Hopkins

Katie Hopkins
Born Katie Olivia Hopkins
13 February 1975
Barnstaple, Devon, England
Alma mater University of Exeter
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
Occupation Television personality, columnist
Television The Apprentice
I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!
Celebrity Big Brother
Spouse(s) Damian McKinney (m. 2004–05)
Mark Cross (m. 2010)
Children 3

Katie Olivia Hopkins[1][2] (born 13 February 1975) is a British television personality and columnist.

Hopkins first appeared on television as a contestant on the third UK series of the reality television programme The Apprentice in 2007. She frequently made personal and critical comments to camera, and turned down a place in the series' final.[3] She subsequently appeared in I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! on ITV and Celebrity Big Brother on Channel 5.[4] She has written a column for British newspaper The Sun and stood as a candidate in the 2009 European Parliamentary election. She has made two appearances on the BBC's Question Time.

Early life and education

Katie Hopkins was born on 13 February 1975, in Barnstaple, Devon.[5] Her father was an electrical engineer and she has an older sister. She was raised in Bideford,[6] attended a private convent school from age 3 to 16, played sports and learned to play the piano and violin.[7]

After A-levels she studied economics at the University of Exeter, sponsored by the Intelligence Corps. Hopkins completed her military training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. She participated in the Sovereign's Parade that marked the "passing-out" of the cadets, but could not take up her commission due to an epileptic seizure. After Sandhurst, Hopkins joined a business consultancy and moved to Manhattan, New York, before returning to the UK in 2005.[7] She joined the Met Office as a global brand consultant in September 2006.[8]

Television

The Apprentice

Main article: The Apprentice

Hopkins was allowed to take unpaid leave from her job from the Met Office as part of her probationary period of employment in order to take part in series three of the reality TV show The Apprentice in 2006.[8] In the format used at that time, contestants in The Apprentice competed for a £100,000-a-year job working for British businessman Alan Sugar.[8] Hopkins rejected Sugar's offer of a place in the final episode of the programme, citing problems regarding childcare provision for her daughters, and withdrew from the competition at the end of the penultimate task.[8][9] The episode gained 6.2 million viewers, while the following You're Fired! episode, in which Hopkins was interviewed, was watched by 3.1 million.[10]

Throughout her tenure on The Apprentice, Hopkins gave several critical comments on camera. Comments were aimed not just at her fellow contestants but also at viewers of television shopping channels, maternity leave,[11] fake tans and the overweight.[12] Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill writer Richard Curtis expressed his distaste for Hopkins, jokingly vowing to kill her when he accepted his Fellowship award at the 2007 BAFTA awards.[13] When video clips of her comments about other candidates were shown on The Apprentice: You're Fired!, following up on the main programme, Hopkins explained that they were "quite funny". Michelle Mone, the founder of lingerie company Ultimo and a guest on the panel, verbally attacked Hopkins, calling her "exceptionally selfish" and made remarks such as "You've given businesswomen a bad name".[14] Sugar was criticised over questioning of Hopkins about her childcare arrangements.[9] He was accused of violating the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act.[15] This incident was much commented upon by the media.[3][16][17][18] Sugar argued his case in an interview with GMTV host Fiona Phillips, stating that he was aware of the rules.[19]

Aftermath

In June 2007, Hopkins lost her job at the Met Office, which said that she did not meet the required standards to complete her probationary period, and confirmed that her performance on The Apprentice and confessions about her private life were a factor in her dismissal.[8][20] Hopkins later stated that the media were informed of her dismissal an hour after she was fired.[19] After her appearance on The Apprentice, Hopkins signed two deals to sell her story, one with the News of the World newspaper and the other with EMAP, the company behind Heat and Grazia magazines.[21]

Hopkins said in an interview with BBC Radio Kent that she had great respect for Sugar, and that she believed she would have won the programme had she been in the final episode. She also said that the media's attitudes towards her did not affect her but did affect her family.[22] She made a similar claim of hypothetical victory in an interview with Fiona Phillips on the morning of the final Apprentice episode, although Sugar had said that if she wanted to press on he would fire her, whoever she was competing with.[23] Hopkins told BBC Radio 1 that she had not yet ruled out a media career[24] but expressed interest in starting a business venture.[25]

Later work

After The Apprentice, Hopkins appeared in an episode of 8 Out of 10 Cats and was also a guest star on Loose Women and The Friday Night Project.[26] Hopkins wrote a column for Exeter's Express & Echo newspaper, much to the criticism of its readers, but was eventually asked to leave after a poll was put onto the publication's website asking if she should continue in the post.[27] In 2007 she presented a Five Live Report on family life and working mothers for BBC Radio 5 Live, and contributed an article on the same subject to BBC Online.[28]

In 2007, Hopkins joined the 2007 series of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here![29] as a replacement for Malcolm McLaren, who dropped out just before the show started. In January 2015, she took part in the Channel 5 reality series Celebrity Big Brother, finishing in second place.[30]

The following year, she purposefully put on weight and then lost it over the course of several months, in an attempt to show that obese people can diet successfully. Her progress was carefully documented by a camera crew, and it was then played on TLC, being called My Fat Story,[5] Hopkins successfully gained and lost 3 stone (42 lb; 19 kg) over the course of the programme.[31]

On 19 April 2015, Hopkins stood in for Beverley Turner on the Sunday morning radio show on LBC, a decision which generated controversy.[32]

Controversies

Since The Apprentice, Hopkins has frequently featured in the media for making controversial remarks. She has been described in several media outlets as a "professional troll"[33][34][35] and "rent-a-gob."[36] Hopkins has defended her remarks and their criticism, saying "I welcome it because I've had my opinion and it's only right that people have theirs. I welcome the debate and the fact that people are getting involved."[31]

Classism controversy

Hopkins caused controversy in July 2013 during an appearance on ITV's This Morning, when she revealed that she judges her children's classmates based upon their given names. She revealed a particular dislike for the names Tyler and Chardonnay, which met with disapproval from host Holly Willoughby. Hopkins claimed that she did not like "geographical location names" despite the fact that she had given the name India to one of her daughters, stating that India "is not related to a location."[37]

At that time she was a columnist for British tabloid The Sun. Although other newspapers' comments about her include "faux-posh imbecile, an insufferable snob and a low-life superbitch", accusing her of generating outrage on demand, she described herself as a "conduit for truth", declaring what other people think but are too scared to say.[38]

Appearing as a panellist on Channel 5's The Big Benefits Row: Live in February 2014, she was accused by Terry Christian amongst others of only expressing her controversial opinions in order to make money from media appearances.[39]

2013 Glasgow helicopter crash remarks

Hopkins posted a tweet referring to Scottish life expectancy predictions based upon a 2011 NHS report, "Healthy Life Expectancy in Scotland: Update of trends to 2010". This tweet was posted following a heated debate on Scottish Independence during an edition of The Wright Stuff on which Hopkins was a panellist. In the wake of the 2013 Glasgow helicopter crash, the tweet raised widespread condemnation among Twitter users. Hopkins retorted "Following Independence I will only be the Biggest Bitch in England", and described people's reactions as "PC tastic."[40] An online petition to ban Hopkins from television accumulated over 75,000 signatures. Hopkins issued an apology the following Monday, restating that her original remark was in reference to the NHS report and was simply bad timing.[41]

Ebola and Scotland comments

On 31 December 2014, police announced they were investigating complaints they had received concerning Hopkins' tweets about Pauline Cafferkey, a Scottish aid worker who was diagnosed with Ebola virus disease after returning to the UK from Sierra Leone. Hopkins had tweeted: "Little sweaty jocks, sending us Ebola bombs in the form of sweaty Glaswegians just isn't cricket. Scottish NHS sucks."[42] In January 2015, she was voted the "dick of the year" by viewers of Channel 4 show The Last Leg[43] and won the Bluffer's Guides' "Dishonours award" for bad etiquette and behaviour.[44][45]

Pakistani men and Rochdale

On 29 March 2015, Hopkins was reported to the police by Labour MP Simon Danczuk for possible race hate crimes after being accused of equating men of Pakistani origin with child abusers when commenting on a Rochdale sex trafficking case involving mainly Pakistani men and white victims.[46] In response, Hokpins said "I asked fair questions and I think it’s important that someone has the balls to speak out".[47]

Dementia patients

On 7 April 2015, Hopkins made a series of tweets suggesting that people with dementia are 'bed blockers' who utilise scarce hospital beds. Her comments were condemned by leading UK Alzheimer's charities.[48]

Migrants

On 17 April 2015, Hopkins wrote a column in The Sun comparing migrants to "cockroaches" and "feral humans" and said they were "spreading like the norovirus".[49][50] This was published the same week that 400 migrants were feared to have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea and more than 10,000 were rescued trying to cross the Mediterranean.[49] "No, I don't care. Show me pictures of coffins, show me bodies floating in the water, play violins and show me skinny people looking sad. I still don't care", she wrote. Hopkins stated she had more sympathy for "British truckers and taxpayers".[51]

Hopkins' comments were condemned by the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights. In a statement released on 24 April 2015, High Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein stated that Hopkins' used “language very similar to that employed by Rwanda’s Kangura newspaper and Radio Mille Collines during the run up to the 1994 genocide”, and noted that both media organizations were subsequently convicted by an international tribunal of public incitement to commit genocide.[52]

Hopkins' column also drew criticism on Twitter, including from Russell Brand, to whom Hopkins responded by accusing Brand's "champagne socialist humanity" of neglecting taxpayers.[50] Simon Usborne, writing in The Independent, compared her use of the word "cockroach" to previous uses by the Nazis and just before the Rwandan Genocide by its perpetrators.[53] He suspected that if any other contributor had written the piece it would not have been published and questioned her continued employment by the newspaper.[53] Zoe Williams commented in The Guardian: "It is no joke when people start talking like this. We are not 'giving her what she wants' when we make manifest our disgust. It is not a free speech issue. I’m not saying gag her: I’m saying fight her".[54]

A Change.org petition was initiated with the aim of getting The Sun to sack Hopkins. By 26 April, it had attracted near to 300,000 signatures.[55]

Protein World

On 27 April 2015, Hopkins fuelled controversy surrounding Protein World’s 2015 ‘Beach Body Ready’ ad campaign [56][57] by issuing a number of tweets in support of the ad, including: “let's get the @ProteinWorld ads at the top of stairs and steep hills. get the chubsters with their sharpies shifting their chubby arses.” and “Off for a run. Angry chubsters - feel free to catch me and tell me about your 'medical issues' @ProteinWorld.”.[58]

Protein World welcomed the support from Hopkins, but stated that this did not imply endorsement of what she had tweeted.[59]

Anti-Semitic remark

During March 2013 Hopkins has been accused of anti-Semitism after tweeting "He (Mr Miliband) might stick her head (His wife's head) in the oven and turn on the gas.”[60]

Political life

In 2009 Katie Hopkins stood as MEP for the South West England Constituency as an Independent candidate. She polled 8,971 votes or 0.6% percent of the total votes cast.[61]

Hopkins appeared on Question Time on 10 June 2010 and 27 January 2011. She also appeared on the Young Voters' version of Question Time on 20 October 2010.[62] She appeared on an episode of 10 O'Clock Live on 24 April 2013 alongside Theo Paphitis and Owen Jones to defend the legacy of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who had died that month, and to debate tax policies and the division of wealth amongst UK citizens.[63]

Personal life

Katie Hopkins' first husband was Damian McKinney, a former Royal Marine and founder and Chief Executive of the business execution company McKinney Rogers; they married in September 2004 in Exeter.[1][7] While working at the Met Office, she met Mark Cross, a married design manager. In 2010, her marriage to Cross was filmed as part of the reality game show Four Weddings, which is shown on the satellite and cable channel Sky Living.[64]

Television appearances

Year Title Role Notes
2007 The Apprentice Herself Contestant
2007 The Friday Night Project Herself
2007 8 Out of 10 Cats Herself
2007 I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! Herself
2013 - This Morning Herself Guest
2015 Celebrity Big Brother Herself
2015 Loose Women Herself
2015 Reality Bites Herself Guest

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Index of Births, Marriages and Deaths in England and Wales, 1837-1983.
  2. ↑ "Apprentice villain Katie Hopkins standing for Euro election". Western Daily Press. 11 May 2009. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "All fired up". The Guardian (London). 8 June 2007. Retrieved 15 June 2007.
  4. ↑ "Sugar defends interview technique". BBC News. 13 June 2007. Retrieved 16 June 2007.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Grigg, Casilda (8 January 2015). "Hopkins: what fat people need is a kick up the a--". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  6. ↑ "Bideford girl Katie Hopkins stars in Big Brother". North Devon Journal. 14 January 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Katie Hopkins interview: 'Can you imagine the pent-up rage?'". Guardian. 16 February 2014. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 "Apprentice contender Katie fired". BBC News. 12 June 2007. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Cochrane, Kira (2012). Women of the Revolution: Forty Years of Feminism. Guardian Books. p. 222. ISBN 978-0-852-65262-6.
  10. ↑ Holmwood, Leigh (7 June 2007). "The Apprentice beats Diana show". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 15 June 2007.
  11. ↑ Teeman, Tim (7 June 2007). "Last night's TV". The Times (London). Retrieved 15 June 2007.(subscription required)
  12. ↑ "Katie Hopkins: from Apprentice candidate to rent-a-gob". The Guardian. 5 July 2013. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  13. ↑ "Casualty stuns soap rivals to net first BAFTA". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 15 June 2007.
  14. ↑ Plunkett, John (6 June 2007). "The Apprentice - series three, episode 11". The Guardian (London). Archived from the original on 29 August 2007. Retrieved 24 July 2007.
  15. ↑ Sherwin, Adam (8 June 2007). "Sugar faces sexism row as ex-Apprentice sells story". The Times (London). Retrieved 15 June 2007.
  16. ↑ "Katie gone at last, but was the firing squad fair?". The Herald. Retrieved 15 June 2007.
  17. ↑ "Sugar accused of sexism after apprentice quits". The Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 15 June 2007.
  18. ↑ "Sir Alan accused of sexism towards Apprentice villain Katie". This is London. Retrieved 15 June 2007.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 "Sir Alan Sugar Interview". GMTV. Season 14. 13 June 2007. ITV1.
  20. ↑ "Katie Hopkins fired from real job". RTÉ. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 15 June 2007.
  21. ↑ Holmwood, Leigh (7 June 2007). "Apprentice star signs News of the World deal". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 15 June 2007.
  22. ↑ "Katie Hopkins BBC Radio Kent Interview". BBC Radio Kent. Retrieved 15 June 2007.
  23. ↑ "Katie Hopkins Interview". GMTV. Season 14. 13 June 2007. ITV1.
  24. ↑ "Radio 1 Newsbeat – Katie Hopkins Interview". BBC Radio 1. Retrieved 15 June 2007.
  25. ↑ "What Katie did next...". BBC Berkshire. Retrieved 14 June 2007.
  26. ↑ "Show Four: Melanie C". Channel 4. Retrieved 7 August 2007.
  27. ↑ Fletcher, Alex (10 October 2007). "'Apprentice' Hopkins fired from paper". Digital Spy. Retrieved 18 January 2008.
  28. ↑ Hopkins, Katie (21 July 2007). "Gateway to the world feels just like a parish hall". Express and Echo. p. 1. Retrieved 30 July 2007.
  29. ↑ Davis, Hazel (21 March 2009). "You're all fired". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
  30. ↑ "Celebrity Big Brother gets 233 complaints about Ken Morley". BBC News. 12 January 2015. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 Lockhart, Keely (6 February 2015). "Katie Hopkins: 'I'm still the biggest bitch in Britain'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  32. ↑ Longmire, Becca (19 April 2014). "'She's a disease' Katie Hopkins slammed by listeners after making LBC radio hosting debut". Daily Express. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  33. ↑ "Friday 2nd January's Best TV". The Guardian. 19 December 2014. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  34. ↑ "Katie Hopkins Gets Slayed On Twitter By X Factor Stereo Kicks Singer Tom Mann". The Huffington Post. 2 December 2014. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  35. ↑ "Stereo Kicks Burn Katie Hopkins on Twitter". MTV. 2 December 2014. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  36. ↑ Ben Rossington (31 March 2015). "Clarke Carlisle wants to meet driver of lorry he leapt in front of". The Mirror.
  37. ↑ Battersby, Matilda (5 July 2013). "Katie Hopkins branded an 'insufferable snob' after This Morning debate on children's names". The Independent. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
  38. ↑ Usborne, Simon (12 July 2013). "A day with Katie Hopkins: Separating the Apprentice 'superbitch' from her soundbites". Independent. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
  39. ↑ Katie Hopkins Comes To Blows With Annabel Giles On 'The Big Benefits Row', Huffington Post, 4 February 2014.
  40. ↑ "Katie Hopkins apologises for timing of tweet about Scottish life expectancy". The Guardian. 2 December 2013. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  41. ↑ "Katie Hopkins petition passes 75,000 as she explains life expectancy tweet". The Guardian. 3 December 2013. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  42. ↑ "Katie Hopkins' tweets on 'Ebola bombs' examined by police". BBC News. 31 December 2014. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  43. ↑ "Adam Hills sprays Katie Hopkins on The Last Leg, claiming she's worse than Rolf Harris". Sydney Morning Herald. 6 January 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  44. ↑ "Exeter's Katie Hopkins tops inaugural Dishonours List". Exeter Express and Echo. 19 December 2014. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  45. ↑ "West country TV presenter Katie Hopkins, Justin Bieber and Jeremy Clarkson among most offensive people of 2014". Bath Chronicle. 21 December 2014. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  46. ↑ "Katie Hopkins accused of race hate by linking Pakistani men with sex abuse". The Guardian. 29 March 2015. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  47. ↑ Selby, Jenn (1 April 2015). "Katie Hopkins accuses Labour MP Simon Danczuk of reporting her to the police to divert attention away from his porn habit". The Independent. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  48. ↑ Donnelly, Laura (7 April 2015). "Katie Hopkins' slurs on dementia patients provoke anger from charities". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  49. ↑ 49.0 49.1 "Katie Hopkins compares migrants to 'cockroaches' and suggests using gunships to stop them crossing the Mediterranean". ITV News. 18 Apr 2015.
  50. ↑ 50.0 50.1 Gander, Kashmira (17 Apr 2015). "'Hateful' Katie Hopkins column on migrants causes Twitter backlash, as Russell Brand wades into debate". The Independent.
  51. ↑ Sebastian Mann "Katie Hopkins: Twitter backlash after controversial columnist calls migrants 'cockroaches' and suggests using gunships to 'send them home'", London Evening Standard, 17 April 2015
  52. ↑ Stone, Jon. "Katie Hopkins' migrant 'cockroaches' column resembles pro-genocide propaganda, says the UN". The Independent. The Independent. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  53. ↑ 53.0 53.1 Usborne, Simon (18 Apr 2015). "Katie Hopkins has just written a piece so hateful that it might give Hitler pause – why was it published?". The Independent.
  54. ↑ Zoe Williams "Katie Hopkins calling migrants vermin recalls the darkest events of history", The Guardian, 19 April 2015
  55. ↑ "The migrant petition that's not about Katie Hopkins". BBC News. 21 April 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  56. ↑ The Guardian. "Mass Demonstration Planned Over Beach Body Ready Ready Tube Advert".
  57. ↑ The Independent. "Are You Beach Body Ready Protein World Backlash Grows".
  58. ↑ The Drum. "Katie Hopkins Tweets Scathing Attack".
  59. ↑ The Huffington Post. "Katie Hopkins Stirs Protein World Ad Controversy".
  60. ↑ "Katie Hopkins suggests Ed Miliband should gas his wife". CFCA. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  61. ↑ "European Election 2009 | UK Results | South West". BBC News. 8 June 2009. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  62. ↑ "Press Office - Young Voters' Question Time panel announced". BBC. 20 October 2010. Retrieved 30 October 2010.
  63. ↑ "Series 3, Episode 1, 10 O'Clock Live". Channel 4. 24 April 2013. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
  64. ↑ Reality TV wedding for Apprentice 'maneater' Katie Hopkins. Evening Standard, 5 February 2010. Retrieved 15 August 2013

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