’Vicious’ Morgan wins US Apprentice - Mar 28 2008
Former tabloid editor Piers Morgan won the live US final of The Celebrity Apprentice and raised a quarter of a million pounds more than the rest of the contestants combined.

Morgan was frequently described as ruthless, vicious and evil as he fought off the other 13 celebrities, winning more tasks than anybody else.

In a battle that was billed as "good versus evil, America versus Britain" by host Donald Trump, Morgan won the show’s prize of 250,000 dollars (£125,000) for charity in the final task, a celebrity auction and party.

The 42-year-old was helped by multi-millionaire X-Factor judge Simon Cowell, who bought a shopping trip with Trump’s tall blond daughter Ivanka for 100,000 dollars (£50,000), and the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, who offered afternoon tea with her as an auction prize.

Morgan, best known in the US as the mean judge on "America’s Got Talent", was booed by the studio audience as he came on stage to take on mild-mannered country singer Trace Adkins, whom he described as a "6ft 7in cowboy" and "all-American hero", in the live final on US TV network NBC.

As he announced the winner, Trump told Morgan: "You’re a vicious guy, I’ve seen it. You can try and dispute it. You’re tough, you’re smart, you’re probably brilliant, I’m not sure. You’re certainly not diplomatic.

"But you did an amazing job and you beat the hell out of everybody. And you won by far more than anybody."

Piers makes friends - Nov 27 2007
Former tabloid editor Piers Morgan has said he managed to accrue friends after publishing his new book Don’t You Know Who I Am?.

The former Daily Mirror editor said: "I thought I’d lose friends - actually I gained more because more people wanted to be in the next book who were really upset they weren’t in the first one.

"It’s become sort of like a Samuel Pepys diary where people are actually really annoyed if they’re not in it, so I now get celebrities behaving in a really disgraceful manner hoping they can sneak their way into the book. But I’m not that gullible."

But Piers, who also stars in the show Britain’s Got Talent alongside fellow judges Amanda Holden and Simon Cowell, admitted that old foes were ever-present.

"I’ve had a few people who didn’t take it that well," the 42-year-old confessed. "I mean Jeremy Clarkson obviously punched me in the head again, stuff like that but you take that as the rough and tumble of writing."


Ad showing punched McClaren banned - Nov 26 2007
A Piers Morgan DVD commercial showing Steve McClaren being punched in the face by a cartoon boxing glove has been banned from broadcast.

The attack on the ex-England boss did not get past the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC), which is responsible for approving TV commercials.

But the advert for Piers Morgan’s The Good, the Gaffes and The Ugly DVD is already on the YouTube website.

Piers said: "Steven McClaren and the hopeless England team have caused me and the great British public immense emotional, physical and mental pain this week. The idea that I’ve been insensitive towards him is utterly ridiculous."

The former Mirror editor fronts the commercial for his DVD of sporting highs and lows.

BACC editorial standards manager Kristoffer Hammer said the agency behind the advert had been informed of the ban.

"We couldn’t allow an attack on an individual to go on television in advertising," he said.