Ulrika Jonsson for Celeb Big Bro

Ulrika Jonsson heads to Big Brother house for cool £175,000

Ulrika Jonsson will have rubbed fellow Big Brother housemates up the wrong way before even entering the house – by earning up to eight times more than some of them.

The former weather girl has been presented with an offer she can’t refuse - £175,000 - to appear on the new series of Celebrity Big Brother, while some other contestants, notably former A1 boy band member Ben Adams, will receive a paltry £20,000.

TV bosses are hoping the Swedish-born beauty - who has four children by four different fathers - will make for explosive viewing on the show,by revealing details about her colourful love life, including her affair with former England manager Sven Goran-Eriksson.

After Ulrika, the second most highly-paid contestant is topless model Lucy Pinder, who’ll pull in £150,000.

The actor Verne Troye, who starred as Mini Me in Austin Powers, will rake in £136,000, and singer La Toya Jackson (yes, that's Michael’s sister), has secured £100,000.

Former Sugababe Mutya Buena and one-time presenter of The Word, Terry Christian, will each receive between £50,000 and £75,000, while Liberty X singer Michelle Heaton will get £60,000, according to the Daily Mail.

A programme insider said: 'Many of the other celebrities are fuming. When you are doing exactly the same job as someone else and they are getting paid much more, it can cause resentment.

'But Channel 4 thinks Ulrika is the top-billing celeb because of her past.

'The revelations she may come out with will get everybody watching - we hope it's going to be TV dynamite!'

The series, due to start on Friday, was cancelled last year following the race row involving Jade Goody and the Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty in the 2007 series.

Let’s hope this year will see more, hilarious, clean fun.

With this line-up, we’re sure it’s going to be our secret guilty pleasure for the whole of the next month.