From:
AAP By Erin McWhirter
November 23, 2005
NEWLY crowned Australian Princess Ally Mansell has labelled Princess Diana's former butler Paul Burrell a whinger after she won the Channel 10 reality show.
Mansell was announced winner tonight, beating farm girl Wendy Slack-Smith and mother-of-one Abby Valdes.
While recognised as the most princess-like contestant, Mansell was less than regal when it came to Burrell, a judge in the contest.
"Sometimes ... I really hated him (Burrell) because he could be such an arsehole," said the 20-year-old from Cronulla, New South Wales.
"At times he can be really moody and he will have a sulk. He would arrive some mornings at our castle with his sulk face on and you just knew he was in a bad mood."
Despite his mood swings Mansell said Burrell wasn't always bad.
"He was really unpredictable," she said.
"Some days you could joke with him and other days he would say horrible things and put you down.
"But he also has a humorous side to him and in London he took us under his wing and we got on well."
The "surfer chick" beat 3000 wannabe princesses who auditioned for the series earlier this year.
Fourteen young women were hand-picked by judges including the Duchess of York's sister Jane Ferguson, renowned British etiquette expert Jean Broke-Smith and Burrell.
Radio star Jackie O hosted the eight-week program, which was not a ratings hit, attracting less than one million viewers each week.
The last five apprentice princesses received an all expenses paid trip to London, where one lucky contestant attended a ball with a real Polish prince.
That girl was Mansell.
Mansell takes home a $42,000 tiara, a round the world trip for two, a $10,000 Charlie Brown wardrobe, a year's supply of Max Factor and Pantene products and a princess cut diamond ring.
The aspiring primary school teacher admitted she was the least likely winner in the competition and would never make a real-life princess.
"I was living in a world that most Australian girls would never get a taste of," she said.
"You got to see what Princess Mary goes through.
"But, I will never make a princess. There is a lot of pressure involved. If you could mix the best parts of Princess Mary's life with mine and leave out the crap it would be heaven."
