Katie Hopkins has signed up for a TV weight loss challenge after making a string of controversial remarks about obesity.

The outspoken former Apprentice star, who regularly courts controversy and has been involved in online spats with stars including Lily Allen about their weight, has previously said she would not employ an overweight person and said "every fat child lives in the shadow of a fat parent".

A new two-part documentary will see her try to put on more than three stone in weight and then lose it again in a bid to back up her controversial views on weight loss.

She said: " Britain is eating its way to obesity and struggling to do anything about it. But in the vast majority of cases, the solution is simple.

"Overweight people should eat less and move more and stop blaming everyone else for problems they can control.

"To prove that losing weight is not as hard as some people make out, I'm going from underweight to overweight and back."

Katie, who has criticised celebrities including Made In Chelsea's C heska Hull and Gemma Collins from The Only Way Is Essex about their weight, will appear in the TLC show early next year.

A spokeswoman for the channel said: " Katie has been very outspoken about her prejudices towards overweight people.

"This documentary will confront her attitudes and put her beliefs to the test, by following her own physical and emotional journey as she gains and loses weight, whilst exploring the broader issues of body image in our society."