Katie Hopkins oozes jolly hockey sticks charm as she enters the room.
It's hard to believe this woman is the same 'professional troll' who has made a career out of her controversial views on everything from breastfeeding campaigners ("the mammary militia") and the obese ("chubbers"), to children named Chardonnay.
Hopkins is looking a little softer around the edges, however, having recently gone from 8st 7lb to 11st 13lb in three months for a new two-part documentary.
Katie Hopkins: My Fat Story shows the 39-year-old ("although people think I'm 52 already") munching on fast < ahref="http://www.nottinghampost.com/food">food, ready meals, cakes and chocolate milkshakes to experience being overweight – and to prove her theory that losing weight isn't that difficult.
It comes as a surprise to learn that Hopkins, who has previously claimed she'd never employ an overweight person, worked in a Wimpy branch and a McDonalds drive-thru.
"I probably served quite a few fat people in my time. Just as well they didn't know who I was then," she says.
"Hopkins admits being bigger for the TLC documentary was "hard work" – "it's horrible going up the stairs, but more than that, it's horrible how you feel about yourself" – and there's even the occasional teary moment in the show.
So does Katie Hopkins have a heart after all?
"I think I do have a heart," she continues. "It took a while to find it..
"Becoming this other person that was 12 and a half stone, 50 per cent more of me than there used to be, not being able to run anymore, not being able to leg it around the place anymore and solve anything. I just became very weak."
"People do have their reasons for being overweight. But you still have to decide one day when you look in the mirror, 'This is my problem, I'm going to do something about it, and I'm now going to say, 'I have no excuses''. The day you can do that is the day you can change who you are and change the amount you weigh."
She hasn't fully lost the extra weight when we meet (a few months after the weight challenge), but is back in some of her old clothes, and "definitely near where I ought to be".
Katie Hopkins: My Fat Story starts on TLC on Friday January 2 at 9pm.
