It could have been ugly, but the fiery politician and the singer are now like sisters.

A red-haired controversy magnet who didn’t like black people – that’s how Deni Hines viewed Pauline Hanson and her politics before the pair met on Nine’s reality series The Celebrity Apprentice.The famous singer was sure she’d butt heads with the outspoken politician.

“I definitely had some preconceived ideas about the lady I now call Mamma P,” says Deni, 41. “Seriously, I was ready to hate her.” But after the women were teamed against the men on the show, and they spent quality time together, Deni is prepared to eat some humble pie, along with a generous slice of Pauline’s homemade lemon meringue.

“I thought, ‘Oh this is going to be interesting. She supposedly doesn’t like black people’,” says Deni. Now all the women on the show – including comedienne Julia Morris and model Jesinta Campbell, who also admitted to Woman’s Day they thought they wouldn’t get along with Pauline – call the Queenslander “Mamma P”. “To see how she is as a person... she’s got a lovely, gentle heart,” says Deni, explaining her about-face.

“Hearing her story of being a young mum, having kids at a young age, and being divorced and bringing them up a single mum, I instantly pictured my mum, Marcia. That was my mum’s story, only Mum didn’t have the husband. “People don’t realise Pauline’s got a son who is a carer. What kind of ‘mean woman’ can produce a carer as a son? She is a nurturer.”

The Celebrity Apprentice airs weeknights at 7pm on Channel Nine.

Read more about Deni and Pauline's friendship in this week's Woman's Day, on sale October 24, 2011.