FORMER Dragons' Den star Hilary Devey says she knows nothing about her replacement on the BBC show — except that “she likes taupe”.

The Bolton entrepreneur's place on the panel was filled by interior designer Kelly Hoppen, who is famous for kitting out houses in the neutral colour, after Hilary quit the Den for Channel 4.

Hilary’s new show, The Intern, starts on Channel 4 tonight at 9pm.

The 55-year-old former Bolton Grammar School pupil, pictured, said: “I don't know very much about her other than that she likes taupe. I hate taupe. I'm quite flamboyant and over-the-top in my interior design.”

The businesswoman, who made her fortune in freight haulage, said her best Dragons’ Den investment had been a mattress/duvet for caravans, boats and trucks.

But the self-made millionaire said: “What you're not told is that when the programme is broadcast other investors often make offers and the entrepreneurs then back out. So the poor Dragons have spent all this money during the period of “due diligence” for nothing.”

She denied her new Channel 4 show, The Intern, was like Lord Sugar's BBC1 series The Apprentice.

She said: “It's nothing like The Apprentice. It's got a heart, and me, kicking the candidates and tearing a strip off them when they need it.

“Every week there's a winner who walks away with a dream job.”