It turns out Kristi Frank, one of the contestants of NBC's hit new The Apprentice reality show, has a more interesting past than NBC has been letting on. According to Friday's Inside Edition entertainment news show broadcast, Frank also has a soft-core pornography past.

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Billed in NBC's pre-show publicity as a co-restaurant owner and owner of two beachside condominiums in Santa Monica, California, Frank apparently also starred in an episode of Zalman King's popular erotica series Red Shoe Diaries entitled "Swimming Naked." "Swimming Naked" reportedly focuses on a lonely lifeguard at a small town swimming pool who falls for an Olympic swimmer who frequents the local swimming pool.

On Thursday's debut of the NBC series, Frank didn't hesitate to use sex appeal to sell the lemonade that was given to the contestants as their first assignment, even giving her phone number to one customer as a purchase incentive.

When asked her background, the series executive producer Mark Burnett, told Inside Edition that he knew about Frank’s racy past before production began -- and appeared somewhat frustrated that it took the media so long to uncover Frank's past."You putting it on TV can only help my ratings," he told Inside Edition’s Matt Meagher. "I wasn’t sure how long it would take you to find out. I should have called you myself."

Of course Burnett (and broadcast partner CBS) made similar claims when, before his Survivor: Thailand premiered, it was revealed that contestant Brian Heidik also had an a background as a soft-core pornography actor. Heidik, who was identified by the network as a "top used car salesman," eventually went on to win the top prize in the fifth edition of the Survivor series. Despite Burnett and CBS' public claims at the time however, media reports persisted that they completely unaware of Heidik's pornography past during filming and only learned of his previous "career" when he was "recognized" by a producer during the post-production editing process.

Perhaps Burnett truly was aware of Frank's past before production began... or perhaps he was once again duped by a former adult film actor.

In addition to Burnett's experiences, other reality show contestants have been surprised by revelations about their past before. For example, during the program's broadcast, it was discovered that Joe Millionaire runner up Sara Kozer had starred in bondage and foot fetish films. Additionally, Frenchie Davis was booted from American Idol when it was discovered she appeared on a raunchy web site.

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