Is this the most hopeless line-up of Apprentice candidates ever? BBC show’s premiere sees a hapless team mistakenly use crumble to make fish cakes – as the other group suffers a financial LOSS on the first task
Lord Sugar is on the hunt for his next ‘big’ business partner and someone who will make him millions.
And after turning down thousands of applications and holding nationwide auditions, the 74-year-old mogul was shocked to discover that his newest recruits had caused him a financial loss during the show’s first task.
The 18 candidates are challenged to organize a luxury getaway in the Scottish Highlands, but the paying customers are far from satisfied.
An embarrassing situation in the kitchen resulted in one team serving fishcakes in sweet crumble instead of breadcrumbs, while the rival group served cold food 45 minutes after it came out of the oven.
The mistakes did not go unnoticed by Lord Sugar’s trusted aides, Baroness Karren Brady, 54, and Tim Campbell, 46, who shuddered with pity at the contestant’s shambolic efforts.
Lord Sugar is on the hunt for his next ‘big’ business partner and someone who will make him millions
After turning down thousands of applications and holding auditions across the country, the mogul was shocked to discover that his newest recruits had caused him a financial loss.
The 18 candidates are challenged to organize a luxury getaway in the Scottish Highlands, but the paying customers are far from satisfied
An embarrassing situation in the kitchen led one team to top fishcakes with sweet crumble instead of breadcrumbs
Karren, who supervised the females, was split into male and female teams and said the fishcakes were one of the worst things she had ever tasted.
She added: ‘It’s clearly a crumble on a fish cake… it’s disgusting.’
Lord Sugar, who has been at the helm of the BBC show for the past 18 years, says the candidates’ pointless display is the reason he is not overseeing the duties himself.
He said: ‘I’ll leave that to Karren and Tim… it was a tough job, but if I had been there I probably would have had to step in and cook.’
The billionaire noted that seeing the mistakes of the pressured contestants was like “watching your mother-in-law drive your Ferrari over a cliff.”
There were further shortcomings in the men’s kitchen, which served stone-cold sausages despite being headed by pie company owner Phil Turner.
Sales manager Oliver Medforth appeared to shock himself after forgetting to add the flour while making a batch of brownies for dessert – he had to start over.
Instead of their ‘welcome drink’ being a glass of bubbly, they gave the guests tap water.
And the abseiling time was so long overrun that project manager Virdi Singh Mazaria gave his paying customers just four minutes to enjoy a half-hour Scottish country dance lesson – because they had to catch the train home.
Sales manager Oliver Medforth appeared to shock himself after forgetting to add the flour while making a batch of brownies for dessert – he had to start over
Karren says seeing mistakes in the candidates is one of the reasons why viewers enjoy watching the show and even teach entrepreneurs what to avoid when running their own businesses
Contestants including yoga business owner Onyeka Nweze, Maura Rath, Noor Bouziane, Raj Chohan and Sam Saadet (top row L-R) are competing for Lord Sugar’s £250,000 investment
The most cringeworthy moment of the show’s first episode, which airs on Thursday evening, came from recruitment director Jack Davies, who had the audacity to ask disgruntled guests for a ‘tip’, which went down like a lead balloon.
But Karren says seeing mistakes in the candidates is one of the reasons viewers enjoy watching the show — and even teaches entrepreneurs what to avoid when running their own businesses.
She said: ‘There is no script in this show and everything that unfolds, unfolds, it’s authentic, it’s real.
“A lot of people watch this show to see what they should and shouldn’t do in business. As it unfolds, the viewers see it… there are no retakes.”
Once Lord Sugar picks the weak from the strong participants, they begin to prosper and eventually put money in the bank.
Karren revealed that this year’s crop delivers the ‘biggest win in terms of value’ as they manage to impress the boss, who is giving away £250,000 of his own money to the winner.
She said, “I’m talking millions… so some of them really rise to the top.”