THERE have been Love Island lookalikes and celebrities-in-the-making in years gone by, but this time, The Apprentice’s latest round of candidates look ready for a battle of survival of the fittest.
Eighteen fresh faces will take to the boardroom next week – to face Lord Sugar and his advisors, Karren Brady and Tim Campbell, in a showdown of business prowess.
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But if the fitness fanatics bunch are anything to go by, the show’s host would be better off getting some training in the gym to keep up – or pull them apart.
Among the stars of the nineteenth series, are two national level athletes, one a sprinter and the other, one of England’s finest Kabaddi competitors, a contact sport originated in India.
There’s two CrossFit competitors, a female bodybuilder, a former professional tennis player turned Padel extraordinaire, and a gym lover who has started up their own coffee business.
While among the others, two former models, and even one competitor who has graced screens before, as a contestant in ITV fitness show, Ninja Warrior UK.
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To keep contestants on their toes, Lord Sugar decided that for the first time, the opening task – which takes place in the Alps – would not be divided into teams of men and women, but two mixed groups.
He explained: “We’ve split them into sexes in the past purely to help the audience get to know the candidates quickly, it just felt like an easy thing to do.
“This year, we decided to mix it up from the outset.
“It’s quite a refreshing addition to the first episode, and it’s interesting to see how they handle being a mixed team because it’s not what they necessarily expected from the start.”
He’s had five female business partners in a row, after the girls proved they have what it takes to dominate The Apprentice’s boardroom once again last series.
Gym owner Rachel Woolford took home the investment to grow her North Studios, following in the footsteps of Marnie Swindells in 2023, owner of boxing gym Bronx.
Now, Lord Sugar has had to issue a sharp warning to his latest male recruits, if they are to have any hope in keeping up with their female counterparts this year.
He said: “I’ve always said women in business are great, they are very, very focused.
“Women haven’t got that kind of problem of flexing their muscles and trying to show what big shots they are, they just get on with it.
“They get on with the job in hand.
“Some of my best employees have been women, going back to the eighties, it’s just always been that way.
“The male candidates need to be shrewd, be clever, and be smart – it’s not rocket science.”
TIM CAMPBELL
IT’S been more than two decades since he first graced the boardroom on The Apprentice, but just because Lord Alan Sugar is turning 78 this year doesn’t mean he’s slowing down.
In fact, the businessman and his two right-hand advisors, Tim Campbell and Karren Brady, have insisted he’s not going anywhere yet when it comes to his time on the BBC One series.
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Provided, of course, that the BBC are still happy to commission more of the popular business show.
Lord Sugar said of the possibility of stepping down after series 20, which airs next year: “I have to see how I feel because I’m getting older, it really depends as long as I’ve got my health and strength.
“I’ve always said I will carry on as long as the BBC wants me to, and that’s a consideration that’s not my call, it’s the BBC’s call.”
Karren knows that the series would not be the same without him, for its millions of fans: “It wouldn’t be the same show without him, because he is the star of the show.
“His authenticity, he’s straight talking.
“His ability to see through the nonsense, the way he sums everything up, his poignant points in the boardroom… He knows what he’s looking for.”
Tim agreed: “He ‘ain’t going anywhere! That man has got so much energy, he’s so full of life.
“It’s going to come down to does he want to and is he interested
“There’s a lot of people who would love him to continue forever, but it’s going to be all down to him.”
KARREN BRADY
THE Apprentice will be back with a bang as the candidates are jetted out to the Austrian Alps for the first task of the series, which returns to BBC One on January 30.
But while it was a delight for all the contestants to be battling it out in such a picturesque landscape, Lord Sugar’s advisor Karren Brady couldn’t say she had the same enthusiasm.
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The businesswoman admitted: “Obviously, I have to take notes on everything, and we were standing more than 3000 metres above sea level in Austria, it was so cold.
“I couldn’t write with my gloves on, so I had to take my gloves off to write my notes.
“All of a sudden, I couldn’t write because my hand literally froze, you know when you’re trying to do something and your hand won’t do what you want it to do?
“That’s what happened.
“It was so bad that I couldn’t even read my own notes back at the end of the day! I really did suffer for our art!”
It’s not just in the Alps where Karren is suffering from the demands of the job, however.
She complained: “We get no downtime!
“I mean, when it says it’s 4am, it really is 4am, and we’re up when they’re up, and we finish when they finish.
“You need a lot of stamina.
“Tim’s a lot younger than me, so he probably handles it better.
“But it really is hard work, we’re putting a proper shift in!”
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