Lord Alan Sugar has been on The Apprentice (Picture: BBC/Naked/Ray Burmiston/Rufina Breskin)
The Apprentice’s former candidate Sam Saadet has claimed that Lord Alan Sugar is saying more gags than viewers actually get to hear.
The 34-year-old businesswoman who made it to week six on the BBC series in 2024 has recently been divulging details about what goes on behind the scenes.
As part of her tea spilling, she claimed that most of Lord Sugar’s jokes are cut because they are ‘inappropriate, old school and too edgy’.
Part of what makes the reality show so watchable is the quips that do make it to air from the 77-year-old but Sam says he’s been getting some help in that department.
‘His inappropriate jokes are hilarious but you just can’t say certain things so production has to feed him jokes,’ Sam shared with The Sun.
‘They had to write down some more jokes that were more PG and after reading them from the paper he just crossed them off his list.
Sam gave an insight into filming the popular BBC show (Picture: FremantleMedia Ltd)
‘Now that was really funny, you had to stop yourself from sniggering when that happened.’ Lord Sugar has been on the UK show since its inception in 2005 so we understand if he’s ran out of material.
Sam signed up to the series in hopes of gaining investment into her The Mummy Movement business – her app and podcast is designed to help mums with their prenatal and postnatal health. However, the £250,000 cash prize was eventually won by boutique fitness studio owner Rachel Woolford.
Although big money is on offer for the entrepreneur deemed the most worthy, the fee for taking part in the show is a little more conservative. Sam said each contestant is given a £1,000 flat fee for their time, and a £500 clothing allowance. The former is only given when the show airs and if they don’t violate an NDA, which prevents them from revealing the results. The filming takes place between April and May, so the secret must be maintained for eight months.
The candidates are totally immersed into the show using clever tactics (Picture: FremantleMedia)
To give us the entertainment we’ve come to love (or love-hate) the producers make sure the participants are fully immersed into the experience. In order to achieve this the hopefuls have to give up their phones, credit cards and passports, but everybody is given fair warning during the lengthy application process.
‘They say, you’ll be cut off from your friends and family, have your phone and passport taken away, you’ll be woken up at the crack of dawn at 3am and be up until 11pm, you won’t be in the real world.
‘It felt like they were covering their backs so that people couldn’t be like, “‘”I didn’t know how hard it would be” or “You never told me that”.’
Sam says Baroness Karren Brady and Tim Campbell MBE placed ‘banana skins’ in her path (Picture: BBC/Naked/Ray Burmiston/Rufina Breskin)
Sam didn’t stop there, she alleged that they are constantly chaperoned, even having to ask to go to the toilet, they are not allowed to know the time, and they have live-in minders who discourage any romance or even friendship.
She also recalled feeling they were sometimes given restrictions that pushed them towards not doing as well.
‘We used to call them “banana skins” and they were constant. For the options, it was first come, first serve and after selecting, say the colour green, Karren Brady or Tim Campbell would be like “Let me check… Sorry, the other team got there first”. You never know if that’s true or not.’
Metro has contacted The Apprentice for comment.
The Apprentice returns to BBC One and iPlayer on Thursday, January 30 at 9pm.
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