This is very disappointing if true.
Lord Sugar’s former right hand man has made some accusations against The Apprentice which are pretty bad. He was on the show for ten years before quitting in 2014.
He has said that the producers of the show wanted Lord Sugar to keep worse contestants in the process longer due to their looks.
He recalled a conversation between himself and Alan while he spoke with The Sun:
“I say to him, ‘Oh, by the way Alan, the blonde: he or she is as thick as a fridge door, and I urge you with every fibre of your being, get rid of them, because they’re going to let you down’.
And the producers will say, ‘Do you think you could find it in your heart to not get rid of the blonde just yet?’
He will say, ‘The blonde will go when the blonde deserves to go’.”
He also suggests that the candidates were initially selected on the bases of their looks saying, “There was a time when all the young ladies who came on wore black pencil skirts and very high heels, with their hair done up in a chignon.
“You might say, ‘Are these the brightest people with the best prospects?’, and I would say, ‘No, not necessarily’.”
He added a reason for doing so saying:
“If you really got the brightest kids the danger is that no-one would understand what they’re doing.
“It’s all about the viewers. If you don’t deliver the numbers, you’re out. Which is why it’s been running now for 12 years.”
Meanwhile, The Sun reached out to the show to get a comment on what he said and they released the following statement:
“All firing decisions throughout The Apprentice are down to Lord Sugar’s own judgement, and solely based on his opinion about who he believes should be fired after every task.”
The Apprentice is a serious business reality series; the winner will be in partnership with Lord Sugar and therefore needs to have the relevant credentials.
References are checked for business and education credentials and a business consultant is involved at audition stages. In addition to this, Lord Sugar sees the CVs during final selection process. To say that candidates are chosen purely for their looks or single lines on their CV is not true.”
