Lord Alan Sugar has hit back at claims that this year's The Apprentice line-up resemble a 'sexier' Love Island cast. Tomorrow night, January 5, this year's contestants will enter the boardroom for the first time as the no-nonsense business mogul Lord Sugar sets them tricky tasks which will test their business sense.
The 17th series of the BBC reality show will see 18 new candidates compete to win a life-changing investment of £250,000 from Lord Sugar. Following the release of this year's line-up yesterday, some viewers have noted the apparent resemblance between this year's candidates and Love Island contestants.
One of those to draw comparison between the two shows and their contestants was journalist Sally Nugent on this morning's episode of BBC Breakfast. As Sally and co-presenter Jon Kay went through the day's newspaper headlines, they reacted to an article about this year's Apprentice cast.
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In the article, contestant Joseph Phillips dubbed himself the 'James Bond of Business', whilst Rochelle Anthony compared herself to Kim Kardashian. After looking at the article, Sally asked: "Are we sure this is The Apprentice?"
"They're a very glamorous lot, aren't they?" replied Jon. "You were saying it's more like Love Island."
In a recent interview with The Sun, Lord Sugar was asked how much input he'd had in the line-up of candidates this year. "Quite a lot," he replied.
"It is a very stringent process that we go through, which includes making sure that the people will be able to stand up to the pressures that I’ll put upon them. And obviously, I get to do a deep dive into their CVs.
"We get 6,000 people at auditions but the first time they see me is in the boardroom. Keep your head down and get on with it. Stay focused, stay honest and you’ll come through the other end."
Lord Sugar acknowledged claims that this year's cast resemble Love Islanders, although he couldn't address them properly. He told The Sun: "I’d be able to answer that if I’d ever watched Love Island, but I have not."
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