Lord Alan Sugar has taken a scathing swipe at the former Apprentice star Thomas Skinner, saying it was “blatantly obvious” he would be thrown out of Strictly.
Lord Alan Sugar has taken a brutal swipe at Thomas Skinner after the former Apprentice star’s stint on Strictly Come Dancing.
The business mogul has returned to his BBC competition with a new batch of hopefuls vying for his £250,000 investment.
Pillow salesman Thomas rose to fame after his time in the boardroom in 2019, on the show’s fifth series.
He was fired in week nine but went on to make several more TV appearances, including on Strictly last year, where he was partnered with Amy Dowden.
Thomas became the first celebrity voted out of the competition, and later spoke about his experience on the show, saying he wished he’d never taken part.
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In the run up to the new series of The Apprentice, Lord Sugar didn’t hold back from a swipe at Thomas, claiming how obvious it was that he would be the first one eliminated from Strictly.
When asked about this year’s cast in the reality competition, which includes an actress and a former Geordie Shore star, and whether the first task firing is the hardest as he had yet to get to know the contestants and just had to rely on gut feeling, Lord Sugar replied: “It should be… but sometimes it’s so bl**dy obvious.”
He added: “Like, Thomas when he got thrown out of Strictly. It was blatantly quite obvious what was going to happen.”
Teasing the rest of the series after the brutal first firing in The Apprentice, Lord Sugar went on to insist that the contestants do improve over time.
He said, “This is where my famous saying is, the cream rises through to the top, as we go through the process.”
He went on: “The candidates learn as time goes by, they learn from their mistakes. You can see them learning about things.”
Lord Sugar added that he didn’t have his sights set on a winner from the first instance, explaining: “I need to see them operate throughout all of the tasks, so you don’t get a feeling straight away.
“In fact, in the past, we’ve seen people who we thought in the beginning were very, very good, and then they turn out to be no good at all.
“We’ve seen people who are very quiet and dull in the beginning, and then they rise to the top.”
He added, “They were a good bunch, a very entertaining lot. And quite intelligent, some of them are very intelligent, and you’ll see that as the series goes through.”
This comes after Thomas burst into tears when he returned to the boardroom for The Celebrity Apprentice late last year.
Before the BBC Children in Need challenge began, Thomas wiped away tears as he reunited with Lord Sugar, who joked that Thomas had gained “celebrity status”.
Lord Sugar began: “Tom, since when did you get celebrity status?”
“I don’t know,” Thomas laughed back, as Lord Sugar continued: “He was here as an ordinary candidate, now he’s here in Celebrity Apprentice, bit of a wheeler-dealer.
“He sells Christmas cards on New Year’s Day.”
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As the other candidates laughed, Baroness Karren Brady noticed Thomas wiping his eyes and asked, “Are you crying?”
A tearful Thomas replied: “I don’t get upset really, it’s just I’ve done this show six years ago, and this show changed my life. I’m back here!”
Lord Sugar replied: “It’s exciting for me because you’re the only candidate I might end up firing twice.”
“I hope not, fingers crossed,” Thomas quipped back.
The Apprentice returns to iPlayer and BBC One from Thursday 29 January from 9pm.
