The Apprentice candidates banned from bathroom breaks in boardroom
The Apprentice candidates are banned from leaving the boardroom - even if they need to use the loo.
The boardroom showdowns on the BBC reality show are famous for tensions running high, and now former Apprentice winner and advisor to Lord Sugar Tim Campbell has let slip the strict rule which could explain why the competing entrepreneurs are sometimes literally squirming in their seats.
After a team loses a task, they are sent off to the now infamous Bridge cafe in south London to argue it out over large mugs of tea, and decide who they think in their team is responsible for losing.
They then return to Lord Sugar's office where they are called in to the boardroom to point the finger of blame at one another and defend themselves against being fired. And it seems they better make sure the have visited the bathroom after drinking all that consolation tea - because they will not be allowed to pop out and answer the call of nature while Lord Sugar is grilling them.
Campbell told the Radio Times: “No one is going to the loo! These people are after £250,000. Once you’re in the boardroom, those doors are closed, and those scenes can go on for hours. When candidates are in the foyer, they have to be ready for a session that does not stop until Lord Sugar has made a decision - and he’s meticulous.”
Businessman Campbell won the very first series of The Apprentice in 2005, when the prize was an internship working with Lord Sugar. He became an advisor on the show in 2022 after Claude Littner was injured in an accident on an electric bicycle. Now The Apprentice candidates compete not for a job, but for a £250k investment in their own business proposal.
Campbell said of the semi-final interview process, which sees the candidates grilled over their business proposal, figures and claims: "I don’t think it’s brutal at all — it’s thorough. If I was going to give somebody £250,000, I’d ask them some tough questions about what they’re going to do with that money.”
The final five contestants in The Apprentice 2024 will experience the gruelling interview process with Littner, Baroness Karren Brady, Mike Soutar, and Linda Plant. Going into the semi-final the five remaining candidates are recruitment consultant Flo Edwards, dentist Dr Paul Midha, pie company owner Phil Turner, Boutique fitness studio owner Rachel Woolford and former garage star turned wellness entrepreneur Tre Lowe, known for his 00s hit Body Groove.
Three of them will be fired by Lord Sugar, before just two go forward to fight it out in the final, helped by returning candidates from this year's competition.
The Apprentice continues with the semi-final, interviews week, on BBC One at 9pm on Thursday 11th April.
Read more: The Apprentice
Watch: Lord Sugar has started work on a TV drama inspired by his own life story
This article originally appeared on Yahoo TV UK at https://uk.news.yahoo.com/apprentice-candidates-bathroom-ban-105113530.html
