The Apprentice is back for another series, and after a splashy first episode sent the twenty – yes, twenty – candidates to Hong Kong, Lord Alan Sugar shocked them all by turning up for an overseas boardroom showdown that led to a double elimination. One decision in particular has sparked some particularly strong reactions online.
After a poor performance by both teams, it was the girls who lost the task, with Project Manager Nikki Jetha sadly becoming the first to go. Sub-team leader Georgina Newton quickly followed, after Baroness Karren Brady expressed concern that she became “upset” at the idea of blaming her teammates for the loss.
Georgina’s elimination stoked up a lot of emotion on social media, with one person writing on X: “Nah that was harsh *** I dont think Georgina deserved to be fired! #theapprentice.”
“Georgina was simply just far too nice a person for these set of utter b******s,” said someone else.
A third posted: “It’s a shame Georgina got fired, she seemed legitimately nice. She doesn’t really fit the show’s narrative that you have to be a bit of a bully to succeed in business.”
BBC
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“Georgina got fired for being too nice? That’s just a bit silly isn’t it,” read another post, while someone else said: “Georgina was robbed… just bc she was nice she got fired??”
“Aww I liked Georgina. Think her firing was a little unfair,” said another, while another reasoned: “Very enjoyable episode of #TheApprentice there because everyone was so bad. But I don’t like the fact Georgina was essentially fired for being nice. It’s OK to be polite and listen to others in business! There wasn’t a reason to blame people, so she didn’t.”
Other viewers, meanwhile, couldn’t help but compare the series opener to a certain other BBC hit, after watching the candidates dart around another country.
Photographer://BBC
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“Has the Apprentice turned into Race Across the World … they just seem to be running around Hong Kong unable to read a map,” one viewer quipped.
“It feels like the producers watched race across the world for this episode and thought ‘make them run’,” said someone else.
Meanwhile, spin-off You’re Fired has found a new host in Angela Scanlon and been rebranded to Unfinished Business, after previous host Tom Allen stepped down.
Series 20 of The Apprentice airs on BBC One on Thursdays. Spin-off The Apprentice: Unfinished Business airs on BBC Two after the main show.
Read more The Apprentice news on our dedicated homepage
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Shaun is an Evening News Editor at Digital Spy, with over a decade of experience reporting on all things pop culture. He has written for outlets including Metro, Attitude, Huffington Post, The Mirror, Yahoo!, Pink News and Express Online; specialising in TV, movies, soaps, music and LGBTQ+ issues. He is also a BAFTA Rocliffe-winning scriptwriter, having written episodes of the soap Hollyoaks, the official Steps musical Here & Now and multiple Offie Award-nominated plays. He studied English Literature and Drama at the University of East Anglia, and will happily talk at length about Desperate Housewives to anyone who’ll listen.