BBC The Apprentice contestant slams show edit as former star admits ‘programme suits BBC agenda’
Former The Apprentice stars have opened up about the BBC show’s edits fitting a certain “agenda”.
Speaking to GB News and other press recently, Marnie Swindells, Reece Donnelly, Solomon Akhtar and Raj Chohan shared some behind-the-scenes details about the Alan Sugar series.
Theatre school owner Donnelly, who appeared in the 17th series of the show, talked about how limited the coverage viewers end up seeing really is, meaning fans miss out on some important details.
“It’s 100 hours of filming for a one-hour show,” he commented, with series 18 star Chohan adding: “I think with that as well, when we went into the buildings, the production team were honest with us, and they said, ‘look, at the end of the day, our responsibility is to make the show, yours is to compete for that money.
“‘We’re going to make the programme suit our agenda.’ There were a lot of great moments in there, but they’re not going to show people.
“Like, the week I got fired, I actually sold well with two things. We sold really well, but I was obviously going to get fired, and I do get fired.
“So when they editing it backwards, it’s got to make sense of the viewer why I got fired.”
Speaking to press via Press Box PR and Flex and the City, series 17 winner Swindells shared: “Because so much is missed, you always play this story out.
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“You remember things because that was your experience. So I remember literally watching at home and I stood at the TV going ‘that’s not how it happened!’ trying to justify it.”
“We are always told from day one ‘if you don’t say it, we can’t put it in’ that’s the one thing I’d say to anyone,” Donnelly reflected.
The 28-year-old quickly went on to add: “However, you are not aware of what’s coming out of your mouth until you experience something like that and you’re like, ‘did I really say that?'”
Swindells also addressed the common criticism contestants face for being “stupid,” as fans watch the show air.
“Now the opportune moment for the disclaimer that everyone who goes to The Apprentice is not an idiot!” she commented.
“The stuff that we create is a combination of so many different factors out of our control,” she added, touching on the products teams usually have to create in most episodes.
She emphasised: “We’re time-limited, we’re limited to what we can use, we’re limited to names, so legally we can’t use certain names.
“The products that you guys see, that we look like we’re really proud of when pitching… Is not our finest work.”
Delving further into the manufactured nature of reality TV, Donnelly added: “We’re basically told what to wear. You’re given a colour at the start of the season for your boardroom as well.”
“For the women, if you wore dresses you had three options,” Swindells explained.
Donnelly added: “Men get one suit, and same for the girls, if they choose a suit, you only get one, but if you choose a dress, you get three.”
“Viewers noticed I was wearing the same suit and Twitter came for me!” Swindells quipped.