The Apprentice has been a part of our culture for almost two decades. And, despite the business competition allegedly being a battle between the brightest entrepreneurs in the UK, contestants have a history of floundering under pressure and accidentally creating TV gold.
Maybe they can’t concentrate with Karren Brady giving them the side eye? Maybe they’ve realised they shouldn’t have volunteered to be Project Manager in a field they know nothing about? But whatever the extenuating circumstances, the result is often calamitous.
And just in case you want to re-live the secondhand embarrassment, here are Grazia’s all-time top cringiest moments from The Apprentice.
When Thomas claimed he couldn’t lose (then lost)
In true Apprentice style, the first cock up stems from over confidence. In Series 15, Thomas Skinner said before his first challenge: 'If we lose, I'll eat my hat'. Inevitably he did lose and, just a few weeks later he fell victim to the same fate.
'We've got this one,' he told his team and, guess what, they really didn't.
When Jessica forgot the jeans
Jessica Cunningham instantly became a Twitter hero in 2016 when she lost a pair of jeans she was meant to be doing a photoshoot with in series 12.
'So, you're doing photographs for your jeans campaign without your jeans? Asked Karen with disdain before Jessica attempted to explain and then burst into tears.
'Go outside, go and take a breath. Calm yourself down,' suggested Karen while Jessica's teammates scrambled to come up with a solution.
When Alex didn’t know how to use a microwave
While Myles attempted to pitch a ready meal to a room full of expectant supermarket big shots in series nine, the team's Project Manager Alex Mills had other ideas.
Cooking up a storm in the background, he loudly pierced the dish's film covering with a fork before declaring: 'The microwaves not on'.
'Do you want to press the big button at the bottom?' an amused ASDA employee suggested. Duh.
When Jamie gave the most sexist pitch of all time
We really were digging our finger nails into the edge of the sofa when Jamie presented his team's cleaning spray 'Octi-Kleen' in Series 6.
Thanks to a stat that claimed 'a quarter of men admitted that they would pass up a night of passion if their home was dirty', the entrepreneurs decided their product would give busy modern women a helping hand keeping their house clean to please their husbands... Many eye rolls ensued.
When Michael had no idea what Kosher meat was
'In your CV , what's the first thing you wrote on it?' Lord Sugar asked Michael Sophocles in series four. 'You're a good Jewish boy? Is that right?'
Michael was, in fact, a good Jewish boy. But when given the task of finding Kosher chicken in Marrakech he somehow wound up in a Halal butcher instead thinking that would make the cut. Oops.
When Rory gave himself an unwarranted promotion
There's nothing worse than someone acting like they're in charge of you when they're not. And Rory Laing found out this faux pas in series three when he told his teammate Tre Azam: 'I AM your boss'.
In one savage phrase that will ring round our heads forever, Tre immediately took him down a peg: 'You're not my boss, you're the project manager. You're nothing to me,' he replied.
When Camilla called herself an ‘extremist’
Viewers quickly had their heads turned in series 14 when Camilla Ainsworth introduced herself as an 'extremist'.
Explaining why she had what it took to win Lord Sugar's £250,000 she continued: 'My goal is worldwide domination and I'm not going to stop until I get it.'
When Solomon got lost
'When I read your CV, it filled me with pleasure,' Claude Littner told Solomon Akhtar in series ten. Grinning from ear to ear, the contestant fell over himself thanking the notoriously savage business man for his praise.
But that was where the compliments stopped as the interview took a turn for the worst when Claude called Solomon's business plan a 'bloody disgrace'.
'You've given me pictures of sailboats,' he fumed before Solomon scrambled to leave the meeting and accidentally walked towards the window instead of the door.
When Simon got frisky with a trampoline
Simon Ambrose made Apprentice history in series three when he accidentally mimed masturbating live on a shopping channel while assembling a mini-trampoline.
'If you're a young child you can do this. If you're an adult you can have fun,' he said as he twisted the phallic leg with his hands while Lord Sugar looked on in disbelief.
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