Lord Sugar explains why Celebrity Apprentice format wouldn’t work for main show – and why it must remain as festive specials

Lord Alan Sugar is back in the boardroom this Christmas but this time, he's putting a group of celebrities through their paces instead of wannabe business moguls.

Later this month, 12 celebrity candidates will be headed to Lapland, where they are tasked with creating a magical festive gingerbread biscuit. The famous faces will then have to pitch their biscuits to the UK's biggest retails who will then, for the first time in the show's history, sell the biscuits in stores across the UK - with a percentage of profits going to BBC Children in Need.

Rob Rinder, Jake Wood, Eddie Kadi, JB Gill, Thomas Skinner, Matt Morsia, AJ Odudu, Kadeena Cox, Charlie Hedges, Sarah Hadland, Shazia Mirza and Angela Scanlon will be split into two groups of six as they show off their entrepreneurial prowess.

While there has been a celebrity edition of The Apprentice before, the products being sold in stories is a first for the series - but there's a reason it could never happen in the main show...

During a Q&A, Lord Sugar told RadioTimes.com and other press: "The thing is that on the main Apprentice show, some of the things that they come up with, they do sell them straight away to the trade and to the public. There's never a product which is mass produced in volume that gets sold to supermarkets."

Despite on one occasion there being an order from a supermarket about a biscuit one team had made during the show's run, it is generally known that once a product is made, it is sold that week and the competition continues.

Karren Brady said: "I think you have to remember the lead time. The public is seeing these while the biscuits are available to buy, where in the main series, we're filming tasks week after week after week.

"And obviously there's a bit of time between the filming of it and when it goes out, so it's not as reactive and as easy to do."

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When comparing the main show to the celebrity series, Lord Sugar added that the celebrities have a more "eagerness to compete and want to win", due to there being no financial incentive.

He continued: "There's no financial gains, obviously, for the celebrities or partnerships with me in business, but what you do have is the same hunger to win and the same desire to win. So I suppose it's their own personal pride to make sure that they come out looking good, and they do a great job.

"And with the civilian version, there is that competitiveness for the ultimate goal of becoming my business partner and getting the £250,000 investment.

"But the celebrities are, believe it or not, then they're not slack at getting on with trying to win and do the best they can."

The Celebrity Apprentice will air on Monday 29th December and Tuesday 30th December at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer.

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