The Apprentice spin-off host Angela Scanlon reacts to Lord Sugar’s shock double firing: "I was gutted"

**Warning: Contains spoilers for The Apprentice season 20**

The Apprentice returned for a landmark 20th season on BBC One tonight and Lord Alan Sugar certainly didn't hold back.

From introducing 20 candidates to sending them to Hong Kong for their very first buying challenge, the business hopefuls were thrown into the deep down – and only 18 remained in the running to become his next business partner.

After returning from their first task, like always Lord Sugar asked the project manager and sub team project manager to bring back two people from their team they believed were at fault, before revealing that two people were going to be fired from the process.

Unfortunately for Nikki Jetha and Georgina Newton, their time in the process came to a fast end, and over on BBC Two, audiences will be able to hear all about their journey on the show and their thoughts about their firings, as they speak to Angela Scanlon, the host of The Apprentice: Unfinished Business.

Ahead of the new companion series launch, RadioTimes.com caught up with Scanlon who admitted that the double firing felt "savage".

"They're all flown out to Hong Kong, it's like this big, amazing start to the series, they haven't even gotten to the house and unpacked their bags," Scanlon said. "So I think it's a tough one and I don't think anyone saw it coming.

"When Nikki got the got the boot and then he turned his eyes on Georgina! The politest woman in the history of the show, she's singing, she's the ultimate hype girl and so, I was gutted, really."

Scanlon explained that Nikki has small children and was really determined to "make her mark early doors" and felt that due to her background as a mortgage broker she'd be "really good at negotiations".

"[But] the challenge of finding all of these items in a very foreign city meant that they didn't really get down to negotiation very much, because they were flapping looking for nine items," she continued. "So it felt like she had the skills, she just didn't really get the opportunity to show them, which I think is always the most disappointing thing for a candidate, is if they kind of really knew and believed that they could go further in the process."

Scanlon told RadioTimes.com: "They're all kept on their toes from episode 1, but as Baroness Brady says, none of them know, nor does Lord sugar know when he goes into that boardroom what's going to happen.

"And he may have an idea based on what feedback Tim and Karren have given, or what he's seen, or the results, but he will ultimately be listening to the people in front and whether they take responsibility or whether their attitude stacks up. And so I think it was a surprise for everybody."

Next week, the remaining candidates are tasked with creating a children's story and audiobook but one team's take on toilet humour ends up with a stinky storyline.

While the other team tries to stand out from the herd with a zebra-themed tale, but tensions on the team threaten to stop their story in its tracks...

The Apprentice: Unfinished Business airs on Thursday 29th January at 10:05pm on BBC Two and iPlayer, with audio available on BBC Sounds.

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