The Apprentice continued this week, with often the most anticipated stage of the selection process – the interviews.
The five remaining hopefuls – all women – faced the toughest day of their lives as they battled it out to make the final of the BBC One series.
While The Apprentice interviews are legendary for being tough, many fans believed the show went too far this year.
Disgusted viewers turned to Twitter to express their horror at what they believed were scenes of “bullying” and “brutality”.
***Warning: spoilers from episode 11 of The Apprentice ahead***
The Apprentice viewers slammed the interviews
During the penultimate episode of The Apprentice, the five remaining hopefuls had to endure a painful interview process (Thursday, March 17, 2023).
Any white lies on their CV’s or business plans were soon exposed.
Claude Littner, Mike Soutar and Linda Plant all returned to scrutinise the entrepreneur’s business plans – and they were as thorough as ever.
Meanwhile, Baroness Karren Brady also joined the line-up of interviewers for the first time in 12 series.
And she was possibly the most savage of all.
Karren Brady’s brutal putdowns
Karren‘s ice-cold stare would have had the most fearsome candidate shaking at the knees.
And there was no female solidarity whatsoever as she tore into the five candidates – Marnie Swindells, Rochelle Anthony, Victoria Goulbourne, Dani Donovan, and Megan Hornby.
She had Victoria in tears within minutes.
Victoria, who wanted to use Lord Sugar’s investment to expand her online sweet shop into kiosks in shopping centres across the UK, broke down under Karren’s scrutiny.
Karren also told Megan that her business plan “had no substance”.
She blasted: “This is rubbish Megan.”
When Megan got up to leave, she accidentally called Karren just that – Karren.
To which she replied: “It’s Baroness Brady to you. My friends call me Karren.”
Fleeing to the safety of her fellow candidates, Megan described the process as “horrible”.
She said: “I got ripped to shreds.”
Elsewhere, Claude told Megan: “You are not a big fish. You are not even a fish.”
The Apprentice interviews: ‘Bullying dressed up as entertainment’
The Apprentice viewers slammed the process as “bullying dressed as entertainment”.
One wrote: “These #Apprentice interviews are brutal.
“I can see why they need to be tough but being cruel, belligerent and arrogant is unacceptable.”
Another agreed, saying: “The #Apprentice interview of business plan is bullying dressed up as entertainment. Not good viewing.”
A third typed: “I like them being grilled but blimey some of this is savage.
“Call me Baroness Brady is brutal.”
“Think it’s time for @bbc to kill off The Apprentice,” said another. “None of the interviewers covered themselves with glory just apparent bullies #Apprentice.”
Who is in The Apprentice final?
Victoria Goulbourne was fired at the end of The Apprentice episode 11.
Dani Donovan also got the chop, as did Megan Hornby.
That means the finalists are Rochelle Anthony and Marnie Swindells.
Rochelle and Marnie will compete against each other next week in the grand final (Thursday, March 23, 2023).
The winner gets a £250,000 business investment from Lord Alan Sugar.
London-born court advocate Marnie, 28, plans on opening a boxing gym near the Bank of England in London.
Meanwhile, Rochelle is the owner of a hair salon and also runs a hair academy in her home county of Bedfordshire.
The 35-year-old hope to expand her business and open up more locations in London and Manchester.
Read more: The Apprentice candidates 2023: All you really need to know about this year’s cast
The Apprentice final airs on Thursday, March 23, 2023 at 9pm on BBC One.
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