The Apprentice is back! This Christmas, two Celebrity Apprentice specials will air in aid of BBC Children in Need.
Lord Sugar will be putting 12 celebrities through their paces with the help of Santa Clause. The two-part Christmas special will see the celebrity candidates be split into two groups and sent to Lapland, the official home of Santa, to develop their own gingerbread biscuits. Accompanying the teams and keeping a watchful eye in Lapland are Baroness Karren Brady and Mike Soutar.
Not only will the celebrities have to create their own biscuit, but they will have to market their product by creating an advert and a jingle – keep an eye out for a surprise sprinkle of stardust to help the celebrities on their merry way! Both teams will then have to face the dreaded task of pitching to retailers, to help secure those all-important sales.
Team one includes AJ Odudu, Charlie Hedges, Eddie Kadi, Jake Woods, Kadeena Cox and Rob Rinder who have created Jolly McTrouble, a gingerbread biscuit with a tasty butter toffee, vanilla and Christmas pudding flavoured festive icing. With the tagline “Be Naughty, Get Nice” the biscuit is a portrait of Santa’s naughty brother – Jolly McTrouble.
Team two is made up of Angela Scanlon, JB Gill, Matt Morsia, Sarah Hadland, Shazia Mirza and Tom Skinner, and their creation, Gary the Penguin. The biscuit combines gingerbread with a unique blend of lemon, bubble-gum and white pepper – strange but apparently delicious! Coined with the tagline “A Cheeky Treat for Your Little Rebel”, the biscuit is in the shape of a festive penguin – Gary.
Both biscuits will be available from a number of retailers across the UK from Friday November 14. Each purchase will help raise money to support children and young people across the UK. The celebrities’ biscuits will be available to purchase in the following retailers: Asda, Tesco, Boots, Debenhams, One Stop, Ocado Retail, Amazon Online, Amazon Fresh stores (London), Lola’s Cupcakes, Knoops, Haven Holidays, Wenzel’s The Bakers and Greenhalgh’s bakeries.
Lord Sugar says: “It’s the first ever time on The Celebrity Apprentice that the public can buy products that were created by the celebrity candidates. It’s added some real pressure to the process. I think the celebs thought they were in for an easy ride, but they were wrong! Raising money for BBC Children in Need is serious business, so the candidates really need to deliver if they want to avoid ending up on my naughty list.”
Kalpna Patel-Knight, Head of Entertainment Commissioning at the BBC says: “The celebrity candidates will be giving viewers a tasty treat or two this Christmas that viewers can literally sink their teeth into, all while supporting the incredible work of BBC Children in Need. Are viewers going to be Team Gary the Penguin or Team Jolly McTrouble? Let the festive boardroom battle begin!”
Paul Broadbent, Director of Programmes at Naked, adds: “We have taken The Apprentice out of the boardroom and straight onto the shelves. These special episodes bridge the gap between entertainment and real-world impact. It is a rare opportunity for audiences to buy, taste and enjoy something they’ve watched being created on screen and it has been great fun seeing the celebs’ ideas come to life, all in aid of a fantastic charity.”
As part of the special, the celebrity candidates visited the BBC Children in Need-funded project Chickenshed Theatre Trust to share their adverts and offer the children a taste of their biscuits – where they received some honest, no-nonsense feedback. Chickenshed receives funding from BBC Children in Need to support disabled children and those with additional needs to enable them to take part in positive activities that develop their confidence, learning and create opportunities.
The Celebrity Apprentice: Christmas Specials will air later this year on BBC One and iPlayer and the biscuits will be available to purchase nationwide from Friday November 14.