The Apprentice fans were gobsmacked moments into the new series as business titan Lord Alan Sugar unveiled a series-first shakeup.
The hit show, which pits eager candidates against each other as they vie to become Lord Sugar’s business partner, returned with a bang on Thursday, January 30, featuring a line-up of hopefuls ready to battle it out for top spot. However, this time around, Lord Sugar had an ace up his sleeve.
Departing from the traditional gender-based teams, he chose to blend the candidates into mixed groups.
As he revealed the twist, Lord Sugar declared: “Now I’m gonna mix things up from the get-go. Forget boys versus girls, the two back rows swap with each other!”
Flabbergasted by the bold move, viewers immediately flocked to social media platform X to voice their reactions. Astonished comments poured in, with one fan exclaiming: “Switching up the teams already? I’m shook,” reports .
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Viewers are usually accustomed to men versus women in the first few episodes (Image: BBC)
Another eagerly commented: “Boys and girls mixed up will deffo be better to watch.”
A third enthused: “They’ve mixed the teams, this is unprecedented territory.”
One viewer celebrated the long-awaited modification: “Finally mixed the teams from the start, about time.”
Meanwhile, another impressed viewer pondered: “Wow. Mixed teams already. Has it ever happened before?”
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Lord Sugar decided to mix the groups up (Image: BBC)
Some, however, expressed scepticism about the early mix-up, with a commenter lamenting: “Why’ve they mixed up the teams already? Laughing at the men being terrible was the best part of the first few weeks.”
Ahead of the launch of series 19 on Thursday evening, business tycoon Lord Sugar shook up The Apprentice with a significant tweak to the team format.
The business magnate, 77, a household name since the UK version began in 2005, revealed: “We’ve split them into sexes in the past purely to help the audience get to know the candidates quickly, it just felt like an easy thing to do. But this year we decided to mix it up from the outset.”
His decision aimed to freshen up the opening episode, as he explained: “I think it’s quite a refreshing addition to the first episode and it’s interesting to see how they handle being a mixed team because it’s not what they necessarily expected from the start.”
Lord Sugar switched things up for the new series (Image: BBC)
In this season’s thrilling first challenge, contestants jetted off to Austria tasked with hosting unique Alpine tours. Both groups set their sights on reeling in hefty profits by offering memorable glacier and forest adventures.
However, underwhelming ticket sales from both sides indicated a fierce boardroom battle looming ahead, where the teams would have to defend their strategies before Lord Sugar’s advisors Baroness Karren Brady and Tim Campbell, who kept a close eye on the hopefuls throughout their task in Austria.
Despite their best efforts, Emma Rothwell couldn’t escape the infamous boardroom chop and became the first contender to be fired this series.
The Apprentice airs Thursdays at 9pm on One.