The Apprentice viewers were last night astounded when Lord Alan Sugar made a cheeky gag about Prince Andrew.
Lord Sugar, who turned 78 this week, did not hold back when mocking contestants using a facial steamer in Wednesday’s task. However, the business brain left the boardroom – and Twitter – in shock with his jaw-dropping quip about the royal. The entrepreneur said: “You ended up with the face spa right? I didn’t see you use it. I saw the steam coming out of it. Half an hour of that would even get Prince Andrew to sweat.”
And the camera cut to Baroness Brady, who turned her head and laughed. Others in the boardroom giggled, while contestant Dean Franklin said “woah,” seemingly taken aback by the gag too. Viewers rushed to Twitter, known now as X, to express their surprise, with some saying they were shocked to see the reference made the final cut. One fan posted: “Points for a Prince Andrew gag that I’m astonished made it to air.”
Another on X said: “I hope Prince Andrew wasn’t watching the Apprentice show tonight on BBC,” which was followed with a laughing emoji. A further user chimed in: “@Lord_Sugar dropping a Prince Andrew joke on The Apprentice with zero f**** given… What a guy.”
One viewer posted on the social media site: “Prince Andrew jokes on #TheApprentice ” alongside several laughing emojis. Another fan shared: “Not Lord Sugar dropping a Prince Andrew joke on BBC primetime” with a clip of the rather risqué moment.
The reference is a nod to a 2019 interview, in which Prince Andrew, Duke of York, claimed he couldn’t sweat due to a medical condition, which he said was an “overdose of adrenaline” from the Falklands War, contradicting Virginia Giuffre’s account of him sweating during a dance.
Ms Giuffre claims she danced with the Duke before going back to Ghislaine Maxwell‘s house on the night of March 10, 2001. There have subsequently been photos published which appear to show the Prince sweating.
But Prince Andrew, 65, denies any wrongdoing in connection with these acquaintances. It emerged this month, though, that the royal’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein may once again be thrown into the spotlight in a legal case. The Duke of York was mentioned in High Court papers in a case involving former Barclays Bank boss Jes Staley who is appealing a ruling which bars him from holding senior UK financial roles over his links to Epstein.
Following the gag in the boardroom, Lord Sugar retained his serious demeanour, firing Max England after some bad decisions led to a dismal TV shopping experience. He was project manager for his team, which ended up desperately trying to flog electric mits, picnic blankets and inflatable canoes.
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