Lord Alan Sugar has spoken out about Thomas Skinner’s return to the boardroom in this year’s festive Celebrity Apprentice special.

Mr Skinner shot to fame on The Apprentice back in 2019, and this year, he returned to screens alongside Amy Dowden for Strictly Come Dancing.

However, his time on the dance competition was far from plain sailing, with the businessman coming under fire from certain BBC viewers for his political social media posts.

Mr Skinner ended up being the first casualty of the series, losing a dance-off against Ross King. The abuse he faced following the show led to him fuming that he “wished he’d never done” the show.

BBC Celebrity Apprentice: Thomas Skinner is returning to the boardroom

|BBC

But despite the controversy, the BBC decided to bring Mr Skinner back for another celebrity edition of one of its longest-running shows.

Addressing the decision, Lord Sugar has confirmed he didn’t play a role in it as he discussed whether The Apprentice creates celebrities out of its contestants.

“I’m not sure over the 20 years how many people who have appeared on my show have actually made a name for themselves,” he told Radio Times.

“I can think of maybe three: Saira Khan did quite well, then Katie Hopkins, who everybody loves to hate, and Thomas Skinner, who ended up on Strictly.

BBC Celebrity Apprentice: Thomas Skinner and his fellow celebs

|BBC

“But I don’t have any input. I’m presented with these celebrities; the BBC seeks these people out and finds them.

“And it’s not easy, because you can imagine that some of them are working and can’t take four or five days off. I can dream and say, ‘Oh, I’d love Madonna, I’d love Adele, I’d love the ginger bloke with a guitar…’ What’s his name? Ed Sheeran.”

Speaking to the BBC, Lord Sugar revealed exactly what he said to Mr Skinner upon seeing him once again. “I said to him, ‘What the bloody hell are you doing there?! Who put you in the celebrity bracket?'” he quipped.

“‘That’s the only surprise! What audacity have you got calling yourself a celebrity!’ That was quite funny. But, yeah, he got emotional because The Apprentice has changed his life.

Thomas Skinner shot to fame in 2019

| BBC 

“The Apprentice changed his life and he went on to do all these things that he does, and he got emotional because he’s thankful for the change to his life and what it’s brought him.”

And Mr Skinner has addressed his boardroom comeback himself, despite enduring a less-than-enjoyable time on the dancefloor.

On why he decided to reunite with Lord Sugar, he told the BBC: “Look, I absolutely loved going on The Apprentice. The process, the first time I went on it back in 2019, it changed my life, completely changed my life.

BBC Celebrity Apprentice: Lord Alan Sugar and this year’s cast

|BBC

“I got married since, I’ve got three beautiful children, and I’ve got so much to thank the show and the producers, and everyone from that experience, and it’s just an honour to be able to come back and this time have a bit of fun and raise some money for Children in Need.”

And he had plenty of praise for Lord Sugar. “Yeah, it’s brilliant. He’s so highly respected and such a lovely man as well. And, look, he’s doing this for Children in Need, he’s a blinder,” he said.

Mr Skinner also admitted the celebrity edition of The Apprentice was “very different”. “I think the difference is when I first went in there, you’re trying to win money to invest into your own business, whereas this time round it’s not for you, it’s to raise money,” he explained.

“So it’s a little bit more serious this time, in a way. The last time I was in here was to nick a few quid for myself, selfishly.

Thomas Skinner bowed out of Strictly with Amy Dowden

|BBC

“But this time round, this is for kids who really need this, so this is big. I’ve stood on my own two feet since I was 16, I’m a grafter, I can turn my hand to anything.

“I lost loads of tasks when I was on the show last time, but look how it turned out, I’m back as a celebrity!”

Mr Skinner’s optimism about returning to the BBC was in stark contrast to the explosive social media rant that came in the days after his Strictly exit.

In a post shared to X in October, Mr Skinner let loose: “I’ve had enough of all this b*****s. I can’t do anything right now without someone criticising me. Or making me do something against my will. It’s bulls***.

“I wish I never done Strictly, I never fitted the bill for that show, let’s be honest. And it’s caused me nothing but agg. Constant abuse.”

Floods of the businessman’s fans rushed to his support, and among his supporters was none other than former Strictly pro AJ Pritchard, who told GB News how the show’s producers may have been angling to get Mr Skinner out the door.

“One thing that I would say is that through watching the VT… So these are the small videos that you get, obviously, before the dance, and the VT is one of the most important things,” Mr Pritchard began to the People’s Channel when discussing Mr Skinner’s face-off with Mr King.

“When you really do break it down, the VT is the same duration as your actual dance, and you obviously have a small opportunity to talk with Tess and Claudia, but I mean, you have a sentence.

“You can’t really get your point across unless it’s like, ‘It went wrong. I’m so upset’ like simple talking points.

“But on the VT with Ross, it’s like, ‘We’re going to go back to Scotland, we’re going to wear the kilt, we’re going to do some tears here, we’re going to do some tears there, we’re going to show the relationship together’. They pulled out every trick of the trade for that!

“To try and show emotion, to try and make you feel attached to him in whatever way possible.”

Mr Pritchard did admit, however: “He did do a nice dance, I will say that. But on the tricks of the trade, like you ticked every emotion box you could ever do to make somebody vote for him. And I think that was professionally done from the side of the TV entertainment side.”

Mr Skinner joins TV presenter AJ Odudu, broadcaster and podcaster Angela Scanlon, Radio 1 DJ Charlie Hedges, comedian Eddie Kadi, actor Jake Wood, singer and TV presenter JB Gill, Paralympic athlete Kadeena Cox, Gladiators’ Legend Matt Morsia, barrister and TV presenter Rob Rinder, actor Sarah Hadland, and comedian Shazia Mirza for the celebrity series.