AN Apprentice star has revealed how they nearly ditched Lord Sugar for a major BBC rival show.
The Apprentice returns to our screens next week with a whole new batch of candidates hoping to secure the £250,000 investment from Lord Sugar.
The business mogul will be joined by aides Karren Brady and Tim Campbell, with Claude Littner featuring in a reduced capacity .
Claude, 73, had a bad cycling accident before the 2022 series and only featured during the interview stages, and once again former winner Tim will be filling in for him for much of the 2023 run too.
However, Claude has revealed that he almost took a spot on rival BBC business show, Dragons' Den, a few years ago.
When asked by Radio Times if he was a fan of the programme, he said: "Of course! Some years ago they invited me to join the panel.
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"I was very keen but they phoned me up and said they'd had a change of heart.
"They wanted a woman instead. I said: 'That's OK! I can put on a wig! That shouldn't inhibit me from being on the show!'
"But they chose Hilary Devey."
Late businesswoman Hilary – who died in June this year aged 65 – joined Dragon's Den in 2011 and left the following year.
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Meanwhile Claude has been part of The Apprentice since it began in 2005.
For 10 years he was one of Lord Sugar's intimidating interviewers of the candidates, before being announced as his new aide in 2015 after Nick Hewer's departure.
The Apprentice begins on Thursday, January 5 at 9pm on BBC One.
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