Former The Apprentice contestant Lottie Lion has lifted the lid on behind-the-scenes secrets of the hit BBC show.
Charlotte 'Lottie' Lion, who is studying law at Bristol University, reached the final five of The Apprentice in 2019.
She claims the show films two finals in case a winner "gets bad press," and that the boardroom is in fact a filming studio in a warehouse on the outskirts of London.
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Speaking to her 66.9K followers on TikTok, the 22-year-old revealed: "We film two finals. So we all act out there being two hypothetical winners.
"So Lord Sugar will be in the boardroom with the two people who are in the final. He'll point to each of them in two different scenes and he'll say you are my business partner or you are not my business partner.
"He does this twice because we film it back in April and it doesn't come out until October, so he's got plenty of time to see if any bad press comes out about anybody.
"And then he selects the other person."
Lottie also claims Lord Sugar "doesn't write his own jokes," and that they are "all scripted."
"He has a piece of paper and he marks them off as he says them," she says.
Meanwhile Lord Sugar's aides Karren and Claude "are only following you about 30 percent of the time," claims Lottie. "It's always when you mess up because the pressure of them being there puts you on edge."
Claude Littner, who featured on the 2019 series, has been replaced with Tim Campbell this year.
Lottie continued: "The receptionist is actually and an actress, and the boardroom is actually just a filming studio in a warehouse on the outskirts on London."
The student also claims contestants aren't allowed the leave the house for the "entire time you film" and have no access to technology.
"You're only allowed one phone call on your down day which is five minutes, and it's with somebody who's already signed an NDA (non-disclosure agreement).
"You're not allowed to know any world news. You are chaperoned everywhere because you are not allowed to speak to members of the public. So if you need to go to the loo you'll be walked there and then walked back."
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She also gave people a "top tip" on how to can tell which candidates get furthest in the competition.
"A little top tip on how to figure out who won or who got furthest in the process is to go back through the candidate's Instagrams and see who didn't post for the longest from the starting point of April.
"I, myself, was away from April all the way through to mid-June because I was in it for the full 12 weeks.
"The sooner you get fired, the sooner you get back to your social media."
The BBC has published the 'Workings of The Apprentice' on its website. It has been approached for comment.
The Apprentice airs on BBC One at 9pm on Thursdays
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