Apprentice interviewer Linda Plant has claimed a candidate “almost hit” her during an explosive episode of the show.
Entertainment Daily chatted exclusively to Linda ahead of the new Apprentice Best Bits series, that starts tonight (October 1).
She revealed an entire show will be dedicated to the popular interviews episode later this month.
And, she said, if they dig out her interview with florist Elizabeth McKenna, the sparks could fly.
Linda’s trickiest Apprentice candidate yet
Chatting to ED!, Linda revealed the trickiest candidate to interview.
“I’ve had a few in different ways. Elizabeth, the 6ft 3in flower woman, she almost hit me,” Linda claims.
“She was so aggressive. I don’t think they showed it on the actual show but she got up to leave in the middle of the interview.
“My role is to, I wouldn’t say wind them up, but if you say: ‘You’re saying your flowers are special but really they’re not that special are they and you’re not delivering the same day,’ it winds them up and it culminated.”
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Linda said she simply asked Elizabeth if she could explain her business plan as it was just “pages and pages of waffle”.
She was really sick of me by then. Honestly, she was like, I’m ready for her!
She added: “She was really sick of me by then. She said: ‘I buy flowers and I sell flowers.’ Then I said how she’d been very aggressive from the minute she walked in. Honestly, she was like, I’m ready for her!
“So she gets up to leave but in the background the cameras are going more more more. She was quite tricky.
“Reading her overview, she’d already assaulted two people, two customers, before,” Linda claimed.
The one who got away?
One person who did impress, though, was last year’s candidate Thomas Skinner.
“I loved Thomas Skinner, I loved him, I loved his enthusiasm, he was always coming up with ideas, he was innovative,” Linda said.
“I’ve never seen Lord Sugar fire someone so nicely or as reluctantly. Thomas was just never on the winning team.
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“Was he robbed of the prize? I’m not so sure, I never saw his business plan. But as a candidate I’d have loved to have interviewed him. As a candidate Alan could relate to him because of that trading background we’re both from. I loved him,” Linda added.
Offering advice as part of her new members’ club
Away from the Apprentice, Linda – who started out in business running her own market stall – has recently launched her Blueprint Members Club and soon she’ll be fronting an online course.
Business hopefuls can message her for advice and take part in a monthly talk where she’ll try to hold back her “Queen of Mean” persona.
“I am firm,” she told us, “I dig deep and if they give me something that’s wreck-able then I’m going to wreck it.”
The course certainly comes at the right time, Linda revealed, as the business world struggles in the midst of the pandemic.
“Obviously you have to persevere,” she said when we asked for her top tip on starting a business in the current climate.
“In a way, uncertainty can bring opportunity. After all, out of the 1929 crash came Disney, out of 2008 came Air BnB. Uncertainty can bring opportunity and you have to seize that opportunity.”
Will The Apprentice be back next year?
So what’s next for The Apprentice? Will we see Linda wrecking it for Lord Sugar on the show next year?
“Obviously we couldn’t film The Apprentice this year but it’s a great show, it has a fantastic following. There was a lot of disappointment when we weren’t able to film. Hopefully we can film next year.”
The Apprentice Best Bits airs tonight (October 1) at 9pm on BBC One.
For more on joining Linda’s Blueprint Members Club, visit the website here. It costs £20 per month for a limited time only.
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