A FORMER Apprentice star has blasted the show in a scathing attack and claimed he was set up to ‘look like a d***head’.
Lewis Ellis, 33, appeared in the boardroom in front of Lord Alan Sugar in 2019 but failed to make it all the way.
The business hopeful even found himself being ‘trolled’ by Lord Sugar, who said his tattoos were “horrific” during one task in the BBC One show.
Lewis and his fellow candidates had been told to promote summertime in Finland, so he stripped down to his swim shorts for an ad campaign.
But Lord Sugar later told him: “Lewis your tattoos are horrific. Tell me where I am missing the point. What does he look like?”
Once fired, Lewis went on to get a new tattoo of Lord Sugar holding a gun to ‘remind him of his time on the show’.
Now, Lewis has spoken about his experience and claims it was “toxic” and that he was “gaslit” by bosses.
In an appearance on Elle Sera’s podcast, he said: “I get you want to pull strings and I get you want to make a great show and you have to tell a storyline but just don’t be d***s.
“It’s not too much to ask, is it? Especially when people are giving their like time, and months away from the family to then be almost made to feel like a d******d.
“And then if we asked them, they would tell us we were imagining it. Like proper gaslit.
“I think in the terms of toxicity, it’s most toxic thing I’ve ever experienced. I’ve never had someone fully try and gaslight me before. It’s a complete set up.”
Lewis – who now runs Hussel Marketing – said he takes particular issue with one task, which saw the candidates inventing their own brand of ice lollies.
He claims his team were set up to fail after being given “spinach and granola” as ingredients for their lollies.
“Who uses granola on an ice lolly?” he asked Elle. “I knew it was a stitch up and there’s nothing you could do about it.
“We we were going to look like d********s on camera.
“People were going to watch this and think who the f*** puts granola on an ice lolly, because my response was, ‘Who the f*** gives someone granola as an ingredient?
“If you lick granola it’s going to take the skin off your tongue?! It’s grim.”
He added: “It tasted like dog s***. I wanted to throw up on camera.”
Lewis said he “would not recommend” budding businessmen and women to go on The Apprentice.
He even claimed the results of the tasks were ‘fixed’, adding: “I remember we sat down the producers and we all came together, because they were making us look like d****.
“We were fed up and tired and we sat them down and we asked them to just let us compete fairly.
Lewis went on: “They had the ability to make a team lose or a person win.”
The Sun has contacted the BBC for comment.
