THE Apprentice viewers have labelled the show “racist” after Lord Sugar fired three black and minority ethnic (BAME) candidates in a row.
The show sees 16 entrepreneurs trying to impress the Amstrad businessman in a series of challenges, with the weakest candidate being fired by Lord Sugar.
However, it drew fans ire this week as para athlete Souleyman Bah was the third person to be fired from this year’s competition.
This makes him the third BAME person to be sacked, alongside Shahin Hassan in week one and Kenna Ngoma in week two.
One angry fan said: “Unconscious bias or totally racist #3 out of 3 BAME… #Apprentice”
Another added: “Watched the Apprentice last night, am I being cynical or is it looking racist that its 3 weeks in a row now that a person of colour has been fired???”
A third added: “2 black people in Apprentice and three weeks gone and both have been fired. Shows how racist the corporate world is.”
The Apprentice has denied racism allegations, saying it is the candidates’ performance that determines whether they go or not.
A spokesperson for The Apprentice said: “Which candidates return to the boardroom at the end of a task – and are therefore in the firing line – is determined by being on the losing team, and the project manager of that task deciding to take them back into the boardroom.
“The candidate’s performance both on the task and in the boardroom are then key to Lord Sugar’s decision.”
This comes in the midst of another race storm as TV bosses launched an investigation into candidate Lottie Lion for allegations of racism.
Librarian Lottie, 19, told contestant Lubna Farhan, 33, in a WhatsApp group to “shut up Gandhi” and “I’ll f*** you up”.
Now at least two more contestants on the hit BBC show are believed to have lodged complaints about Lottie’s behaviour.
They claim that racism, bullying and homophobia were hushed up during filming, with one contestant complaining directly to the BBC and are considering legal action.
Alongside the WhatsApp messages, it’s claimed she also said that the area of Somerset she is from has a low crime rate “because not many black people live there”.
She is also said to have regularly refered to Ryan-Mark Parsons, 19, as “the short gay one” and Riyonn Farsad, 30, as “the tall gay one”.
Lottie is also accused of making derogatory comments about trans women, saying they would not be allowed into the “ladies club” she belongs to.
It’s also claimed she told fellow contestants she had never spoken to black person before going on the show.
The BBC have now launched an investigation into the candidate.
