Copyright manchestereveningnews
The line-up for the upcoming return of The Celebrity Apprentice has been confirmed with Strictly Come Dancing stars among those set to face Lord Alan Sugar in the boardroom. For the first time in six years, a number of famous faces will be put through their paces on the popular BBC One show, this time for Children in Need. Lord Sugar calls upon Santa Claus for help, who has just the thing as in the two-part Christmas special, the celebrity candidates are split into two groups and sent to Lapland, the official home of Santa, to develop their own gingerbread biscuits. Not only will the celebrities have to create their own biscuit, but they will have to market their product by creating an advert and a jingle. Both teams will then have to face the dreaded task of pitching to retailers, to help secure those all-important sales – will they secure enough dough or crumble under the pressure? Meanwhile, accompanying the teams and keeping a watchful eye in Lapland are Baroness Karren Brady and Mike Soutar, who is filling in as one of Lord Sugar's trusted advisors due to Tim Campbell being unable to attend the filming dates. But who are the celebrities taking part? AJ Odudu, Angela Scanlon, Charlie Hedges, Eddie Kadi, Jake Wood, JB Gill, Kadeena Cox, Matt Morsia, Rob Rinder, Sarah Hadland, Shazia Mirza and Tom Skinner have officially been revealed as featuring in the two celebrity Christmas specials in aid of BBC's annual appeal, Children in Need. Team one, featuring AJ Odudu, Charlie Hedges, Eddie Kadi, Jake Woods, Kadeena Cox and Rob Rinder, created the biscuit Jolly McTrouble, a gingerbread biscuit with butter toffee, vanilla and Christmas pudding flavoured festive icing. With the tagline, "Be Naughty, Get Nice", the biscuit is a portrait of Santa’s naughty brother – Jolly McTrouble. Will this biscuit leave you feeling jolly, or will your tastebuds be in McTrouble? Opposite them, Angela Scanlon, JB Gill, Matt Morsia, Sarah Hadland, Shazia Mirza and Tom Skinner created Gary the Penguin. The biscuit combines gingerbread with a blend of lemon, bubble-gum and white pepper. No that’s not a typo, the celebrities really did enjoy that combination. Coined with the tagline, "A Cheeky Treat for Your Little Rebel", the biscuit is in the shape of a festive penguin – Gary, where the flavour combination is as rebellious as the celebrities who made it. And in a major twist, for the first time in the show’s long-running history, the retailers will be selling the biscuits to the public in stores across the UK. From the Friday 14 November, the public can get their hands on these stocking filler must-haves, as the biscuits made by the celebrities will be available to buy nationwide, with every purchase helping to support children and young people across the UK. Both biscuits will be available to purchase in the following retailers: Asda, Tesco, Boots, Debenhams, One Stop, Ocado Retail, Amazon Online, Amazon Fresh stores (London), Lola’s Cupcakes, Knoops, Haven Holidays, Wenzel's The Bakers and Greenhalgh’s bakeries. Lord Sugar has said:" It’s the first ever time on The Celebrity Apprentice that the public can buy products that were created by the celebrity candidates. It’s added some real pressure to the process. I think the celebs thought they were in for an easy ride, but they were wrong! "Raising money for BBC Children in Need is serious business, so the candidates really need to deliver if they want to avoid ending up on my naughty list." The Celebrity Apprentice: Christmas Specials will air later this year on BBC One and iPlayer and the biscuits will be available to purchase nationwide from Friday, November 14.
