Fresh Apprentice race row as 7th minority candidate fired (while bungling wannabes stay)
THE Apprentice is embroiled in a fresh race row after Lord Sugar fired another non-white candidate from the show.
Venezuelan-born Jemelin Artigas, 35, was sent home during Wednesday night’s episode.
It means all seven contestants who have left so far are black or ethnic minority, with angry viewers accusing the programme of ‘white privilege’.
One white contestant has survived despite facing allegations of racism, bullying and homophobia.
Network marketing consultant Miss Artigas was fired after Lord Sugar deemed her to be the cause of the failure of the latest task, which saw the teams rebrand the country of Finland during the summer.
Miss Artigas was selected to be fired ahead of Marianne Rawlins, 36, and Ryan-Mark Parsons, 19.
She follows Shahin Hassan, Kenna Ngoma, Souleyman Bah, Lubna Farhan, Riyonn Farsad and Iasha Masoon, who were kicked out in previous weeks. One person wrote on Twitter: ‘Jemelin did not deserve to go, white privilege is real here.’
Another said: ‘If you want to see the process of racism in employment played out on a reality TV show, watch The Apprentice.
‘Yet another strong, competent person of colour, Jemelin, fired when up against white people – one of which,
Ryan-Mark, is overtly pathetic as a candidate.’ Viewers also questioned how Miss Artigas could be fired while Lottie Lion remains. The 19-year-old came in for criticism earlier after telling Miss Farhan, 33, to ‘Shut up Gandhi’ and warning ‘I’ll f*** you up’ in a WhatsApp group conversation.
Miss Lion said Miss Farhan had misquoted Gandhi and made a cruel comment about a friend who had died. She denied accusations of racism, bullying and homophobia. But the BBC said: ‘Her comments were wholly unacceptable.’ Contestants also claimed that Miss Lion said the part of Somerset she grew up in had a low crime rate ‘because not many black people live there’.
Miss Lion’s mother told friends she was worried for her daughter, who had been left ‘in floods of tears’.
Nine candidates remain, vying to be 72-year-old Lord Sugar’s business partner. Asked if she thought the show could be interpreted as being racist, Miss Artigas told The Sun: ‘I would probably say the same if I was an outsider watching this show.’
But she defended Lord Sugar, saying: ‘I don’t think he’s a racist and I don’t think the show is racist. Then again, why are we focusing on this? Why aren’t we focusing on the candidates? Some of them, I do believe they were meant to be fired, some of them I don’t. But that’s all down to your own personal judgment.’
A spokesman for The Apprentice, now in series 15, said: ‘Which candidates are in the firing line is determined by being on the losing team. The candidate’s performance both on the task and in the boardroom are then key to Lord Sugar’s decision.’