‘I was approached by BBC for Celebrity Traitors – but turned it down’
As the dust settles on the dramatic conclusion of The Traitors, viewers are now turning their attention to the UK’s first celebrity spin-off due to air on the BBC later this year.
The rumoured names are impressive; with everyone from Stephen Fry to Friends legend Courteney Cox said to be heading to the Scottish castle for the ultimate game of deception overseen by the inimitable Claudia Winkleman.
But there is one celebrity who definitely will not be insisting they’re ‘100% Faithful’ at the roundtable. And that’s not for lack of trying on the BBC’s part.
‘I was asked and the answer was no,’ The Apprentice star Baroness Karren Brady, 55, reveals to Metro in a meeting room at the show’s production company Fremantle’s offices in central London.
It’s not hard to see why Baroness Brady was approached. Known as the first woman in football, the West Ham vice-chairman’s business acumen and inner steel would have made her an unflappable player.
Why did she turn it down? ‘One, I’ve never seen it. Two, I don’t have the time. I mean, I have a full-time job and The Apprentice is filmed just in my sweet spot in the summer when the football season is over, so I can just about fit in. But that’s it.’
Baroness Brady is – and always will be – Faithful to The Apprentice and its main star Lord Alan Sugar. She has no interest in taking her TV talents elsewhere. Other shows she has rejected include Dragons’ Den and Strictly.
Want to get all the latest news and predictions for the best and most dramatic show this new year? Join our The Traitors WhatsApp channel for live episode coverage, behind-the-scenes gossip and a place to recover from all the cliffhangers.
Simply click on this link, select ‘Join Chat’ and you’re in! Don’t forget to turn on notifications!
She explains: ‘The truth is, I don’t do The Apprentice because I want to be on TV. I do it because I really like Alan. Alan is my friend. I’ve been in his life, and he’s been in my life, for 20 years. We met in football and we’ve stayed close friends. He’s somebody I would go to if I had a problem, so he’s a true friend.’
Baroness Brady also offers a vulnerable reason for her reluctance to pursue more TV gigs. ‘It’s terrifying when you’re 55 and seeing yourself on TV,’ she says.
I protest that she’s a luminous presence – both inside and out – on The Apprentice but Baroness Brady continues: ‘You don’t do it to see yourself on TV. Not that there’s a problem if you do, but I do it because I love working with Alan.’
Tim said Lord Sugar convinced him to join The Apprentice
Her co-star Tim Campbell – who sits opposite Baroness Brady at a huge table in a set-up not unlike The Apprentice’s boardroom – is also apparently camera shy. ‘I ran away from television after my initial appearance,’ Tim, who won the show’s first series in 2005, says.
‘You don’t realise how powerful the medium is until you’re in the eye of the storm and it wasn’t fun. I didn’t enjoy it. I didn’t enjoy the scrutiny. My ambition is to be completely anonymous.
‘Seriously, in this age where everybody wants engagement, my dream is just to look after my kids, and hopefully be in the position of having grandchildren, and then just disappear. That’s the dream.’
Tim, 47, says he took convincing to join The Apprentice. ‘There is social media now, everyone has an opinion and there are trolls. I had to make lots of choices very quickly about whether it was the right thing to do. But the good, thankfully, outweighed the potential negative.’
The central draw of The Apprentice has always been its longstanding boss Lord Sugar, 77. Baroness Brady and Tim are adamant he is irreplaceable and when he goes the show will die. I offer a left-field choice – Martin Lewis – as his potential successor. Baroness Brady immediately exclaims ‘Who?’ and is still none the wiser after I briefly list his CV. Well, I suppose she’s never needed to look up tips on Money Saving Expert.
On The Apprentice, Lord Sugar is famed for being uncompromising, blunt and steely. But that isn’t the real Lord Sugar, according to Baroness Brady.
‘It’s a misconception that he is abrupt or that he doesn’t have time for people – he has time for everybody. He’s a very generous person with his time. He’s very loyal, he’s very kind, he’s very generous and he has a very close family. He’s a complete family man.
‘And probably the biggest thing people won’t know about him is he’s incredibly funny. He really is an incredibly funny person. There have been times when we’ve had to stop filming as I’m laughing so much that he’s had to kick me under the table.’
Other than Lord Sugar’s gags, Baroness Brady also struggles to suppress a smile when a female wins The Apprentice. There hasn’t been a solo male winner since Joseph Valente in 2015.
Baroness Brady says: ‘I love the fact that women win it. I always have a small cheer when a woman wins anything.
‘Young women need strong role models. They need them more than ever. They need to see women succeeding. They need to see that it’s possible. They need to see someone championing, standing up for themselves and being professional. And those are really important lessons that young girls need to see. So for me, the more women that win, the better.’
Tim agrees: ‘We are just really fortunate that in the midst of lots of negative stuff about women in business, we’ve got great examples, led by Baroness Brady, of women who do it for themselves and are incredibly successful.’
The Apprentice returns to BBC One and iPlayer at 9pm tomorrow.
‘I was approached by BBC for Celebrity Traitors – but turned it down’
