Yasmina Siadatan on The Apprentice 5 (BBC image)

Five Shocking Secrets from The Apprentice 2009

Tuesday, 9 June 2009

If you think you know everything there is to know about Sir Alan Sugar and The Apprentice you'd be wrong.

Keep reading to find out more...

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1. We might have thought that Sir Alan picks the Apprentice winner based on their performance in the final task but it seems we have been tricked.

The BBC admit that the final two work for Sir Alan BEFORE he decides who is hired.

Former Apprentice finalist Saira Khan told BBC magazine: "The final decision is not based on the programme that people see, his final decision is based on these two people who have been working with him for the six months."

2. Sir Alan Sugar is Rita Simons uncle. Rita plays Roxy Mitchell in EastEnders.

3. Despite the shots of Canary Wharf Sir Alan Sugar has no office in London's Docklands, or in the City. His head office is in Brentwood, Essex.

4. The boardroom is a studio mock-up of Sir Alan's Brentwood headquarters and filming the Apprentice doesn't take 12 weeks at all. It actually takes about two months.

5. The 'long walk to the taxi' shots are all filmed at the start of filming but you can't normally tell because the candidates have to wear long coats that hide what they are wearing. If you look closely sometimes you can see them wearing different shoes.

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