I was on the Apprentice – here’s what happens when the cameras aren’t rolling
THE Apprentice is back on our screens from tomorrow and fans cannot wait for Lord Sugar and his team to head back into the boardroom.
Entrepreneurs will be battling it out to win the £250,000 investment - but according to 2019 Irish candidate Pamela Laird, everything is not quite as it seems.
The beauty business owner, who came third on the show, says the "opportunities from the show have been fantastic", as she continues to grow her business, Moxi Loves.
Her company has since moved into the UK and Pamela is spilling the beans on the shows secrets and what goes on behind the scenes.
BREAKING RULES
The Apprentice has strict rules that the entrepreneurs must follow throughout the whole show even when the cameras are switched off.
But Pamela says some of the rules can be broken if you go about it the right way.
She told The Irish Sun: "I was there for twelve weeks because I came third and it got to the point where you could figure out what you could get away with."
Dublin-born Pamela explained that some tasks were so difficult they would beg for an extra phone call to communicate with their teams in order to make them easier.
She said: "We used to beg the producers for an extra phone call.
"Sometimes they would be nicer to us than other times, because on the show I think it looks like you have constant communication when the team separates, but you don't.
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"We used to say, 'Come on please this is so important to us' and sometimes they would oblige and gave us an extra call to make it easier for us."
BANNED ITEMS
The beauty business owner explained that before she went on the show she was told she could only bring one suitcase and she really struggled to fit everything she needed.
She said: "When we went on the show we were only allowed one suitcase but I was the only person coming from Ireland, at the time, and I was struggling to pack."
Pamela managed to have the rule broken and was able to bring extra luggage and even a few banned items.
She said: "They allowed me to bring a second suitcase and I was also allowed to bring some things with me that others were not, I brought caffeine tablets because I don't drink coffee and they had previously been banned."
IN CAHOOTS
Pamela said that often the contestants would get fed up of eating the same meals and many of them would befriend people working on the show to try and get some extra privileges.
She said: "We were in cahoots with some of the runners and producers and we would ask for things like eating somewhere else that day.
"Because we would be out and about and it would be Pizza Express again for the millionth time that week so we used to ask for nicer restaurants."
The entrepreneur added they would even convince staff to let them watch TV in the evenings.
She said: "We would barter with them because we wanted to watch Love Island in the evenings when we got home."
HUSH HUSH
For Pamela though, the toughest rule to follow was the 'no task talking rule'.
Entrepreneurs are not allowed to discuss the task they are undertaking at any point during the show even when they are not filming.
Pamela said: "There were a lot of really awful rules but I think the no task talking rule was the hardest.
"Because it is not Big Brother you kind of forget that you can't just have open conversations about what happened that day.
"You can't just say over dinner, 'Oh God, that was a disaster'.
"But it is all you're doing everyday and it is all you want to talk about so that is really difficult."
ALWAYS WATCHING
The Dublin explained that when the cameras are turned off people would sit in between the contestants to ensure they were not talking abut the task and they would even follow them to the toilet
She said: "They have people who sit in between you and listen to your conversations and there are people who follow you to the bathroom so never have time to discuss it with another person you are living with.
"I found that the hardest, at times you want to be filming 24/7 just so I could say the things I wanted to say."
HOME SICK
Pamela told us she was rarely allowed to contact her family and she found it very difficult to be away from them and her business.
She explained: "We only had one phone call home for five minutes once a week and that was hard.
"It was hard to run my business and I missed my family and my boyfriend.
"I picked my mum, of course, but my boyfriend would write me letters every week but I couldn't write back to him.
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"And the phone call with my mum was always on loud speaker and someone would be listening in so I was just trying to have the important conversations with her about my business and how my family and boyfriend were keeping. "
Pamela added: "There are so many things that go into adding the pressure, I have never been so stressed in my life, but I loved it!"
