One of this year’s ‘Apprentice’ hopefuls has been forced to apologise for a series of derogatory comments she made about the travelling community.
Alana Spencer has spoken out after tweets in which she called people “pikeys” -an offensive term to describe someone who is a traveller - were unearthed, following the announcement she is taking part in this year’s series of the BBC reality show.
It was discovered the cake business owner used words like “jobless pikey scum” and “chav pikeys” on the social media site back in 2010.
Apologising for her remarks, Alana, who was 18 at the time, said “they were the words of a naive young girl”.
“I am truly sorry if my comments have offended anyone,” she said in a statement issued by the BBC.
“They were the words of a naive young girl from a number of years ago and I would never write such things now.
“The thought that my words could offend anyone has really upset me. Again, I am truly sorry.”
Alana is one of 18 new contestants hoping to become Lord Sugar’s business partner on ‘The Apprentice’.
She started her first business - a chocolate company - at the age of 17, before moving on to selling cakes, and describes herself as determined, creative and charming.
“I am incredibly hard-working, driven, and I’ll stop at nothing to get what I want,” she said in a press release for the show.
‘The Apprentice’ returns to BBC One on Thursday 6 October at 9pm.
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