Lord Alan Sugar ‘can’t wait’ to see Arnold Schwarzenegger ‘c**k up’

Littner – who refused to say whether he will still be involved in the interviews this series – also admitted that he gets caught up in the show, saying: “I was there, I saw it, and my heart was beating watching what was happening!”

Launching the new show, he said: “I’ve invested one million pounds in all four winners and all four of those people are doing fantastically well and I’m expecting the win of this particular process to carry on that trend”. It is those candidates, which is the compelling viewing.

The series kicks off with the task invited to test several of the most important skills in business: product creation, negotiation and selling. The aim is simple – make as much profit as possible to avoid being in the firing line on the losing team in the boardroom.

After growing up in New York, 27-year-old Koutsomitis now lives in Barcelona and is a social media entrepreneur. She’s founded an event management company and a children’s charity.

Brummie Gary’s business expertise comes thanks to seven years spent working in a leading supermarket chain as a Programme Manager (anyone else instantly picturing Peter Kay in car Share?). She’s an adrenaline junky who loves Emma Watson.

She says: ‘I’m Jamaican. “We win on the track and we will win in the boardroom”. He initially went straight into the Royal Navy after leaving school, where he worked as a marine engineer. She says: ‘I would describe myself as very determined, ambitious, and I always want to show that women can succeed in business’.

For the first time in Apprentice history, instead of girls against boys in the first task Lord Sugar mixes the teams before sending them off to Billingsgate Market.

“He is going to find me hilarious”, she insisted.

Boutique owner April, 26, draws on her country’s athletics tradition for inspiration.

Born in Nigeria, Aisha moved to the UK when she was 15 years old.

Top quote: “Pressure makes diamonds”.

“I hate anything mediocre – I can’t be middle”.

Lord Sugar, 68, who is famed for his catcphrase “You’re Fired”, also let rip over his rival’s new image. He thinks he is “quite entertaining”, as “a lot of people seem to laugh at me”. Her biggest business achievement to date was Operations Director at a construction company when she was just 20, and admires Taylor Swift. Still, it’s no surprise when her business inspiration is Taylor Swift, who she calls “the best businesswoman of the 21st century”.