By Isle of Wight Observer
Months of behind-the-scenes work at Visit Isle of Wight (VIoW) has culminated in the Isle of Wight starring in one of television’s most watched shows.
The Apprentice is set to be broadcast on Thursday (March 19) on BBC 1, and will be available on the BBC iPlayer.
Now in it’s 20th year, The Apprentice sees Lord Sugar, alongside with his advisors, Baroness (Karren) Brady and Tim Campbell, set tasks for candidates to compete in a series of business-related tasks, with the aim of becoming the last person standing at the end of the series and winning £250,000 investment in their business idea.
Television producers, Fremantle, first contacted the Island’s destination management organisation in 2024, looking for a destination for one of the most popular regular series features – ‘discount buying’ – where the candidates must source 9 items and buy them for the best price. Following a dismal performance on the same task in Hong Kong, their visit to the Island gives the candidates a chance to redeem themselves. VIoW made suggestions of local items and offered film location settings, facing competition from two other locations under consideration by the producers of The Apprentice.
Head of marketing and sustainability, at Visit Isle of Wight, Amy Summers, said: “From the initial call, we realised that this was an incredible opportunity to showcase the Isle of Wight in front of millions of people.
“It isn’t just the chance to show off how wonderful the Isle of Wight looks – it also highlights local businesses and their products.
“The hardest part of the whole project was maintaining the secrecy – we’d like to thank the Isle of Wight businesses who worked with us and the production team from Fremantle to make this happen.”
