The Apprentice's Karren Brady reveals task Lord Alan Sugar made her do in new series despite being 'terrified'

Karren in the new season of The Apprentice
Karren in the new season of The Apprentice (BBC / FremantleMedia Ltd)

Baroness Karren Brady has opened up about the behind the scenes details of her taking part in sledging down the Alps alongside the candidates on the opening episode of The Apprentice, revealing that she hadn't realised that it was the only way down until it was too late.

Chatting to HELLO!, we asked Karren if she had been excited to take part in the group activity - which saw the new candidates take a tour group sledging - and the answer was a resounding no!

She explained: "The reality is that was the only way to go down. There was no alternative. So, it wasn't as if I could say, 'I’ll take the ski lift or I’ll take the stairs,' I have to do whatever they do. I’m terrified of heights and I had to do a zip wire [once], it’s a case of, ‘I’ve just got to do it.’"

The TV personality revealed that she text her co-star and good friend Lord Alan Sugar ahead of her sledging adventure, adding: "I would never have sledged down a mountain for anything else. I sent Alan a text saying, ‘The things I do for you.’"

Baroness Karren Brady on The Apprentice
Baroness Karren Brady on The Apprentice (BBC/Naked/Ray Burmiston/Rufina Breskin)

Despite Karren's reluctance to take on the challenge, she was still full of praise for Alan, and the show itself. "Alan would never ask them to do anything that he hasn't done himself with building up his businesses," she explained. "And we wouldn't ask them to do something that we wouldn't do ourselves unless we physically wasn't able to, unless it was a complete impossibility.

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"If they had to sledge down, we had to sledge down. If they had to cycle through a forest, Tim [Campbell] has to cycle through a forest. When we’re in, we’re all in."

Baroness Brady realised sledging was the only way back down
Baroness Brady realised sledging was the only way back down

The opening episode of season 19 saw the contestants tasked with selling tours in Austria, and a change of format also meant that the usual boys vs girls format was mixed up for the first time.

A group of people in the boardroom
The Apprentice candidates (BBC)

Posting on X about the new series, one person joked: "Obsessed with when the candidates interact with the public and they act like it's their first time speaking to a person," while another person added: "The best bit of #TheApprentice are the cuts to Tim/Karren pulling faces at the candidate’s idiocy."