The Apprentice star accuses BBC present of FAKING outcomes ‘to inform a greater story’ as he shares ‘secret name with producers’ pulling strings behind the scenes

A former candidate from The Apprentice has accused the BBC of faking the result to ‘tell a better story’ as he spilled details on a ‘secret call with producers’. 

The contestant, who took part in the first series of the show back in 2005, claimed that the drama had been ramped up by behind-the-scene interference. 

James Max, who is now a presenter on TalkTV, alleged that the show had lied to viewers about the order than the candidates had been fired. 

He made it all the way to the final of the series, finishing in fourth behind show winner turned Lord Sugar‘s advisor Tim Campbell, Loose Women‘s Saira Khan and businessman Paul Torrisi. 

In the episode where James, 55, left the series, Paul was fired by Lord Sugar, 78, leaving Saira, 55, and Tim, 48, to battle it out in the final. 

But James has now claimed that HE finished third, and that Paul left the show ahead of him – but it was changed before it hit screens to make for more dramatic viewing. 

Speaking to The Telegraph, the former show star said that he ‘loved every minute of’ his time on the show but was disappointed by scenes differing from ‘reality’. 

He said: ‘In the show, as aired, Paul Torrisi came third. In reality, I came third. I have a letter to prove it. They changed the order of the final to tell a “better story”.

‘I remember receiving a call from one of the producers to that effect.

‘He said, “We hope you don’t mind”. Well, I did mind. Somebody thought that they needed to do this right at the end, when actually it wasn’t required because both of us were dispatched anyway.’

James was seen on screen saying goodbye to his co-stars in the boardroom, and while he shook hands with Tim, and gave Saira a hug, Paul was included in a cutaway and not alongside the TV presenter. 

Daily Mail have contacted the production company behind The Apprentice, Fremanlte, for comment. 

During the series, Paul and Saira were often seen going head to head in arguments in and out the boardroom, marking the series’ most memorable feud. 

Tensions reached boiling point during a task that saw Paul explode in an expletive-laden rant towards Saira, which saw her storm off away from the cameras. 

He was fired by Lord Sugar after his ‘aggressive’ was noted on the show – and when told to go away and think about his behaviour, he responded: ‘Well, I’ve got nothing better to do now, have I?’  

Meanwhile, James was fired at the interview stage as the candidates were grilled on their CV by Lord Sugar’s closest advisors. 

After the show, James went on to launch a TV and radio career, including presenting his own show on LBC and regularly appeared on The Jeremy Vine Show.

It comes after The Celebrity Apprentice sparked a fix row online after one of its stars was accused of having an ‘unfair advantage’ over his competitors.

The special saw a group of celebs flown to Lapland by Lord Sugar to create and market their own special Christmas cookie in December. 

They were split into two teams and after coming up with their own respective concepts for the biscuits, they had to create an advert to sell them. 

With all proceeds going to Children In Need, the ultimate winner was decided on based on real-world sales of the treats in the likes of ASDA and Tesco.

However, many viewers raised their eyebrows with professional musician and JLS star JB Gill, 39, suggested that his team create a jingle to sell their bubblegum gingerbread biscuit, Gary the Penguin.

Taking to Reddit to discuss the show, a fan blasted: ‘It’s kind of cheating having JB on your team for this.’ 

In response to this, another viewer claimed that the team – or at the very least JB – should have been instantly disqualified after he called his musician friend Tom Grennan for a second opinion.  

Another viewer: ‘Calling Tom Grennan should be an instant disqualification.’ 

A third viewer admitted of the task: ‘surely jb should be reasonably good at this [sic].’ 

JB proved his musical know-how in the task too and quickly took the lead over his teammates, which included businessman Tom Skinner, 34, and comedian Shazia Mirza, 50. 

News of the apparent fix comes after some viewers said they were ‘gutted’ by the result of the show.

Team leader Rob Rinder was fired from Celebrity Apprentice on Tuesday night – despite calling on his hoard of showbiz pals to flog his Christmas biscuit. 

And the TV presenter, 47, went to extra lengths to secure the likes of Benedict Cumberbatch, Olivia Colman and Robbie Williams to promote Jolly McTrouble – a Santa-shaped biscuit consisting of butter toffee, vanilla and Christmas pudding flavoured icing.

Tasked with being project manager, Rob managed to draw in 200,000 units himself with his hard sales approach.

During his pitch, Rob reeled off numerous clips of Benedict, Piers Morgan and Olivia all saying the catchline – and investors looked impressed. 

Lord Sugar’s business advisor Karren Brady revealed all seven retailers made orders as well as others Rob pulled in, which brought their order total to 355,500 units.

But Mike Soutar announced Gary The Penguin managed to secure the win after gaining orders from all seven retailers plus an additional investor, which brought their total to 452,000.

Karren told Lord Sugar the failure of the Jolly McTrouble team was because they had no real plan.

The business mogul said: ‘The thing is that the TV advert is good, the actual product is ok. You had all the elements of success. But you didn’t succeed.’  

Trying to fight for his place in the boardroom, Rob said: ‘Jolly McTrouble is going to be on the shelf. I have to say, it’s a beautiful product. As people will discover, it’ll outsell the other one.’

AJ didn’t hold back as she jokingly said teammate Jake was as useless as a ‘pen with no ink’ and the failure of the task was down to Rob.

Rob brought Kadeena and Jack back for the firing round, but it was ultimately the barrister who was sent packing.

Lord Sugar said: ‘You admit yourself you gave the team no clear direction and so despite the fact that you did a tremendous job in selling over 300,000 units and I do acknowledge that. So it is with regret, you’re fired.’

Viewers wrote on X: ‘Gutted Lord Sugar sacked Rob #CelebrityApprentice’

‘Jake was given praise for the ad, kadeena single handedly did the biscuits…Rob you are fired’;

‘Not gonna lie, I was enjoying this mini series of #celebrityapprentice #TheApprentice – I wish it were longer’.   

However, Angela Scanlon, 42, revealed in an interview with the Metro that prior experience isn’t necessarily always an advantage on The Apprentice. 

She hit out at her Celebrity Apprentice teammate Thomas Skinner, who initially rose to fame on the show, and claimed that his performance on the show was ‘sub-standard’. 

TV presenter Angela, 42, said that her team was initially delighted to have Thomas as a member.

She said: ‘We were plucky enough about that. We referred to him as our golden goose from the get-go.’

However, his ‘great’ performance took a turn when he was tasked with directing the TV advert for the biscuits. She brutally admitted: ‘I will say, it was sub-standard.’ 

Angela’s team – which was led by JLS star JB Gill – also included Matt Morsia, and Sarah Hadland and they came up with an unusual concept for their biscuit after Lord Sugar encouraged the celebrities to think outside the box.

Gary the Penguin, as the team’s biscuit was named, is made from a bizarre combination of bubblegum, lemon and black pepper – all wrapped up into a very unusual gingerbread biscuit.

She admitted: ‘We were encouraged to push the boat out and create something unusual. I think we stuck to the brief.’

Celebrity barrister Rob Rinder’s team, who ultimately lost, featuring AJ Odudu, Charlie Hedges, Eddie Kadi, Jake Wood, Kadeena Cox and Rob Rinder, meanwhile, created Jolly McTrouble, the aforementioned gingerbread biscuit with a vanilla and Christmas pudding flavoured festive icing.