OPINION: Thomas Skinner has been cast in the Celebrity Apprentice after his Strictly stint earlier this year

The BBC has made another controversial move (Image: BBC)

At this point, it feels a bit like the BBC want viewers to stop paying their licence fee. After the controversy caused by Thomas Skinner during his Strictly Come Dancing stint earlier this year, they’ve decided to hammer the final nail in the coffin and cast him in the Celebrity Apprentice, six years after his original run on the non-celeb version of the show.

He’ll be facing Lord Alan Sugar in the boardroom once again, alongside AJ Odudu, Kadeena Cox, Rob Rinder and Angela Scanlon. Also announced as part of this year’s line-up are Jake Woods, Eddie Kadi, Charlie Hedges, Shazia Mirza, Sarah Hadland, Matt Morsia and JB Gill.

The line-up includes some pretty good names, but when I read Tom Skinner’s among them I reeled back a little in shock. The same Tom Skinner who snatched a journalist’s phone at a Strictly press event, before storming out of the room?

The same who had fans “switching off” the dance show until he was the first to be voted out?

The same Tom Skinner who went on an explosive rant after the show, feuding with Good Morning Britain star Narinder Kaur on X, and who said he wished he’d never signed up for the show in the first place?

That Tom Skinner?

In an angry social media rant, he fumed: “I wish I (had) never done Strictly, I never fitted the bill for that show let’s be honest. And it’s caused me nothing but agg (aggravation).

“Constant abuse. All I f****** do is try to spread positivity online. I can’t walk anywhere without people knowing who I am. I’ve had a narrative spun against me so people always have an opinion on me now that they didn’t 3 months ago.

“I’ve heard so many lies said and told about me. It’s driving me mad.”

I liked Tom during his original Apprentice stint (Image: Getty)

That the BBC would once again throw its support behind Skinner after the backlash has me reluctant to watch the new spin-off show at all. I found Skinner likeable in the original series of The Apprentice – his endearing attitude and cheeky catchphrase had me rooting for him, and I was upset when he was voted off.

But it feels like a truly risky move that he’s continually paraded around for the Beeb, after publicly dissing his Strictly stint and lashing out under criticism.

The BBC needs to get its act together when it comes to reality show casting – and quickly.

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