Viewers were left stunned as Lord Sugar reacted to an emotional Thomas Skinner.

Thomas Skinner fought back tears on the show (Image: BBC)

Celebrity Apprentice viewers were left stunned as an emotional moment unfolded in the boardroom when Thomas Skinner appeared to fight back tears — only for Lord Alan Sugar to deliver a typically savage response. As the 12 new contestants introduced themselves in the boardroom, Alan turned to the returning star, who found fame on the show, quipping: “Since when did you get celebrity status?” Thomas replied simply: “I don’t know.” Alan continued: “He was here as an ordinary candidate, now he’s here on Celeb Apprentice, but of a wheeler-dealer. He sells Christmas cards on New Year’s Day.”

As Thomas became emotional, Karen Brady interrupted: “Are you crying?” Thomas admitted: “I don’t get upset, really, it’s just I didn’t see this show six years ago, and it’s changed my life, and I’m back here.” Alan piled on again, joking: “It is exciting for me too, as you’re the only candidate I might end up firing twice.”

Lord Sugar delivered a typically savage response. (Image: BBC)

Thomas replied: “I hope not. Fingers crossed.” Fans were split online. One wrote: “Bless Thomas Skinner crying on the show – he’s a good guy with a good heart and appreciates all the opportunities he’s had from this show. Go get ’em, @iamtomskinner, screw the haters! #celebrityapprentice.”

Others were harsher, saying: “Bro gets his stuff taken out of context and just gets cooked randomly.” Another said, “jump scare when Thomas Skinner appears and CRIES”, while someone else remarked, “Thomas Skinner crying was so cringe.”

Another added: “Yep, Thomas Skinner is indeed the golden goose.” The emotional boardroom moment came as the latest batch of celebrity candidates were officially unveiled for the festive spin-off of The Celebrity Apprentice.

The famous faces taking part include TV presenter AJ Odudu, broadcaster and podcaster Angela Scanlon, Radio 1 DJ Charlie Hedges, comedian Eddie Kadi, actor Jake Wood, singer and TV presenter JB Gill, Paralympic athlete Kadeena Cox and Gladiators legend Matt Morsia.

Rounding off the list is barrister and TV presenter Rob Rinder, actor Sarah Hadland, comedian Shazia Mirza and businessman and TV personality Tom Skinner.

The celebrities are split into two teams and flown to Lapland — the official home of Santa — where they are tasked with creating their own gingerbread biscuits.

As well as baking the product, the teams must design branding, shoot an advert and come up with a festive jingle before pitching to retailers in a bid to secure sales.

On Thomas’ group, their penguin-shaped cookie quickly became a talking point — but not for the reasons they’d hoped.

Fans flooded X with jokes, claiming the green-iced penguin appeared to be wearing a bra. One wrote: “The penguin looks like it’s wearing a trainer bra.” Another added: “It’s a penguin in a bra.”

Others questioned the creative choices entirely, with one viewer quipping: “It’s a well known fact that penguins never wear green…” while another asked: “Did they need to go to Lapland to make a biscuit?”

Overseeing proceedings in the snow are Baroness Karren Brady and Mike Soutar, stepping in for Tim Campbell, who was unavailable for filming.