Thomas Skinner breaks down in tears during filming on The Celebrity Apprentice

Thomas Skinner was surprised by how emotional he got during The Celebrity Apprentice filming.

The 34-year-old star, who first appeared on the BBC reality show in 2019, returned to the boardroom to reunite with Lord Alan Sugar as part of a celebrity lineup for the upcoming festive specials.

In the first of the episodes, recent Strictly star Thomas was brought to tears as he told the businessman how being on The Apprentice six years ago ‘change my life’.

In the opening moments, he can be seen visibly emotional stepping back into the boardroom as Lord Sugar explained to the other celebrities that Thomas originally did the show as an ordinary person before being brought back.

He was smile but appeared glassy-eyed as Baroness Karren Brady asked if he was ‘crying’.

‘I don’t get upset really, it’s just I done this show six years ago and this show changed my life,’ he said. ‘I’m back here.’

Lord Sugar joked he’s glad to have him back as he’s the only candidate he might get to fire twice, while Thomas has admitted he ‘never in a million years’ expected to have such an emotional reaction.

”No, never in a million years, no. ‘But when I was there it just made me think back to when I was first sitting in that boardroom back in 2019,’ he said, according to the Mail.

‘Like I didn’t really have anything back then, before I had kids and before I built my businesses up really properly.’

He added: ‘I sort of sat and thought, “Wow, this experience all those years ago put me on the map really and made me successful I suppose, and opened so many doors for me”.

‘So to sit back and help to do it for such a great cause like Children In Need was a proper honour.’

Thomas recalled his first stint on the show as ‘such a great experience’, and he was delighted to be back to ‘help the team and the guys raise money for charity’.

He said: ‘It brought back such emotions being in the boardroom of how it changed my life.’

Although he has his own background in business, and on the show, Thomas insisted he didn’t expect any preferential treatment from the celebrities on his team.

‘Listen, I’m a market trader. I sell things at the back of my van, you know what I mean? I’ll just go to work,’ he said. ‘But it was just great to be with these guys. I respect these guys because they’re all legends. I was lucky to be there.’

Thomas has been teamed up with JB Gill, Angela Scanlon, Matt Morsia, Sarah Hadland and Shazia Mirza.

They’ll take on another group features AJ Odudu, Charlie Hedges, recent I’m A Celebrity star Eddie Kadi, Jake Woods, Kadeena Cox and Rob Rinder.

Back in October, Thomas was the first celebrity to be voted off the current series of Strictly Come Dancing, and insisted he wishes he’d ‘never done’ the show.

‘I wish I never done Strictly, I never fitted (sic) the bill for that show let’s be honest. And it’s caused me nothing but agg. Constant abuse,’ he wrote on X at the time.

Thomas admitted to having an affair just a few weeks after getting married, causing him to walk out of a BBC press event for the dancing show after picking up a journalist’s phone.

The Celebrity Apprentice airs on December 29 and 30 at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer.

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