The Apprentice’s Tim Campbell addresses stepping in for Claude Littner
"The big thing is that Claude's boots are massive to fill."
Season 17 of The Apprentice is well and truly underway – but with one noticeable difference. As well as new challenges, candidates and cringe-worthy tag lines, long-standing aide Claude Littner won't be present for much of the new season.
While Claude returned for the premiere episode, Tim Campbell has once again taken a seat in the boardroom as Claude's replacement.
Claude had to step down from the last season following a serious biking accident. Now, talking about stepping in for Claude a second time, Tim said: "The big thing is that Claude's boots are massive to fill."
The season 1 winner continued: "We have a huge responsibility [and] we know, particularly me having gone through the experience, how important the decisions and information [are] that we feed back to Lord Sugar as he makes his decision about who he's going to invest in.
"So it's a great honour, but it's one that we don't take lightly because we know the impact it has on that final decision."
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But Campbell has also stressed the point that Claude will feature in the series again, in one of the most anticipated episodes of the latest season: the interview round.
Talking to RadioTimes.com and other press, he said: "To be clear, he's [Claude] back again. So he'll be there towards the end as well. Episode 11 for the interviews. He's very good."
When asked what it was like to have Tim back in the boardroom, Alan Sugar commented: "Well, who better, really, than to have [Tim]. Obviously it's been a great journey, starting with Nick Hewer and then Claude."
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Lord Sugar continued: "Unfortunately, Claude suffered some medical issues and so, I was asked to think of someone else and who better than somebody who's actually been through the process? So it was a bit of a no brainer, really, because when it comes to making excuses like these candidates do, you've got Tim there, who's been there, done that, seen it and heard it all.
"And that's why I warn the candidates also that there's no pulling the wool over his eyes, so to speak."
Additional reporting by Lauren Morris.
The Apprentice continues on 12th January at 9pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide for more to watch.
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