BBC urges stricter checks after offensive tweets emerge from The Apprentice contestant

The Guardian - World NewsCenter-LeftEN 4 min read 100% complete by Rachel HallJanuary 28, 2026 at 07:49 PM

AI Summary

medium article 4 min

The BBC is urging stricter background checks for contestants on "The Apprentice" after offensive tweets from Levi Hodgetts-Hague, a contestant in the upcoming season, surfaced. The decade-old posts contained Islamophobic, misogynistic, and anti-police sentiments, including support for a far-right activist. The BBC, claiming unawareness of the comments, has requested the production company, Naked, review its social media vetting process. This incident follows previous controversies involving "The Apprentice" contestants, including antisemitic posts by a former contestant and a contestant's prior jail sentence. Critics suggest the production company bears responsibility for vetting contestants and that the BBC needs to review its commissioning process.

Key Entities & Roles

Key Player Opposition Context

Aberystwyth University 30% Jamie Medhurst 40% Tom Bunday 50% Julian Henry 50% Lord Sugar 60% Katie Hopkins 60% Dr Asif Munaf 70% Naked ×270% Tommy Robinson 70% Levi Hodgetts-Hague 90% BBC ×695%

Keywords

the apprentice 100% offensive tweets 90% bbc 90% background checks 80% production company 70% controversial contestants 70% vetting process 60% social media 60% racist 50% sexist 50%

Sentiment Analysis

Negative

Score: -0.40

Source Transparency

Source

The Guardian - World News

Political Lean

Center-Left (-0.40)

Far LeftCenterFar Right

Classification Confidence

90%

This article was automatically classified using rule-based analysis. The political bias score ranges from -1 (far left) to +1 (far right).

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the apprentice offensive tweets bbc background checks production company controversial contestants vetting process social media racist sexist

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