The Apprentice’s worst EVER disasters from ‘garbage’ hot sauce to task that LOST teams money

FOR every success story on The Apprentice, there are dozens of disastrous moments that will go down in the show's hall of fame.

And when it comes to tasks the hit BBC show has had it's fair share of mishaps and fails over the years.

There's been cringe-worthy product fails – such as a green staining face cream – and “garbage” hot sauce which cost the contestants big time.

Here's a look back at some of the worst ever disasters to hit the show.

HOT SAUCE FIASCO (2025)

In this task candidates were asked to advertise and produce their own hot sauce to pitch to a panel of industry experts.

Disaster first struck when Team Ascendancy had to film their TV advert despite the fact that their hot sauce was undelivered.

They botched the consistency of their sauce to the point they couldn't even get it out the jar.

Team Parallel also failed to win over experts including Dragons Den entrepreneur Levi Roots who claimed their product was “bland” and “boring”.

dubbed the teams TV adverts just as “pathetic” and their sauces “garbage”.

Leaving the businessman so unimpressed that he branded both teams losers.

“It was less Tabasco and more a bloody fiasco!” he fumed.

Wack Snacks (2015)

This ‘health snack' challenge made Apprentice history – but not for the right reasons.

In a first for both teams managed to make zero money.

The contestants were tasked with coming up with a healthy snack for the masses, pitching to three major retailers.

Team Versatile produced a crumbly bar with sloppy packaging even using a black marker to cross out an unapproved health claim.

Meanwhile, Team Connexus failed to impress with their vegetable crisps that were dripping in oil – with Lord Sugar questioning whether they had used engine oil instead.

‘Turd' logo (2022)

Back in 2022 candidates were given the challenge of creating a cruise brand.

At the time the boys team was led by digital marketer and the group came up with the name Never Ending Nautical to target the older age demographic.

Their logo featured a figure that transformed into a wave but instead it being blue they opted for a shocking green and brown mix.

Many fans online likened the logo to a ‘turd' and to make matters worse, the design team forgot to include the cruise name, making it one of the shows worst branding fails.

After little deliberation from Lord Sugar the boys miserably lost the task.

Wood Woes (2009)

This iconic moment happened in 2009, when series 5 candidates mixed up the wrong oils for their fragrances.

Instead of buying cedarwood oil which came to £26 per kilo they bought sandalwood oil which cost them a whopping £1200 per kilo.

Their mistake was pointed out by advisor Nick Hewer, who hilariously waited until it was too late to bring it up.

As he sloped away he left a line of shocked contestants, his smug parting words being “I'll leave it with you”.

Baby Food Blunder (2022)

This one of a kind task saw the teams create a baby food brand, which sounds fairly simple in theory but the candidates' execution was a complete disaster.

During the design process contestants and came up with the great name of First Time Foodies.

Unfortunately, the pair decided to replace the O's in Foodies with a graphic of two bowls – which left the word ‘dies' in the logo leaving it to read ‘First Time Dies'.

The team only realised this during product research where mom's pointed out the inadvertent death threat.

Project manager exclaimed “It looks like we're trying to kill children.”

Green Face Cream (2023)

This task became the ultimate fail a product was created that accidentally stained people's skin.

Candidates were challenged to create a men's skincare product and one team decided on an exfoliant labelled Anti-Venom.

The team went mad in the science lab making different concoctions of yellow and green creams.

The product was a complete disaster leaving a strong bright green staining effect on the skin which was likened to fictional ogre “Shrek”.

In the boardroom Lord Alan Sugar was less than impressed, exclaiming: “So you end up having skin looking like an avocado if you use this. “

Virtual Popstar (2025)

This year’s season kicked off to a disastrous start, when a new virtual AI popstar challenge was added to the mix.

The contestants were tasked with creating an avatar, producing a music video and song as well as organising a promotional event.

But, the challenge proved difficult for both teams with Apprentice fans dubbing it ‘the worst episode ever’.

Project manager and her team were the creators of ‘Bami’ who was inspired by singer – the avatar went viral online for it’s strange look.

In the end, it was rival project manager creation of the singing duo Fred & Nadz that lost, missing the mark with both brands and Lord Sugar.