The Apprentice: Claude Littner Found Out That He Had Six Months To Live After A Huge Row With Sir Alan

It’s safe to say that ahead of tonight’s launch of the new series of The Apprentice, we are eagerly anticipating Claude Littner’s cutting remarks and one liners that will likely crush all of the candidates dreams in an instant – he’s certainly capable of it.

If you don’t know who Claude Littner is, then firstly, hi, hello, where have you been? Claude (we think we’re on first name terms at this point) is the steely-eyed, straight-faced, bald-headed bodyguard replacement for Nick Hewer, Sir Alan Sugar’s previous sidekick.

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The business executive is well known for his lip quivering interview technique, which he’s unleashed to grill candidates at the interview stage in previous series’, most memorably chewing up last year’s finalist Solomon Akhtar, calling him “a bloody disgrace” and yelling, “You’re taking the p***!” so loudly that even the surrounding birds fled the scene to take refuge elsewhere.

At a recent press conference, he was asked if anything actually scares him… you might be surprised by the response… “I don’t think so.” Oh.

Claude, 66, admitted that he was “a nice guy” but described himself as a “Jekyll and Hyde” when it came to business. He added: “I take it very seriously so when someone lies on their CV, hands me a disgraceful business plan or tries to pull a fast one, I get extremely annoyed.” No kidding!

The person usually responsible for terrifying even the most ego-bloated of candidates revealed that he had faced a terrifying ordeal of his own, when he discovered that he had a rare form of blood cancer, which doctors said would kill him.

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In 1997, he was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and endured three tough years of chemotherapy.

“I am very lucky to be alive, you know,” the former chief executive at Spurs admits to The Mirror, “I thought I had a hernia but lots of players do, so I wasn’t worried. Then one day I had an argument with Alan, which is very rare.”

“We were trading insults so I took a day off and popped to the doctor to check it out. But he said it wasn’t a hernia and packed me straight off to see a specialist. I was told I had six months to live.” Gulp.

He added, “It came as a huge shock, obviously. You think, ‘Well, that’s it.’ You start the treatment and just feel powerless.”

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Claude has been married to his wife Thelma, who he brands “the most wonderful woman in the world”, for almost 40 years. They have two sons together, Anthony, 37, and Alex, 36, and three grandchildren – who are likely to have great success when it comes to job interviews with Granddad Claude as their coach!

The business executive deemed that it was “fortunate” that he was able to shield the boys from the trauma because they were at University at the time, which he went on to describe as, “a long, long process.”

He opens up further, “I had more and more intense doses of chemotherapy. I tried to keep working but was looking at the accounts one day and couldn’t see anything… just a blur. Someone called Alan said, ‘Look Claude, just concentrate on getting yourself well. Your job will always be open.’ He was very good to me.”

Just when it seemed that all hope was lost, Claude’s specialist decided to try a pioneering stem-cell transplant to help his body make healthy new blood – but he was only the 32nd person to undergo this process.

He goes on to explain, “First they had to find a donor whose tissues matched. I have one sister, Tina, but they said siblings aren’t a guaranteed match. They tested her anyway and, by an absolute miracle, she was an excellent match. So my sister saved my life. She doesn’t stop reminding me of that – but she really did!”

Claude has been cancer-free since March 2000 but admits “it really does give you a whole new perspective on life.”

After staring death in the face, it’s hardly surprising that nothing scares Claude.

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The new series of The Apprentice starts tonight on BBC One at 9pm.