BURY businessman Samuel Boateng got off to a winning start during his debut appearance on The Apprentice.

The former Castlebrook High School and Holy Cross College student was one of 18 contestants vying to win the approval of Lord Sugar on the 12th series of the BBC show last night.

Lord Sugar began by looking through – and belittling – the contestants’ CVs and warning the nine men and nine women that more than one hopeful could get fired each week of the show.

In the first task, the contestants were sent to a lock up containing several bona fide antiques and collectables among a stack of assorted items.

Split into teams of boys and girls reporting back to Lord Sugar’s assistants, Karen Brady and Claude Littner, they had to sift the valuables from the junk to sell.

Mr Boateng made a relatively low-key start to the show compared to other contestants such as art director, Dillon St Paul, who described himself as the ‘king of the truth bomb’ when it came to his honesty in letting colleagues know what he thought of them.

Elsewhere, IT consultant, Karthik Nagesan AKA ‘The Big K’ confidently proclaimed that he would one day be Prime Minister.

“I don’t walk the path that others walk,” said Mr Nagesan. “My way is a separate super highway.”

Among the outgoing female contestants was bubbly Jessica Cunningham, an online fashion entrepreneur who said she ‘tends to get her way’.

The men picked their team name of ‘Titans’ and the women went for ‘Nebula’.

After an early start, the teams were split into those selling to the public and those selling to specialist dealers, with Mr Boateng among the specialist dealer team.

The girls’ performance at identifying valuable pieces at the public market stall was described as ‘abysmal’ by Claude Littner.

Meanwhile, Karen Brady described the boys’ market performance as ‘impressive’.

Mr Boateng made his first proper on screen appearance while attempting to sell a mid-century drinks trolley to an antiques dealer in Chelsea.

He complained of a ‘lack of leadership’ among the boys’ and later delivered a pep talk after a deal on a leather chair fell through at the last minute due to the buyer not having cash.

The boys’ team convened at Portobello Market, while the girls were attempting to sell their wares at Camden.

Back in the boardroom, the girls were given a hard time for selling items too cheaply and not selling at Portobello.

The boys’ team were congratulated for selling a porcelain vase worth £7 for £175.

Titans took a total of £1,438 and Nebula took a total of £959. The boys’ were rewarded with a fun evening of dance lessons.

As the losing team, the girls faced a fierce debriefing from Lord Sugar and the first person to be fired from this year’s series was team leader of the first challenge, Michelle Niziol.