A STAR of hit TV show The Apprentice has urged his hometown fans to stay with him and promised: “The best is yet to come.”

Former Bury student Samuel Boateng goes into episode four tomorrow with a 100-per-cent record, having been on the winning team in weeks one and three and having avoided the dreaded boardroom ‘talk’ with Lord Sugar in week two, when neither team won.

Critics have suggested that the 27-year-old has been too quiet so far in series 12 but Samuel, who studied at Castlebrook High School and Holy Cross College, said he is pleased to fall into a “third category” of contestant so far.

“A lot of my friends and family have said to me in these early weeks that I don’t feature a lot in the episodes and don’t say much, but it doesn’t worry me, it is just the result of editing,” said Samuel, who is one of 14 remaining contestants.

He added: “So far we’ve had three hours of televised footage but each episode is recorded over three days, so that’s 140 hours of footage that the producers have to choose from, so not everything can go in.

“The first group tend to be the fiery characters who feature in the storylines, perhaps because they are involved in the boardroom.

“The second group are those so quiet that Lord Sugar pulls them up for not contributing — I’m in neither category.”

Samuel, who now lives in London but has relatives in Bury, pointed out that, in last week’s episode, when the teams were challenged to produce and sell their own brand of sweets, he was the top seller on his team and sold more on his own than the other team combined.

He says he won boardroom praise for his efforts from Lord Sugar but that was not broadcast on the programme.

Tomorrow’s show should play to Samuel’s strengths — as the teams go to Liberty’s Department Store in London and sell, sell, sell.

The sales manager said: “It is right up my street. Of course there is pressure on people who are skilled in sales to sell well, but it’s the moment that you wait for at the start of the process and you know that it’s your chance to be in the spotlight.

“It’s a very action-packed episode and I’m sure it will make for good viewing.

“You might even see me as project manager very soon. My best is yet to come.”

Samuel admitted he gets a buzz out of appearing each week in front of 10 million viewers — but family comes first for him on Thursday nights.

“My daughter Olivia Victoria, is only 14 months old and she gets quite lively in the evenings, and I love spending time with her.

Samuel added that he can’t tune in to the show on Thursdays as he’s too busy with Olivia. “She seems to know when The Apprentice is on too and likes to take up my attention, so I tend to switch off my phone and wait until the following morning before I watch the episode, ” he said.

The latest edition of the Apprentice airs on BBC One at 9pm tomorrow.