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Two contestants on the BBC’s The Apprentice were left “shocked” and “appalled” after crew on a Finnair flight refused to refrain from serving nuts onboard.
Ryan-Mark Parsons, 19, and Pamela Laird, 29, were flying with the rest of the cast and crew from London to Helsinki in May to film an episode of the show, which is airing tonight.
Both contestants have life-threatening nut allergies and carry epipens.
However, when they informed the cabin crew of this, they were told that nothing could be done, an Apprentice insider told The Independent.
“They asked the cabin crew to make an announcement telling other passengers not to eat or buy nuts onboard. The flight attendant said this wasn’t part of their policy, that they couldn’t do anything to help,” they said.
1/16 Dean Ahmad, 20
Dean founded his sports management agency aged 15 and believes he is “the definition of an entrepreneur”, with confidence and emotional intelligence that are “off the charts”. He believes his “gift of the gab” could “persuade anyone to do anything”.
BBC
2/16 Scarlett Allen-Horton, 32
Recruitment company owner Scarlett says that her upbeat personality means that people “will often buy into her as a person,” but admits that she sometimes struggles to accept help from others. Could this cause fireworks in the show’s infamous group tasks?
3/16 Jemelin Artigas, 34
Network marketing consultant Jemelin claims she is “1000 percent committed” to winning every task but warns that she can be “next-level stubborn” when it comes to getting her own way.
4/16 Souleyman Bath, 20
FIRED WEEK THREE
5/16 Lewis Ellis, 28
Lewis is a digital marketing project manager and describes himself as a “maverick”, who believes his competitiveness and determination will see him through the process. He adds: “I may not be the smartest guy in the room, but I’ll sure as hell work harder.”
6/16 Lubna Farhan, 33
FIRED WEEK FOUR
7/16 Riyonn Farsad, 30
FIRED WEEK FIVE
8/16 Shahin Hassan, 36
FIRED WEEK ONE
9/16 Pamela Laird, 29
Beauty brand owner Pamela describes herself as “feisty and passionate” with a charismatic personality, which enables her to excel in sales. She says: “I love to be the under-estimated person in the room.”
10/16 Carina Lepore, 30
Carina owns an artisan bakery. She says she is a natural leader and that people latch onto her to benefit from the influence she carries. She believes it’s “written in the stars” that she’ll be Lord Sugar’s next Apprentice, describing herself as a “pocket rocket” due to her height (5ft 1″).
11/16 Lottie Lion, 19
Lottie the librarian says she is “very cut throat” and insists that she is no push over. She believes her poise and her “powers of persuasion” are her greatest business qualities, noting that people with bad manners anger her and that she gets frustrated when things don’t adhere to her high standards.
12/16 Ryan-Mark Parsons, 19
Ryan-Mark is an award-winning public speaker who admires the Queen and describes himself as the “epitome of luxury”. Despite believing his best asset to be his ability to “forge a connection with anyone” he adds: “I’m not afraid to be ruthless when it comes to the other candidates.”
13/16 Iasha Masood, 27
Iasha is an account manager who thinks her “crazy, controversial, eccentric personality” will help her go far as she believes her “natural persona” will help her win. But watch out for her enemies – Masood is not afraid of keeping her friends close but her enemies closer, and she says: “I can read people just by looking at their body language, they won’t realise it until it’s too late – and checkmate”.
14/16 Kenna Ngoma, 24
FIRED WEEK TWO
15/16 Marianne Rawlins, 36
Marianne owns a risk management consultancy and moved from the US to the UK in 2017. She admits that she doesn’t have a filter and may need to “dial down her American-ness” and take a step back, as she says she can be too direct.
16/16 Thomas Skinner, 28
Pillow company owner Thomas started out in business aged 12, with a paper round, and later worked on the markets when he was 16. Since then he has set up his own pillow company, attributing his business success to his “sharp”, “street wise” character.
1/16 Dean Ahmad, 20
Dean founded his sports management agency aged 15 and believes he is “the definition of an entrepreneur”, with confidence and emotional intelligence that are “off the charts”. He believes his “gift of the gab” could “persuade anyone to do anything”.
BBC
2/16 Scarlett Allen-Horton, 32
Recruitment company owner Scarlett says that her upbeat personality means that people “will often buy into her as a person,” but admits that she sometimes struggles to accept help from others. Could this cause fireworks in the show’s infamous group tasks?
3/16 Jemelin Artigas, 34
Network marketing consultant Jemelin claims she is “1000 percent committed” to winning every task but warns that she can be “next-level stubborn” when it comes to getting her own way.
4/16 Souleyman Bath, 20
FIRED WEEK THREE
5/16 Lewis Ellis, 28
Lewis is a digital marketing project manager and describes himself as a “maverick”, who believes his competitiveness and determination will see him through the process. He adds: “I may not be the smartest guy in the room, but I’ll sure as hell work harder.”
6/16 Lubna Farhan, 33
FIRED WEEK FOUR
7/16 Riyonn Farsad, 30
FIRED WEEK FIVE
8/16 Shahin Hassan, 36
FIRED WEEK ONE
9/16 Pamela Laird, 29
Beauty brand owner Pamela describes herself as “feisty and passionate” with a charismatic personality, which enables her to excel in sales. She says: “I love to be the under-estimated person in the room.”
10/16 Carina Lepore, 30
Carina owns an artisan bakery. She says she is a natural leader and that people latch onto her to benefit from the influence she carries. She believes it’s “written in the stars” that she’ll be Lord Sugar’s next Apprentice, describing herself as a “pocket rocket” due to her height (5ft 1″).
11/16 Lottie Lion, 19
Lottie the librarian says she is “very cut throat” and insists that she is no push over. She believes her poise and her “powers of persuasion” are her greatest business qualities, noting that people with bad manners anger her and that she gets frustrated when things don’t adhere to her high standards.
12/16 Ryan-Mark Parsons, 19
Ryan-Mark is an award-winning public speaker who admires the Queen and describes himself as the “epitome of luxury”. Despite believing his best asset to be his ability to “forge a connection with anyone” he adds: “I’m not afraid to be ruthless when it comes to the other candidates.”
13/16 Iasha Masood, 27
Iasha is an account manager who thinks her “crazy, controversial, eccentric personality” will help her go far as she believes her “natural persona” will help her win. But watch out for her enemies – Masood is not afraid of keeping her friends close but her enemies closer, and she says: “I can read people just by looking at their body language, they won’t realise it until it’s too late – and checkmate”.
14/16 Kenna Ngoma, 24
FIRED WEEK TWO
15/16 Marianne Rawlins, 36
Marianne owns a risk management consultancy and moved from the US to the UK in 2017. She admits that she doesn’t have a filter and may need to “dial down her American-ness” and take a step back, as she says she can be too direct.
16/16 Thomas Skinner, 28
Pillow company owner Thomas started out in business aged 12, with a paper round, and later worked on the markets when he was 16. Since then he has set up his own pillow company, attributing his business success to his “sharp”, “street wise” character.
Ryan-Mark asked to speak to the captain, who allegedly told him there was “absolutely nothing” he could do, saying: “If you have an issue, get off the plane.”
The programme’s production crew were forced to go up and down the aisles, pleading with other passengers not to eat any nuts.
One group allegedly kicked up a fuss, with a traveller purposefully buying and eating a packet of nuts after being told of the contestants’ allergies.
“I’m appalled at the policy adopted by Finnair with regards to their passengers travelling with a nut allergy,” said Ryan-Mark. “Though I made the staff aware of my allergy, they refused to stop selling nuts and refused to ask other passengers to avoid eating them during the journey.
“Though the production team asked other passengers if they’d be okay to avoid eating nuts on the flight, I’m astounded that the airline’s policy even required them to have to do so. I would urge them, and all airlines, to consider their policy as it is a very simple action which can help protect their customers.”
Pamela Laird added: “It was shocking to hear about Finnair’s policy regarding passengers travelling with a severe nut allergy. They need to understand the seriousness of the situation around nut allergies and that they simply cannot refuse to accommodate the passengers who travel with them.
“If nothing else I want other nut allergy sufferers to be aware of this policy before booking a flight with Finnair.”
A Finnair spokesperson told The Independent that, as the airline operates more flights to and from Asia and the Far East than any other European carrier, its menus reflect Asian cuisine in which nuts are widely used.
“These are valued by the vast majority of customers onboard,” they said. “Finnair is therefore unable to guarantee a completely nut-free environment in-flight and is also unable to control what other customers may bring onboard and consume themselves, even before any cabin announcements are made.
“We advise customers to check our website at finnair.com so that those with severe nut allergies are aware and can take necessary precautions for safe travel.”
It’s not the only airline to operate a controversial nut policy.
Turkish Airlines has had several high profile cases of kicking passengers with allergies off flights and refusing to refund them.
In September, Norine Khalil, a 32-year-old dietician and nutritionist living in Toronto, was left feeling “devastated” and “helpless” after Turkish Airlines denied her boarding and made her pay almost £1,500 for new flights, because she told them she had a nut allergy.
A Turkish Airlines spokesperson told The Independent: “Turkish Airlines has been contacted by the passenger who has shared her full experience. We take allergy attacks extremely seriously and our priority is always to ensure our passengers are safe to enjoy a pleasant flight. This matter is in the hands of our customer relations and customer services management team who are treating it with the utmost importance.”
In June, Josh Silver, 25, was flying from Antalya, Turkey, to Gatwick with his girlfriend when he notified a Turkish Airlines flight attendant of his nut allergy.
He was told to leave the flight immediately shortly before take-off. When he refused, he said armed police boarded the aircraft to escort the couple off.
“We clearly state on our website that anyone with a nut allergy must inform us before the flight,” a Turkish Airlines spokesperson told The Independent.
“In this case, our records show that no such information was provided by the passenger until they boarded the flight, which unfortunately is too late for cabin crew to prepare for and take precautions against potential allergy attacks in advance. Our priority is always to ensure our passengers are safe to enjoy a pleasant flight.”
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