The Apprentice’s Shazia Hussain ‘made complaint on co-star racially abusing her’

The Apprentice star Shazia Hussain is said to have made a complaint about fellow candidate Mark Moseley after claiming he racially abused her, it’s been reported.

It’s been alleged that Hussain, a technology recruiter from London, felt ‘distressed’ over an alleged incident involving pest control company owner Moseley, leading to her reaching out to producers of the BBC show.

An insider claimed that the alleged exchange ‘took place on camera’ and the contestants were ‘wearing microphones’ at the time, but it was not included in the finished cut of the programme.

The source told MailOnline: ‘Shazia was really upset by the way she was treated and at times didn’t feel safe living in the Apprentice house.’

‘The show casts candidates of different ethnicities and backgrounds and the expectation is for each person to respect each other, which wasn’t the case during filming of the current series,’ they said.

In a statement sent to Metro.co.uk, a spokesperson for The Apprentice said: ‘The Apprentice has a zero tolerance on racist bullying. The duty of care and welfare of all candidates is of utmost importance and when action is required, we take it.

‘All candidates sign up to strict code of conduct and if there was evidence of racist bullying candidates would be immediately removed from the process. We take all complaints very seriously.’

A source for the show also told us: ‘All candidates receive training before they enter the process as part of established protocols. Top-up training also takes place during filming.’

They also explained that invitations for the final episode of The Apprentice, as well as the You’re Fired and You’re Hired spin-offs, are ‘based on candidate availability and production’s discretion’.

The Apprentice returns on Thursday at 9pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

Got a story?

If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.

MORE : Lord Sugar: Maybe next year’s candidates on The Apprentice can design my coffin

MORE : The Apprentice week 4 fired candidate Denisha Kaur Bharj thought for a moment in boardroom that team may have won item search task