The Apprentice candidate Lottie Lion ‘spat on by woman who called her disgusting racist’ following Gandhi comment

Nineteen-year-old contestant has been embroiled in a race row since start of this year’s series

The Apprentice candidate Lottie Lion has said she was spat on by a member of the public after it emerged she referred to fellow contestant Lubna Farhan as “Gandhi”.

Lion also claimed that, despite being scolded by the BBC for her comment, she was told by bosses that despite them “knowing she wasn’t a racist”, they “had to be seen” to be punishing her anyway.

It was reported in October that Lion, 19, had sent the message in a WhatsApp group chat ahead of the premiere of this year’s series.

Lion admitted to sending the message and claims that everyone in the group chat – including Farhan, whose parents hail from Pakistan – had laughed off her comment at the time.

In an interview with The Sun, Lion said her reputation has been damaged and that she’s “struggled” after being depicted as a “villain” by the media, which led to her being spat on by an anonymous woman.

“I came to London and this woman just came up to me, spat on me and said ‘You’re a disgusting racist’,” Lion said.

Following the race row, a spokesperson for the BBC said: “While this happened on a private messenger service once filming had concluded, the BBC nevertheless still expects the candidates to behave appropriately.

“The production company have looked into the issue and reported back, Lottie has been informed that her comments were wholly unacceptable and is in no doubt about our view on this.”

Lion has now claimed that the BBC said “Lottie, we’re fully aware of the fact that you’re not a racist, but we have to do something about it.”

When asked if she could see that what she said was racist, Lion replied: “Absolutely – and I do say that if I hurt Lubna in any way, I’m so sorry.”

She acknowledged that Farhan ”might not have been as happy as she was letting on”, as it’s “hard to interpret messages”.

When asked about the situation by The Independent, Lubna – who was fired in the latest series’s fourth episode – commented: “I would say there is truth to [the reports], however there’s no point me talking about it because it has already been spoken about.”

This week’s episode saw the firing of 20-year-old Dean Ahmad – read our interview with him here.