Self-styled “good Jewish boy” Michael Sophocles has finally been given the boot from BBC1’s The Apprentice.
 
The 25-year-old Edgware native came a cropper after losing a task in which the candidates had to make money by renting posh cars. He had escaped being fired by Sir Alan Sugar on several previous occasions.
 
Michael’s most memorable moment in the series came during a task in which candidates had to buy a kosher chicken from a market in the Moroccan capital Marrakech.
 
While the non-Jewish apprentices managed this successfully, Michael and his team failed to understand what kosher was and how it differed from halal.
 
When quizzed by Sir Alan as to why he proclaims himself ‘a good Jewish boy’, Sophocles revealed he was only half-Jewish. On The Apprentice You’re Fired, DJ Trevor Nelson told Sophocles that even he “was more Jewish”.
 
A TV insider said: “Michael was very jammy. He seemed to have thought that he could appeal to Sir Alan by saying he was Jewish, even though quite clearly he had no interest in any aspect of his Jewish background. The fact he did not even know the meaning of the word ‘L’Chaim’ and knew ’schmuck’ said it all really.”
 
Michael admitted during his interview in The Apprentice: You’re Fired that “it was a horrific mistake” when referring to the infamous kosher chicken incident. However he didn’t reveal anything more about his Jewish background or why he considers himself to be a good Jewish boy.

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