I was on The Apprentice and facing fan backlash over my business has been ‘tough’
THE Apprentice star Gregory Ebbs has admitted that coping with backlash has been “tough” after he sparked fury when Nazi memorabilia was spotted on his online marketplace.
The Shropshire-based local councillor, who runs an antiques business, became the third contestant to be fired by Lord Sugar on the BBC One show last night.
And speaking after his exit, Gregory, 26, revealed that he has been inundated with messages on Instagram and has learned not to take the negativity to heart.
He told The Sun: “I have seen very, very, very few negative comments on the internet but generally speaking I don’t take it to heart.
“It can be tough at times but it is important to understand that not everybody will like your performance in a particular task – sometimes it is the opposite.
“But generally speaking you have the support of a lot of people but occasionally people will say unpleasant things but it is just about understanding the greater story.”
Meanwhile Gregory, who has described himself as “unusual”, also revealed that he has received some flirty messages on his Instagram.
Asked if he has had people sliding into his DMs, he said: “I have had a couple, yeah!
“I have had some very interesting, very, very interesting comments, I mean we will see at the end of today what the comments are going to be like!
“It has been really nice actually. It is really nice that people liked me from the show. I feel very privileged to gain so much support from members of the public.
“I have had lots of unusual messages from everyone and it is quite a cool and weird experience.”
It comes after Gregory issued an apology after he came under fire from Jewish groups who accused his business, Raven Yard Antiques, of “facilitating the sale of artefacts synonymous with death” to “sick collectors”.
On the day the BBC1 series returned, a German officer’s dress dagger sold for £725 on Shropshire-based Ebbs’s Raven Yard Antiques marketplace.
It dates back to before the war when Hitler was Germany’s chancellor and features a Swastika — the symbol of the Nazi party.
It was uploaded by a seller called Mcdermott and sold on January 5.
The Campaign Against Anti-semitism said it was wrong to profit from such a sale.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews said it would distress the relatives of Holocaust victims.
The site is an “eBay for antiques” — where users can sell items.
Gregory previously said his antiques knowledge would help in the boardroom of Lord Sugar — who is himself Jewish.
In his apology, Gregory told The Sun: “I in no way condone or wish to be looking to be celebrating this abhorrent and shameful part of history and I apologise for any offence caused.
“My online business is an antiques marketplace where independent sellers have a platform to sell a wide range of antiques, memorabilia & militaria from many different periods of history. The item in question was sold by a third party vendor.
“This type of memorabilia is not something I would personally sell or stock. The website is relatively new and I will be looking to implement stricter vetting procedures for third party vendors.”
Isle tempt it
ITV1 has confirmed it is making a Love Island for older people – just as I exclusively revealed six months ago.
I reported at the time bosses gave it the working title of Your Mum, My Dad as it was all about children trying to set up their single parents.
Now it’s called The Romance Retreat.
Anneka’s double whammy
BEING blonde and a big name from Nineties telly has its drawbacks.
This week, workmen in Anneka Rice’s home confused her with Michaela Strachen and Ulrika Jonsson.
She live-tweeted the mix-up to her 70,000 follow-ers and how she intended to play along, saying: “I have workmen in my house who are excited to recognise me but I’m pretty sure they think I’m Michaela Strachan.
“Going with it. Googling my back catalogue.”
Then she added: “Oh god, just had the ‘weren’t you in Gladiators question’. That’s Ulrika in the mix.”
Anneka eventually gave them an almighty clue – tea served in Challenge Anneka mugs.
It might have been worse – they could have mistaken her for Pat Sharp.
Last gasp
NOUGHTIES teenage drama Gossip Girl starring Blake Lively became a worldwide hit.
But its reboot, which arrived in 2021, has failed to spark the same level of interest and HBO has cancelled the new effort after two series.
The upcoming season finale on January 26 will be its last gasp.
Rita: Jon’s like dad
RITA Ora says she has a daughter-dad relationship with fellow Masked Singer panelist Jonathan Ross.
The singer also claims the chat show host steals her ideas when it comes to identifying the celebrities behind the costumes on the ITV1 series.
Rita said: “It’s a love-hate, daughter-dad relationship. I don’t know if he’d like that, because I make him sound old. He steals my ideas all the time but I like the fact he does – because I feel it shows that he is thinking subconsciously, ‘Wow, she’s pretty smart’.”
Jonathan is just as fond of Rita, but admits she will never make it as a comedian should she fancy a career change.
He said: “She will blurt something out which sounds a bit like a joke and you kind of know roughly what area she was thinking it might be.
“But it just doesn’t make any sense. One episode, she shouted out, ‘Pigeon me this’ to the Pigeon.
And we all went, ‘But what did you even think that meant? Riddle me this?’.
Unintentional Rita-isms – that we all really enjoy.”
Hel good morning
Helen Skelton took over fellow Strictly star Kym Marsh’s presenting role on BBC1 show Morning Live – and went down a storm.
She made a surprise appearance alongside Gethin Jones in place of regular host Kym yesterday and was praised on social media.
One fan wrote: “Helen and Geth, what an amazing team. Please let her be a regular.”
Another said: “Such a lovely surprise to see the gorgeous Helen Skelton today.”
Wedding couple’s Ant and Dec cash bid
IT’S considered bad luck for couples to see each other the night before their wedding.
But Clive Fieldhouse and Jenny Mason-Fieldhouse were willing to take that risk by agreeing to appear on Ant and Dec’s Limitless Win tomorrow – to pay for a free bar for guests on their big day.
Beauty business owner Jenny said in an exclusive chat: “When we realised it would be the same week as our wedding, we still wanted to do it – even if it was the day before, or day after. We were even considering postponing our honeymoon.”
Ant and Dec surprised them by saying six of their wedding party were in the audience.
In another twist, the show laid on a limo for the pair and their pals to take them back to Leeds afterwards.
The couple took part in the recorded ITV1 show ahead of their October 5 wedding.
Clive, a technical engineer, added: “When we saw our family and friends in the studio it was a huge shock.”
You can find out how they got on by watching at 8.30pm.