Celebrity Apprentice 2025 may have crowned JB Gill and his team as winners, but it turns out their festive creation Gary the Penguin hasn’t gone down quite so sweetly with shoppers.
JB led teammates Sarah Hadland, Angela Scanlon, Matt Morsia, Shazia Mirza and Thomas Skinner to victory in Lord Alan Sugar’s Christmas spin-off, thanks to their quirky charity biscuit. The team secured major retail deals and shifted an impressive 452,000 Gary the Penguin biscuits through stores including Tesco, ASDA and Ocado.
All profits from the sales went straight to Children in Need, but customers who actually sampled the biscuit have been far less generous in their verdicts.
Celebrity Apprentice’s Gary the Penguin biscuit
JB, Shazia and Thomas were responsible for developing Gary the Penguin’s flavour, settling on an unusual mix of bubblegum, lemon and white pepper.
Explaining the thinking in the boardroom, JB told Lord Sugar: “You tasked us with doing something that was going to stand out on the shelves. Our whole focus was trying to do something that’s a little bit different but still wasn’t offensive to any palate.”
Even Lord Sugar himself seemed taken aback, muttering “blimey” as the white pepper hit. And judging by online reviews, many shoppers felt the same – and then some.
After the biscuits launched earlier this month, one Tesco customer handed it just one out of five stars, writing: “Horrible, tasted like it was not edible and super spicy.”
Another added: “Sadly it was completely inedible – like eating a spicy bar of soap. Had one bite and had to bin the rest as no one else in the house would eat it! Not sure how you get gingerbread so wrong.”
Over on Ocado, one grandmother shared her disappointment, explaining: “My 4 year old grandson adores a gingerbread biscuit but not this one! He only had a few bites, then gave it back as it was ‘biting his throat’.
“I tried it and agreed with him; awful – like swallowing black pepper whole! Then the bubblegum kicks in… Sadly, he is now very wary of any gingerbread.”
Another shopper was equally unimpressed, adding: “I feel bad giving a negative review for a product for charity but this is the spiciest and most horrible gingerbread I’ve ever eaten.
“I thought maybe I had a bad batch but looks like others have had same experience. Threw away after a couple of bites … I hope the burning in my mouth goes soon!”
Jolly McTrouble is the real winner
Gary the Penguin went on sale alongside rival biscuit Jolly McTrouble, with both priced at £1.65 and 100 per cent of the sale price donated to Children in Need. Both products have since sold out.
However, judging by customer feedback, it was Jolly McTrouble that truly won over tastebuds. The biscuit was created by the losing team, led by Project Manager Rob Rinder, alongside Jake Wood, Kadeena Cox, Eddie Kadi, Charlie Hedges and AJ Odudu.
Their offering was a toffee-flavoured biscuit with Christmas pudding and vanilla icing, shaped like Father Christmas’ mischievous brother. And reviews were overwhelmingly positive.
One Ocado shopper described it as “delicious”, adding: “Really really tasty – buying again!”
Another agreed: “Yum! I really liked the flavour!”
A third praised the texture, saying: “I liked these biscuits because they are softer than the average gingerbread biscuit you can buy in supermarkets.”
So while JB Gill and his team may have lifted the Celebrity Apprentice 2025 trophy, it seems when it comes to the biscuits themselves, the runners-up may have had the last laugh.
Read more: Celebrity Apprentice star Thomas Skinner slammed by viewers as he returns for Christmas Special
The Celebrity Apprentice returns for a full series on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in 2026.
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