The Apprentice star Alana Spencer forced to apologise for Twitter rant about ‘pikeys’

The 24-year-old has been pulled up on a series of tweets she sent back in 2012
Apology: The Apprentice star Alana Spencer has apologised for her Twitter rant
BBC
Jennifer Ruby28 September 2016
The Weekender

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Apprentice star Alana Spencer has been forced to apologise following a Twitter rant about ‘pikeys’.

The 24-year-old businesswoman, who is contestant on series 12 of the BBC show, hit out at ‘chav pikeys’ and ‘jobless pikey scum’ in a series of posts in 2010 and 2012.

Discovered by the Daily Star, the social media rant was posted in response to a noisy child during a train journey.

Spencer reportedly wrote: “Control your children you pikey fat b****.”

The Welsh cake company owner has now issued an apology via the BBC, saying: “I am truly sorry if my comments have offended anyone.

“They were the words of a naive young girl from a number of years ago and I would never write such things now.”

Spencer went on to say that she had been part of the wider travelling community during her youth so would not want to purposely offend anyone.

“I was brought up in the wider travelling community by my parents, so the thought that my words could offend anyone in that community, or indeed any community, has upset me,” she said.

The Apprentice 2016

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Jeremy Clarkson was slammed for his use of the word ‘pikey’ during an episode of Top Gear in 2015.

Despite being cleared by Ofcom for holding up a sign that read ‘Pikey’s Peak’, fans criticised Clarkson for allegedly deriding the travelling community.

The new series of The Apprentice kicks off on BBC One on October 6.

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