Vance Hangs Out With Convicted ‘Apprentice’ Star in Booze-Fueled Vacation Barbecue

JD Vance discovered time during his trip in England to hang around with a former star of The Apprentice who was once sentenced for handling stolen items.

Thomas Skinner, who appeared on the 2019 season of the British model of The Apprentice, uploaded an image on X which he said confirmed himself “after a few beers” with the vice president, who is on a British countryside trip turned diplomatic expedition. In the image, the TV persona has his arm slung around a smiling Vance, who is in informal clothes.

“Here is a pic of Me and Vice President @JDVance towards the end of the night after a few beers,” the 34-year-old posted.

“I’m overdressed in my suit, but when the VP invites you to a BBQ, you don’t risk turning up in shorts an flip-flops. Cracking night in the beautiful English countryside with JD, his friends and family. Once in a lifetime,” Skinner added, signing off with his catchphrase: “Bosh.”

In a separate post, he said Vance, 41, was “a proper gent,” and said the night was “one to tell the grand kids about.” The pair finally met in particular person, after growing into transatlantic allies over X.

The catchphrase “Bosh” and his happy-go-lucky, cheeky-chappy manner endeared Skinner to the public when he took half in the fifteenth season of The Apprentice. He was fired by the show’s host, Lord Alan Sugar, in week 9.

Skinner, a bedding salesman and market trader, had overcome a prison past to make it onto the show. In 2011, he was convicted of handling almost $55,000 of stolen items, including 4,992 tubes of Body Shop cleaning gels. He was also in possession of 2,000 diazepam, or Valium, drugs.

Skinner has been candid about his past on social media, revealing that he’s been arrested a number of instances. “Yes I did get arrested when I was younger, in fact I get arrested several times. And been charged and paid the price for my convictions [sic],” he wrote on X in February.

In 2019, he told MailOnline: “Many years ago before I had my business, when I used to work on the markets, I was young and naïve and brought stock from a source that I didn’t know. I wasn’t aware that the stock was stolen and paid the consequences for the mistake I made.

“That is now well in my past, and I have had a string of successful companies since then. I now only buy from trusted sources and I employ five people. I was put in situations I didn’t fully understand when I was younger, but they have made me the man I am today. My past is my past, I am now a changed man.”

A BBC spokesperson told MailOnline at the time that Skinner handed a background test forward of his look on The Apprentice.

While yet to make a foray into politics, Skinner has been vocal about points he sees as afflicting the U.Ok. Vance has shown an growing curiosity in British right-wing politics, including the Reform UK celebration, led by Nigel Farage, whom the VP met for breakfast on Wednesday.

Skinner, meanwhile, developed a relationship with Vance over social media.

Skinner, who donned a MAGA hat in a post in June, received the help of Vance after Skinner complained on X about being labeled “far right” by the left in a wider screed about his protection of “traditional, hard-working, family values.”

He added that he had obtained “death threats” and “vile comments about my children.”

Vance got here to the rescue, offering phrases of solace by sharing a image of a slothlike man at a pc from South Park. “Hang in there, my friend. Remember that 90 percent of people attacking your family look like this,” Vance wrote.

The barbecue comes amid Vance’s trip in the Cotswolds, an space of natural magnificence widespread with A-listers in south west England. The journey has been met with a flurry of opposition, with locals slamming Vance with placards and billboard posters that includes a chubby model of his face in meme kind.

Representatives for Vance and Skinner have been contacted for remark.