THINGS have kicked off between The Apprentice hopeful Lewis Ellis and his potential future business partner Lord Sugar in a bizarre series of tweets.

The pair have been engaged in a very public social media row over the last 24-hours with Lord Sugar slamming the Haslingden hopeful's choice of tattoos - saying he'll be 'an embarrassment' to his kids one day.

The debate started after Lewis stripped down to a pair of swimming shorts in the latest episode of the show to promote summertime in Finland.

But only a matter of hours after the show had aired, Lord Sugar took to twitter to voice his opinions over how 'awful' Lewis' tattooed chest and arms are.

In a tweet which has been liked almost 7,000 times, Lewis wrote: "Back to rule #1 f**k what people think about you!

"Thank you everyone that took the time to show some support for my 'horrific' tattoos and pointing out no one has the right to judge you or your body."

Lancashire Telegraph:

Lord Sugar then quoted the tweet and added: "Lewis your tattoos tell your story. What are you a Kindle.

"You have the right to do what you want to your body. I have the right of an opinion. I say they are horrible. When you're 50 on the beach you'll wear a T shirt. You will be an embarrassment to your kids."

But 29-year-old Lewis was keen to get the last word in, simply responding 'Ok Boomer' to Lord Sugar's tweet - promoting almost 100,000 people to respond.

Lewis is still going strong in the process and is currently battling it out with the other nine remaining hopefuls for Lord Sugar's investment.

The Apprentice airs on Wednesdays at 9pm on BBC One.