Lord Alan Sugar, no less.
The Apprentice star suggested his niece Rita Simons could return to EastEnders as the “cousin” of Roxy Mitchell.
The 48-year-old actress’ alter ego and her sister Ronnie (Samantha Womack) drowned to death in the New Year’s Day 2017 episode of the BBC soap.
Hours after Ronnie married Jack Branning (Scott Maslen), she tried to save Roxy, who was drunk and jumped into the swimming pool in the wedding venue’s hotel, but Ronnie’s wedding dress weighed her down, and the much-loved characters passed away by drowning together.
After Ronnie and Roxy’s funerals aired, EastEnders fans have pleaded with the soap’s bosses for the sisters to return from the dead.
Thinking about the time Taylor Swift was a supporting act for Rita Simons on the Paul O’Grady Show pic.twitter.com/fmrbLapAhM
— teen of spaghetti🍝 (@BRATTYBARBl) July 28, 2025
However, in April 2023, Rita returned to the soap, playing Roxy as a “figment of her daughter Amy’s imagination.”
Amy imagined she was sitting with her mum during a family therapy session.
Now in a TikTok video, Rita’s uncle Lord Sugar – who is a big EastEnders fan – can be seen telling her that she could return to EastEnders as Roxy’s “cousin”, whom he jokingly called “Poxy Mitchell”.
In a video uploaded to Rita’s TikTok account, Lord Sugar can be seen telling the actress: “Now look, Rita. There is no way you’re ever going to convince the BBC to bring you back into EastEnders.”
Rita asked: “Do you think I should be back at EastEnders?”
Lord Sugar replied: “Oh, definitely. But, you’re dead. I mean, as far as the story is, you’re dead.
“So you’ve got to come back as a cousin of who you were. So, I don’t know who you were.”
Rita queried: “What would my name be?”
Lord Sugar responded: “I don’t know your b***** name.”
Rita then asked: “What was my name in the show?”
An unsure Lord Sugar said: “Roxy?”
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Rita then added: “So the cousin would be -”
Lord Sugar chimed in: “Poxy. You know, whatever. I don’t care what you come back as. But the point is, is that, you’ve got to come back as a relative, right?
“That’s it, definitely.”
Rita asked her uncle: “And you think they’ll buy it?”
Lord Sugar replied: “They should do.”
And Rita ended the video, saying: “So you heard it here.”
