Neil Clough has revealed he is absolutely gutted after his inadequate business plan scuppered his chances and saw him fired from this year's Apprentice - "the right man without a plan" was how Lord Sugar described it.
Neil Clough was "absolutely gutted" to be fired from The Apprentice during the interview process
Lord Sugar told Neil that he was "bitterly disappointed" with Neil's business proposal - "it don't work, and I am shocked.
"It's a shame that you're still sitting here believing in it. I might as well put that money in a slot machine. I might as well throw it over London Bridge."
"It's sickening for me to sit here with someone who's been as powerful as you - the right man, the wrong plan. I'm sorry, I'd give you a job tomorrow, but going into business, I'm afraid not... you're fired."
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Neil's business plan - an online estate agency scheme - had previously been picked apart by Claude Littner, who told him, "You've got no chance - the market's full."
Neil admitted to HuffPostUK that he'd never written a business plan before, and that he should have stuck to what he knew.
"I made it far too complicated."
Neil had shone throughout the series, project managing three times, and winning viewers over with a heartfelt motivational speech during one of the tasks, where he talked about wanting to do his late father proud.
"I'd had no time to prepare that," Neil reflected after his firing. "I was speaking from the heart. My real motivator was to make my dad proud, so hopefully he'll be proud of me getting this far."
Neil was sacked along with Jordan Poulton and Francesca MacDuff-Varley, which means that there are two women in next week's final, to find this year's winner, who will go into business with Lord Sugar with a deal worth £250,000.