This week’s fired Apprentice candidate David Stevenson is convinced he shouldn’t have been fired, telling HuffPostUK his rivals ganged up on him to save their own skins, and that Lord Sugar “bottled it”.
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Marketing company owner David was fired from the boardroom after failing in his contribution to the planning and running of a children’s party for Team Versatile. David was in charge of printing ‘Happy Birthday’ on T-shirts, but when he failed, this meant two unhappy clients, and the team left £175 in the red.
David Stevenson was fired from this week's boardroom by Lord Sugar
However, David remains convinced this wasn’t the biggest crime committed on the day, and is adamant his teammates Joseph and Charleine conspired to get him fired.
“Even without the T-shirts, they (Team Conexus) still beat us by £500,” he says now. “We messed up in so many areas, it definitely needed more investigation.
“But they ganged up on me. Not a single person stood up for me.
"Charlene’s an irritant, she just talks and talks. Lord Sugar bottled it, he should have fired her. She thought she’d got away with it, and then Lord Sugar told her to sit back down, so I thought I was going to survive after that. But she’s feisty, she’ll bite at your ankles, and he probably thinks she can still offer something.”
Was Joseph any good? “Joseph can only sell,” says David. “You don’t see him working on any numbers. If he couldn’t do that, I’d pick him up and throw him out myself.”
David claims Charleine and Joseph ganged up on him to make sure he was in the firing line
Perhaps project manager Gary was better? “He should have gone,” says David. “He was indecisive, he didn’t bring anything to the table, and he created a whole load of drama by saying he thought there might be nuts in the cake, when the client had an allergy."
It sounds as though it’s becoming increasingly each-person-for-their-own as the series moves towards the final weeks. “Absolutely,” agrees David. The tension is right there. I made a light remark about Joseph in the car, and Charleine goes straight off and tells him. You know it’s turning - people are all out for themselves.”
David doesn’t sound too disappointed to be leaving the show, and he says lessons learnt include “needing to come out of my shell. I’m very humble, maybe I’m a bit too quiet. I hid a little bit in there. There are so many strong characters, they do swallow you up”.
Okay, so who’s going to win? “Richard and Charleine are basically the same person, just the male and female half,” says David, of this year’s most confident pair. “I think probably Richard.
“I talked to him a lot, I got to know him.” Did you like him? “No.”
He laughs. “But he’s changing. He was a bit arrogant after week two, but very slowly he’s learning. He can’t hide his excitement but he’s very good at what he does."
'The Apprentice' continues on Wednesday evenings at 9pm on BBC One. Who do YOU think is looking on track to be crowned this year's successful Apprentice?