Fired ‘Apprentice’ candidate Michaela Wain has hit out at Lord Sugar’s advisor Claudine Collins for bringing her personal life up during her interview.
Viewers of the BBC business-based reality show saw the contestant open up as the show hit its infamous interview round, but she has now claimed she tried to “break” her in scenes we didn’t see.
Speaking to HuffPost UK following her exit on Wednesday (13 December), Michaela revealed she actually stood up to Claudine over her interview style.
“Claudine was probing and probing, and banging on about my son and my upbringing, but I just shut it down and was like, ‘This has got nothing to do with business. If you’ve got business questions, crack on’,” she said.
“I felt like she was trying to break me, and unfortunately that wasn’t all seen in the episode because they can’t put everything in.”
She continued: “Karren Brady actually agreed with me and said I was right to shut it down and that it had nothing to do with business. It was a bit unfortunate how that came across.
“What does my upbringing have to do with my business plan?”
Michaela was fired by Lord Sugar alongside Elizabeth McKenna and Joanna Jarjue, after he and his advisors claimed she had too many other businesses to give her full attention to the one the proposed to launch with the tycoon.
However, Michaela admitted she is still annoyed about the decision, given how successful her other ventures are.
“It literally makes no sense that I already turn over £3million and they wouldn’t invest in me,” she said.
“If I went to a bank and all 18 of us lined up, I’m pretty certain I would have got the investment because I’ve got a proven track record. It’s not just the turnover that’s high, our profit margins are unreal.
“I would have been his safest option, but maybe [Lord Sugar] doesn’t like safe.”
She continued: “I do genuinely feel it was the wrong decision. They couldn’t find any flaws in my business plan and just banged on about me having other businesses, when in reality, I think there may be another reason.
“Maybe because I’m from the north?! I don’t think he’s ever invested in a northerner. Is that classed as northern-ist?!” she joked.
Despite starring 11 weeks exposure on one of the nation’s biggest shows, Michaela admitted she isn’t planning to do more reality TV like her brother Josh Ritchie, who has appeared on ‘Love Island’ and ‘Ex On The Beach’.
“It’s been loads of fun,” she said. “But ultimately I am a businesswoman and that is my main focus - to earn a load of money and become filthy rich.
“I don’t think I’d get that off reality TV.”
Sarah Lynn and James White will now battle it out to win a £250,000 investment from Lord Sugar in Sunday night’s final, airing at 9pm on BBC One.