After two years off air, The Apprentice is back for series 16, and we’ve already seen the first contestant be fired for 2022.
Following the first task, which saw The Apprentice 2022 cast having to brand and create an advertisement for a cruise ship – Harry Mahmood was given the finger as Lord Alan Sugar declared: “You’re fired!”
The general consensus was that Harry had been “disruptive” during the challenge. However, he claims Lord Sugar’s advisor, Baroness Karren Brady, actually defended in a scene which was never aired.
Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com, Harry said: “Akeem kept saying, ‘Harry’s been disruptive,’ and Karren herself said in the boardroom, which hasn’t been aired, quote, ‘No, Akeem, that’s not strictly true. Harry was slightly annoying, but not disruptive!’”
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In tonight’s episode, Tim Campbell, who is filling in for Claude Littner on the series, pointed out that most of the candidates had called Harry “disruptive” – something the bath bomb business manager wasn’t happy about.
He added: “For Tim to turn around and say, ‘You’re being disruptive!’ Tim, you weren’t even there, mate.”
Harry therefore feels he was “hard done by” on the show, and believes Akshay Thakrar and Akeem Bundu-Kamara should have taken more accountability for their failure in the first task.
As project manager, Akshay had a huge part to play in the decision making, and Akeem was the person who signed off on the “turd” logo, which cost them the challenge.
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“I’ve been confident, I’ve been creative, I’ve been fun, kind, polite, courteous and kind to my fellow colleagues. And I’ve just been a scapegoat, really, for Akshay and Akeem for failing the task,” Harry continued.
“It’s just really frustrating, because I’m not being biased, but if I was Akeem and I messed up, I would have said, ‘Lord Sugar, I signed off the logo. I messed up massively. But you know what, I’ll do better next time.’ But he didn’t do that!”
From the beginning of the task, Harry admitted he didn’t like the logo, which Nick Showering came up with. However, the others didn’t think the design he’d drawn was strong enough, so Akeem went with Nick’s choice. Harry then brought up the poor design at several stages, which the others found unsupportive.
So, does he wish he handled things differently?
“No, not really,” he said, going on to explain the reasoning behind his behaviour. “I’m very experienced and well-versed in making decisions and seeing success ahead of me. So, if I know that something is going to fail massively and miserably, I’m thinking of the boardroom and Lord Sugar saying the logo is crap. It’s not good; I knew this, hence why I was vocal about it.”
Despite being the first out of the competition (and missing out on Lord Sugar’s £250,000 investment as a result) Harry has no regrets, admitting he’s actually “good friends” with the rest of the cast.
“You can’t dwell,” he said. “I’m proud of the fact that God Almighty has blessed me the opportunity to work with the BBC, The Apprentice, Lord Sugar and I’ve been honoured to take part. It’s a huge privilege and an honour to be part of a huge, huge programme. Genuinely, hand on my heart, I am honoured to be in the process, even though it’s been very short-lived. I will carry on doing what I can with [God’s] blessings!”
The Apprentice airs Thursdays at 9pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. If you’re looking for more to watch, check out our TV Guide or visit our dedicated Entertainment hub.