The latest candidate to be fired from The Apprentice has addressed the moment Lord Sugar told him to “keep in touch”.
On Thursday night’s episode, the remaining candidates were tasked with selling pre-selected items live on a shopping channel.
Having saved himself from being fired by putting himself forward as project manager in the previous episode, Akshay Thakrar found himself in the firing line after failing the task.
His luck ran out following a tense boardroom standoff with Kathryn and Stephanie, with Lord Sugar giving him his marching orders.
However, the business tycoon told Akshay to “keep in touch” on his way out of the boardroom, a sentiment typically reserved for those candidates he clearly likes.
Speaking about this moment ahead of the episode’s broadcast, Akshay told media outlets: “100 per cent I’ll stay in touch with Lord Sugar. I mean, it just made everything so worthwhile. I wouldn’t change a thing.”
He attributed his bond with Lord Sugar to the fact he was brought back to the boardroom so many times.
“I think the fact that I went into the boardroom so many times allowed me to build some sort of bond with Lord Sugar in a weird way,” Askhay added. “Because I got so much time with him, he got to see a little bit more of me, and I literally sat there like a sponge just absorbing as much as I could; the way he talks, the way he moves, the way he makes decisions.”
He said: “I will stay in touch, for sure. I am grateful because he hasn’t said that to anybody else.”
The Apprentice continues next Thursday (10 March) on BBC One at 9pm.