The Apprentice's Shazia Hussain has been eliminated after a disastrous task of creating advertisements for electric motorbikes.
In episode five of the 2023 BBC series, Lord Alan Sugar tasked the two groups of candidates with creating an advertising campaign for an electric bike, branding the vehicle and pitching their work to a panel of experts.
Project manager Bradley Johnson thought the blame lied with the branding team and brought back in sub-team leader Shazia and Avi Sharma. Avi created the brand name 'Zip Zap' with the tag line 'Zip along in a zap' which was slammed by the judging panel, and didn't go down well in the boardroom either.
Shazia’s group fell short when it came to casting for their advertising video and failed to hire an actress that was able to ride a motorbike. Lord Sugar said ahead of her exit: "Shazia, I like people who admit their mistakes. The problem here is that there were so many mistakes.
"If it was one thing fair enough, overlook it, another thing, fair enough, overlook it. But there were so many mistakes. Shazia it is with regret that you’re fired."
The neurodiversity advocate said of her departure from the programme: "I think Lord Sugar made a mistake firing me. He’s missed out on a great investment opportunity, but he’s going to have to live with it."
Shazia's firing comes after the star took to social media to reveal she reported her fellow co-stars for bullying during her stint on the BBC reality show. During a task on week three, the groups were tasked with creating a cartoon suitable for two to four year olds and Shazia was left feeling "unsafe" staying in the house with her castmates due to the "levels of animosity" directed at her.
Detailing her experience on the show, Shazia opened up about the ordeal and explained she felt "really attacked" in a now deleted TikTok. In the video, she said: "Anyone else think it's really ironic that the team wanted to do a task about diversity and inclusivity yet none of them understood what diversity and inclusivity is.
"It means that when you have a set of different opinions, you appreciate those differences and work with those differences, and you work with those differences and don't reject them.
"But notice that my team didn't do that, they were incredibly offended by the name Yogita way more than what was shown on the show yesterday."
A BBC spokesperson has said Shazia’s claims were investigated. They told The Tab: “As soon as Shazia raised a concern an investigation was conducted and she received in-person support from senior members of the production team.
Scottish fans of the show will be delighted as Reece Donnelly escaped being fired once again, as Team Apex were crowned the winners by Lord Sugar. The Glasgow contestant had been brought back into the two weeks in a row following losses from his team but managed to secure a few compliments from Lord Sugar in the recent instalment.
The Theatre School boss directed and shot his teams advertisement, and Lord Sugar even compared him to Scorsese before Reece quipped later in the episode he's 'more of a Spielberg'.
The next episode of The Apprentice sees the two teams head to Dubai for their next challenge.
The Apprentice returns to BBC One Scotland on Thursday at 9pm.
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