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Wales Online
Wales Online
Lifestyle
Karen Price

BBC The Apprentice: Viewers put off watching as they accuse Lord Sugar of firing the 'only decent' candidate

Fans of BBC series The Apprentice have accused Lord Sugar of firing the wrong candidate following the latest challenge. During the third episode of the 2023 run, which aired on Thursday, January 19, the teams were tasked with making an animation aimed at pre-school children aged two to four.

But when it came to deciding who to fire at the end of the show, it would appear that many viewers think Lord Sugar got it wrong. The losing team featured Scottish theatre school owner Reece Donnelly as leader and he chose to take online antique market owner Gregory Ebbs and financial controller Denisha Kaur Bharj back into the boardroom with him.

And it was Gregory who got the chop. Pointing the finger at him, Lord Sugar said: "Gregory I don't think you did much on the task, you may as well have gone home. By your own admission you struggled with the task. In business you need to adapt, so it's with regret Gregory you're fired."

Read more: Corgi cafe from BBC Dragons' Den is coming to Cardiff after getting no investment from the entrepreneurs

Gregory Ebbs has been fired (PA)

Viewers were quick to flood social media with their thoughts. "So Lord Sugar sacks the only decent candidate in The Apprentice!!" said one Twitter user. Another said: "Greg was my fave thus far." A third pointed out: "OMG wrong person got the stick and the sack."

"B*** s***!!! Should have fired the team leader and made Greg team leader for the next task!!!!" continued a fourth viewer. "Lord Sugar You made a TERRIBLE mistake firing Gregory. Totally put me off watching this cringe of a programme." another added.

Others pointed out that Gregory "didn't do anything bad" and some felt he had been made a scapegoat.

At the start of the episode, Lord Sugar asked the candidates to create a new pre-school cartoon to pitch to industry experts. Explaining the challenge, an animated Lord Sugar met with various famous TV faces including EastEnders' Kat Slater (Jessie Wallace), Strictly Come Dancing's Craig Revel Horwood and Motsi Mabuse and David Jason back as Del Boy. Read more about that here.

And it's fair to say both teams struggled with their concepts somewhat. The winning team's animation featured a giraffe who was embarrassed about going to school and being teased about her height but the candidates got into rows over the giraffe's name and even the colour of bow on her head.

Reece's team chose the motto It's Cool To Be Kind To Each Other but the two characters were missing feet and hands after they ran out of time with the design and Lord Sugar dubbed the cartoon "really pathetic". For more TV and showbiz news, sign up to our newsletter here.

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