A jewellery company owner who was fired from The Apprentice has claimed she skipped the spin-off show due to having a “negative experience” taking part in the main series.
Noor Bouziane, from Liverpool, missed Thursday’s edition of The Apprentice: You’re Fired, where contestants talk about the series following being sent home on that weeks episode.
A statement from The Apprentice said that she “has had access to any support she needs, and this is ongoing, even now she has left the process”.
On the main BBC One show, Lord Alan Sugar said it was “with regret” that he had to fire Bouziane after she made a 30-second advertisement for an electric van which featured a significant segment where two women were looking at their phones.
The businessman also complained that her pitch for a van company that allows ecommerce companies to sell directly to consumers, outside of an online marketplace, failed to show the van moving.
As 23-year-old Bouziane defended the promotional video for her product, which was also criticised by the experts, Lord Sugar said he was “frustrated” that she did not seem to understand how she went wrong.
In the episode, she also did not pitch her product to the people from the industry, and left that to other members of her team.
Addressing her appearance, Bouziane blamed the “edit” in an Instagram video message.
She said: “I’ve had a really negative experience… and you know you guys deserve to know why I refused to go on the You’ve Been Fired show.”
During the course of the clip, she also called coming off the show “one of the most traumatic experiences of my whole entire life” and claimed “it had that much of an impact on me that I had to literally leave the UK, go to Morocco for a month to really heal and get my mind right because it was too much”.
Bouziane also claimed that she had “no support whatsoever” from The Apprentice team, and when she was called it was late in the evening.
She also said she missed the spin-off series, hosted by comedian Tom Allen, as fellow candidate Asif Munaf, a doctor from Sheffield, was “cut” from his episode of The Apprentice: You’re Fired.
Munaf, who previously also appeared on BBC One show Dragons’ Den, was spoken to by producers of The Apprentice following comments made about the Hamas invasion of Israel, Zionism, Islam and masculinity.
He said he apologised for “any offence caused by my online content/social media”, but denied allegations of antisemitism.
Last year, Glasgow theatre school owner Reece Donnelly did not return for the spin-off series.
Donnelly was not fired from the show, but left before the end of an episode. He later revealed that he departed due to “health issues”.
A spokesman for The Apprentice said: “We have a duty of care to all candidates and their welfare is of the utmost importance to us.
“We take the welfare of anyone involved in The Apprentice extremely seriously and have thorough and robust measures in place to ensure everyone feels supported before, during and after filming takes place.
“We have a dedicated welfare team who are there to support candidates through the process, and we are proactive in ensuring our welfare procedures are under constant review and updated with each series.
“Like all candidates, Noor has had access to any support she needs, and this is ongoing, even now she has left the process.”
Before the candidates enter the reality TV show to compete for Lord Sugar’s £250,000 investment, they are offered free legal advice, are supported and given social media and media training.
It is understood that there is a “dedicated welfare person”, a consultant psychologist offered if required throughout broadcast and psychological help is available before, during and after the show.
