The Apprentice 2019: Shahin Hassan becomes first fired candidate and takes aim at project manager Lewis

The 36-year-old chartered engineer told Standard Online he was "gutted" and surprised by Lord Alan Sugar's the decision
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Isobel Frodsham3 October 2019

The first contestant to leave the 2019 series of The Apprentice has said he is “really gutted” to have been fired – and claimed the project manager should have gone home instead.

Chartered engineer Shahin Hassan, 36, was fired from the first episode after failing to sell any tickets for the boys’ safari tour.

The task saw the contestants travel to Cape Town, South Africa, with one running a winery and vineyard tour while the others took on the safari.

Each group was split into two sub-teams; one dedicated to selling and another looking after the actual tours.

The boys lost the task after failing to sell enough tickets and make a good commission at the gift shop, meaning their profit was around £44 less than the girls’.

Fired: Shahin Hassan is the first to leave (PA)

The three boys who risked being fired were project manager Lewis Ellis, Dean Ahmad and Shahin, but Shahin was the contestant sent home by Lord Alan Sugar.

Speaking about his early exit, he told the Standard Online: “I am disappointed, really gutted I got fired in week one. I wasn’t expecting it to be honest.”

He added Lewis should have sent home instead, saying: “Lewis did not have the project management skills or sales strategy to put us in the front. He also picked the teams incorrectly, he didn’t play to the strengths and weaknesses of the team.

“I think he knew I wasn’t a sales person and yet put me on the sales team.”

Saved: Lewis Ellis was kept by Sir Alan despite "losing control" of his sales team (PA)

Shahin was criticised by Sir Alan for interrupting and undercutting a deal being made by another contestant, Thomas Skinner, when he was negotiating a commission percentage in the gift shop.

Despite Sir Alan’s remarks, Shahin said he would not do anything differently on the programme.

“I would probably still be myself because that’s who I am,” he said. “It’s just unfortunate it was a selling task and I was put on the selling team. But if it was a design opportunity to a commercial company, I would’ve aced it.”

In response to the criticism, he said: “I’m not a natural seller. With the task itself, the project manager calls the shots, and because of the sales strategy we didn’t have enough time in certain places.

Tough cookies: Sir Alan is back with Karren Brady and Claude Littner (PA)

“The way the teams were split, it was a difficult place to be in and the sales tactic was quite aggressive as well, so it probably pushed some customers away.”

During the programme, Sir Alan had to interrupt Lewis, Dean and Shahin after they began arguing in the boardroom about the task.

Lewis was later criticised by Sir Alan for “losing control" of his sales team and for “bursting out” after he lost his temper.

Shahin said he “was not surprised” by the criticism as he found Lewis to be a “hot head” during the task.

Speaking about who he believed could win the competition, he said: “I thought Lottie was a strong character and Jemelin as well, when they were talking, bickering and fighting in the board room, so just watch out for them.”

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