The Apprentice candidate Dr Jana Denzel has revealed a ‘really hurtful’ comment from Lord Alan Sugar led to him quitting the BBC One competition.
The dentist from London was one of the candidates vying for a £250,000 investment from Lord Sugar, but it had earlier been revealed Dr Jana walked out after being a project manager on one of the tasks.
It had also been claimed he’d been accused of using racist language in one incident, and was asked to take part in diversity training by producers. The next day, Dr Jana left of his own accord.
The episode showing his exit aired on Thursday, where Dr Jana’s team lost an Easter Eggs challenge after their space-themed chocolate creation failed to impress.
But before the results were revealed, he interrupted Lord Sugar and said he wanted to step away from the process.
As he departed the boardroom, Lord Sugar said: ‘It’s been a pleasure having you here… you seem a stand-up fellow, I wish you well.’
Dr Jana told the PA news agency he thought he ‘performed really, really well’, until episode four when ‘Lord Sugar said to me, “You’ve been really, really quiet since the last few weeks”.
‘And that just registered in my head. I was like… and I did say this as well, but I didn’t get a chance to speak… “I’ve been one of the best performing candidates here for the last few weeks, I’ve been really giving it 100% and all of myself.
‘”But you just say that I’ve been really, really quiet is really hurtful.”
‘That moment onwards, I looked at him and I was like, you know what? Maybe this just isn’t a great fit, then, because if I’m positively contributing and giving 100% of myself, and you’re saying, “I’m really, really quiet, and you haven’t seen much from me,” then I don’t think this is going to work.
‘So, I actually made my decision in that boardroom at the end of episode four, and I said to the producers as well, I don’t think this is (going to) work… or be a great fit for me… because I don’t like how that was going down.’
The son of Sri Lankan refugees, who built a dental practice in Harley Street, Dr Jana admitted in ‘hindsight’ he could have spoken up more in boardrooms, but also maintained that Lord Sugar has access to the records of who led which negotiation.
During the third task, where the candidates were challenged to buy a list of items for Lord Sugar at a good price, he said he ‘was the only person to get my thing for cost price’, later giving the flower seller a pound extra as he thought the businessman would be unhappy with such a low price.
Dr Jana’s idea was to have ‘cosmetic dentistry clinics that we were going to scale up using his commercial property’, and thinks that he has found investment after ‘renting my rooms’ from Dragons’ Den investor Steven Bartlett.
He said podcast host Steven put him in touch with his then-investment manager, Danny Gray, whom he is working with on ‘not only scaling the dental clinic, but we’re looking at all (the) healthcare product market’, to get products in chain pharmacies.
‘We’ve been working on some pretty cool stuff, and that’s all thanks to Steven,’ he added.
The dentist, who boasts a BSc in biology with psychology, a degree in dentistry, and a postgraduate diploma in restorative and aesthetic dentistry, said he is also talking to The Apprentice producers about other shows, and added that he needs ‘a little bit of time before I jump back on the TV screen again’.
He said he wants to be a representation to ‘people who come from similar backgrounds as me, growing up in a refugee home’, and especially in his community, the Tamils.
‘I’m the first person from that community on the show like this, and that community has gone behind me, and I feel in some aspects, I’ve let them down by leaving so early,’ he added.
Candidates have left the show early before, including children’s nursery owner Shama Amin and Glasgow-based theatre school owner Reece Donnelly over the last few years.
After he departed the programme, Dr Jana was spoken to about an ‘ill-informed’ remark he made about a character during a task – which saw production staff tell him his ‘use of language was not acceptable’.
Ahead of the new series airing, Lord Sugar said he wanted his show to inspire young people to become entrepreneurs and graft towards their goals.
He said: ‘I hope that my programme encourages (hard work) of course.
‘I would like those people to grasp something and realise you’ve got to physically go and do something, physically work somewhere, or have a passion for something that you want to do.
‘So I’m not painting every young person with the same brush.’
The Apprentice airs Thursdays at 9pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
The Apprentice star dramatically quits after ‘really hurtful’ comment from Lord Sugar