Lord Sugar fires Southampton martial arts Apprentice candidate

Sohail Chowdhary heard Lord Sugar's dreaded "You're fired" catchphrase in The Apprentice boardroom

A martial arts instructor and business owner is the latest person to be fired from the BBC's Apprentice.

Sohail Chowdhary, from Southampton, took the role of project manager when two teams of contestants were asked to design lunchboxes for school children during an episode of the BBC One show broadcast on Thursday.

But he was fired by Lord Alan Sugar.

Mr Chowdhary said the process was "very different" to what he expected.

The 28-year-old, who went to school and university in Southampton, set up AG Martial Arts after he lost his job with a leading accountancy firm.

He was hoping to secure a £250,000 investment from Lord Sugar.

Despite the early departure, Mr Chowdhary said he was happy he had taken part in the show because it was "a surreal experience".

"The exposure has been insane, the amount of opportunities that come off the back of it has been incredible," he added.

But he said the process was "a lot more tricky compared to what it looks like on TV".

"Everyone is watching the show and you're like 'oh, they're a bunch of idiots, I can do that'. Then when you're on the show, you become one of those idiots," he said.

The Platinum Pirate Adventures lunchbox designed by Mr Chowdhary's team failed to impress Lord Sugar

The former Upper Shirley High pupil has continued to develop his martial arts club which he would like to expand across the country.

He hopes his story will inspire other people.

He said: "I know a lot of people have the primary reason of going on the show to win but my primary reason was to go on to prove a point.

"That people from a council house like me, we can go off and we can make it."

Mr Chowdhary said business was "in my blood"

Viewers can watch The Apprentice on BBC One or on BBC iPlayer.

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