Fired contestant hits out at Sugar

Apprentice contestant Azhar Siddique berated Lord Sugar for "making the wrong decision" after he became the latest hopeful to be fired.

The 33-year-old founder and managing director of a catering and refrigeration company from Manchester reckoned he was shown the way out from the BBC show because he was "a threat", following team Phoenix's loss at the latest task.

Each team had to buy wholesale products, sell them at a profit and then reinvest in the most popular stock. Team Sterling - led by Nick Holzherr - triumphed with total assets of £955.20, compared with £838.21 for Phoenix, which had Jade Nash in her first role as project manager.

"I am disappointed. I definitely thought Jade should have gone, but obviously I have to respect Lord Sugar's decision," said Azhar.

"I think a lot of the team saw me (as) more of a threat because I know how business works: I started my own business and I know how to make money. I'm the most credible person in the process."

Azhar, who was chosen by Jade to face Lord Sugar in the boardroom along with Tom Gearing, blamed the leader for the team's failure.

"We didn't have any strategy in place and that's why we lost. We played things based on Jade's decisions," he explained. "I've grown a multimillion-pound industry and I've got the experience. But I think the others didn't listen because I was too technical."

But he admitted there's no bad feeling between him and Jade.

"I don't hold grudges, not at all. I get on with everyone," he said. "But business is business. And in business, sometimes people have to make the right decisions and Jade made the wrong one, and Lord Sugar as well."

Azhar, who described Lord Sugar as "unpredictable and belligerent", is backing Gearing to win.