The Apprentice fired candidate Daniel Elahi interview: 'I've been a frontrunner since episode one'

Elahi been lying awake at night trying to work out why Lord Sugar fired him

You may recall one Apprentice candidate likening themselves to Jordan Belfort, whose life was the basis of Martin Scorsese film The Wolf of Wall Street, at the beginning of this year's series.

Well, his time is up. In a shocking twist at the end of the latest episode, Daniel Elahi was sent home by Lord Sugar, leaving Camilla Ainsworth and Sian Gabbidon to battle it out for the tycoon's business investment.

We spoke with the lifestyle brand owner who didn't hold back with his honest views over being let go from the show.

How are you feeling?

I’m feeling sad, very sad. I feel like I should be in that final.

I thought you were a front-runner. Did you think that as well?

Absolutely. I’ve been a front-runner on this show from episode one. I’ve consistently been the top performing salesperson, and certainly, the public opinion will reflect that. If you speak to everyone, they’ve read I’m a star, and everyone – including bookies odds – have alluded to the fact that I would be in the final. If you actually look at the metrics surrounding my performance and my business plan, they would have me in the final as well, so it’s a bitter pill to swallow that I’m not there right now.

Were the interviews as tough as you expected?

Yeah, I mean the interviews for me were tough in places but the difference with me as you’ve kind of seen is they struggled to pick flaws in my business plan. They didn’t say anything about the model, the market, my experience, my knowledge, the margins, the scalability. Everything they said kind of alluded to the fact it was going to be the business Lord Sugar would go for.

Why do you reckon Lord Sugar decided you couldn’t be his business partner?

I don’t know. I’m still trying to work that one out myself.

It must be hard to get closure from the show when you can’t really pinpoint why you were fired.

It’s a tricky one. I’ve been lying in bed at night trying to work out exactly what went wrong and, for the life of me, I just don’t know. If you look at the business I’ve presented, I think it ticks every box that Lord Sugar is looking for in respect of scale-ability, being innovative, being gender-neutral, its global reach and mass appeal. It hits the price point – at the moment, consumers from all ends of the market can buy it. Everything would suggest that I’d be in that final.

Do you think it’s just a case of him seeing more in Sian and Camilla as opposed to not seeing something in you?

I don’t think I could do much, but at the end of the day, Lord Sugar’s an individual and we don’t know what’s gone on. Maybe he’s recently acquired a fashion company or a supermarket, or maybe he owns a nut factory somewhere. You never know what’s going on or what his thought processes are. Certainly, when I look at businesses, I have a look at where my skill set is and where my areas of expertise are, and where I can add value. Maybe on balance he just thought he could add more to the other two businesses in that respect. But this is me speculating.

When you assessed your competition in week one, did you think you’d win?

Absolutely. I’m a confident person anyway. I come from a corporate background. I worked in investment banking for six years, I have a first class degree in economics, I’ve had numerous businesses. On balance, when I assessed myself and the other candidates, I automatically had myself in the top of the field. I think I proved that to everyone in the weeks to come. I quickly became one of the hot favourites to win this.

Who would you have said that your closest competitor was throughout? If you were in the final, who would you have said would have got there with you?

I worked closely with Camilla throughout and I think she’s good. She goes about her business in a very professional manner and her product’s very similar to mine in a lot of respects: we’re both selling drinks, have edgy marketing and are appealing to that millennial Instagram generation. So yeah, I think Camilla’s strong.

What was the hardest part of the process?

Honestly, I went through this without even stretching my arms. There wasn’t a point where I ever felt in danger, you know? I was never in the bottom three – only in week 10 by default was I called back, and even then I wasn’t really in danger of going. I’ve never hit fifth gear in this process, so it didn’t push me as far as I thought it would. I was able to do it in cruise control.

In the interviews, you got quite emotional. Is that something you never expected to happen?

What you saw there was raw emotion – the passion coming through. I always thought I would be in the final, so at that point when you kind of have that realisation that I’m within touching distance, it makes you think just how big this is and just how life changing that investment could be.

Has the response from your appearance on the show been positive?

Absolutely. Getting recognised in the street’s amazing. You get close to thousands of people messaging you on a daily basis: girls who be wanna be with you, guys who wanna be you. It’s great.

What’s next for you?

I’ve had job offers already, I’ve had business collaboration offers, people saying to go back on TV and stuff so I think given how I’ve come across, I think the world is my oyster at this stage. But I’d love to maybe go back into banking. I’ve spent six years working for the top investment banks, and it’s crazy to say, but I’ve missed the trading floor. So it would be good to get back into banking in itself.

Who do you want to win?

I would want Camilla to win. Just because of our synergies, we were close together in a lot of the tasks and, as I say, our businesses are quite aligned. In terms of who I think will win, it’s 50/50, I couldn’t decide with either one just because they’re both very credible, and the fact they are completely different just leaves it open for the viewers to see. I think the fact that I’m not in the final shows that this is an unpredictable process.

The Apprentice final airs on Sunday 17 December at 9pm on BBC One