The Apprentice fired candidate Souleyman Bah interview: 'As the first disabled candidate, I thought Lord Sugar was very patronising in the boardroom'

The latest hopeful to be eliminated from the BBC series on why he shouldn't have been fired

The latest Apprentice candidate to be fired by Lord Sugar has been revealed – and he has a lot to say about it.

In the third episode, candidates were tasked with creating a toy for six- to eight-year-olds as well as making an online video to promote their brand.

Things didn’t end too well for 20-year-old para-athlete and popular motivation speaker Souleyman Bah, who has Retinitis pigmentosa – an eye condition that drastically limits his vision.

Lord Sugar commended Souleyman – the BBC show’s first ever disabled contestant – for his “bravery” in appearing on the show, but sent him home after being brought back to the boardroom by project manager Riyonn Farsad.

We spoke with Souleyman about why he found Lord Sugar’s words in the final boardroom to be patronising and the candidates he found it most difficult to work with.

I didn’t expect to be speaking to you so soon.

I know. It’s such a shame. I obviously don’t agree with it and I don’t think a lot of people will, but it is what it is.

Why do you think Lord Sugar fired you?

I have no idea. I haven’t thought about it in that way. I think he usually fires people on the basis of who’s responsible for the failure of the task. The reason the task failed is because we made the wrong toy for the wrong demographic and the people who were responsible for that were Tom, but also the project manager Riyonn because one, he’s made a toy in the past and two, he should have made a great advert. I wasn’t the person who was responsible so I don’t know why Lord Sugar fired me

What do you make of your fellow candidates calling you negative?

I think that branding me negative, despite me making correct points and predictions about the toy right from the beginning, was wrong, because that’s exactly why we lost. We lost because the six-to eight-year olds thought the toy was a bit too babyish,and I’d said that right through. If they’d listened to me, we could have made improvements. We could have found answers for those questions in the pitches. Riyonn could have chosen other people that were more suitable to pitch like myself, because I’m a public speaker. I think I was an easy target for the team because I wasn’t the loudest. I’m not like Thomas. I don’t get aggressive. I make my point and that’s it – and i think because they were able to talk over me and walk all over me maybe that created the perception I was a weaker candidate.

How was your final boardroom experience?

One thing I will raise that angered me a little bit was when Lord Sugar said I was brave for coming into this process – that it was a big leap of faith. I thought that was very patronising from him, because being the first disabled candidate and proving that I was worthy of this opportunity by going through 70,000 people’s worth of auditions and making it to the final 16 should have been enough of a testament to him that I’m not joking around in this process. I didn’t like that line at all.

Would you say you were scapegoated?

I absolutely think I was. They say I’m negative but I say I’m truthful and honest. It’s characteristics of being a good businessman. It’s seeing what issues there are before they arrive. If they’d listened to me and made the necessary adjustments, we wouldn’t have been in that boardroom. I actually put myself forward to be project manager and sub-team leader, none of which was shown or taken into consideration. I work with kids and understand how they think – I knew this toy had to be fun and engaging. I think they said I didn’t contribute anything or make any suggestions, which I did. I danced in a turtle outfit and embarrassed myself on national television! [laughs]

What was your overriding emotion when you were watching the episode?

It was relief, actually. I was very impressed that they actually kept what I said in because I stand by the points I made. I fought for my place in the boardroom, but obviously it wasn’t good enough, so I was just relieved that I could come away from the process not feeling like I’d humiliated myself or that I was an aggressive character someone didn’t like working with. I came away with my dignity.

Which candidate is getting away with the most?

I think Marianne. She’s been very quiet. Lubna has also been very quiet.

Lottie and Thomas are big personalities of this year’s series. What were they like to work with?

Very difficult. How they are on camera is exactly what they’re like off it. It was difficult to get a word in and I thought, rather then fighting, I’d let them do them and see how far they got.

Who, if anyone, do you think would make a good business partner for Lord Sugar?

I think for the boys, definitely Lewis, and for the girls, Scarlett.

Lewis seemed to be getting quite frustrated about not being given a chance to prove himself in this episode. What did you make of that?

After his outburst in the boardroom in the first episode, I think maybe he thought he needed to step back a bit, which I think is a very good tactic on his part. He showed professionalism on this task. He was making his point heard and just getting on with it. It’s the same with Scarlett as well – they’re two candidates who have a very strong chance.

What prompted you to apply in the first place?

Firstly, I’m a massive fan of the show and I’ve watched it every single year. Secondly, when I started my business, I looked for disabled role models and, while you have ones like Lord Sugar and Richard Branson, there was no one there I could relate to. I thought that if I couldn’t find one, maybe I could start the trend of disabled entrepreneurs. Thirdly, my girlfriend saw the application process was open and signed me up without knowing.

What advice would you have for other disabled candidates who are interested in applying for future series?

My advice would be: make sure you’re an entrepreneur first. For me, I can hold my hands up and say I know I didn’t get selected because of my disability; I know I got selected because of my business ability, acumen and my business plan. I can confidently say that. Make sure you’re in this genuinely for business, not for your disability. Obviously it’s great to be a role model and an ambassador, but at the end of the day, it’s all about business.

What’s next for you?

Two main things: first one is I’m training for the 2020 paralympic games. In a couple of months, we’ll find out if I’m in the team or not so I’m training really hard for that. I also just want to expand my business. It’s called Vision Beyond Sight and it’s a company that brings in inspirational individuals to schools to promote physical and mental health to young people. It goes into corporate settings too to talk about disability in the workplace and also gets them to do team-building activities where people wear these visual impairment simulation googles and try to do everyday work and see how difficult it actually is. So yeah, just focusing on sport and business.

The Apprentice continues weekly on BBC1 at 9pm