Entertainment
The Apprentice star Gregory Ebbs opens up on being fired by Lord Alan Sugar after viewers label exit ‘unfair’-Sabrina Barr-Entertainment – Metro
‘Massively unfair on Gregory,’ one viewer said after he was fired.
Several fans of the show weren’t happy with Lord Sugar’s final decision in week three (Picture: BBC)
The Apprentice star Gregory Ebbs has spoken to Metro.co.uk about his exit from the 2023 series, after several viewers lambasted the ‘unfair’ decision made by Lord Alan Sugar in the boardroom.
In week three of the BBC competition, the teams were tasked with coming up with short cartoons that would prove entertaining to a demographic of two-to-four-year-olds, as well as impressive to a panel of industry experts.
Gregory’s team, which was led by project manager Reece Donnelly, the owner of a theatre school, failed to hit the mark, due to the messaging of the animated film and its overall design.
Reece decided to bring financial controller Denisha Kaur Bharj back into the boardroom with him as the leader of the sub-team, as well as antiques expert Gregory, who was accused by his teammates of not providing enough input on the task.
While the owner of the online antiques marketplace insisted that he felt he didn’t have the expertise in the field to back up strong opinions on the project, in the end, Lord Sugar called him out for struggling to ‘adapt’ when not in his comfort zone, and he was – ‘regretfully’ sent home.
Following his departure, Metro.co.uk spoke to Gregory about whether or not he thought his elimination was ‘unfair’, a word that was used on Twitter by several disgruntled viewers watching at home.
Gregory tried to fight his corner in the boardroom (Picture: BBC)
In the end, Lord Sugar put the antiques expert on the chopping block (Picture: BBC)
‘At the end of the day, I stuck with what I believed and I believe that there’s no point in saying stuff if you don’t have the authority to make that judgement,’ he stressed.
‘I put my faith in individuals who I thought were more knowledgeable than me in this task. So the arguments of the lack of contribution… I get where Lord Sugar’s come from and I very much respect that decision. I understand he’s looking for someone who is going to be his next business partner.
‘So I understand that, but on the other hand, it’s a tricky one, it’s a really, it’s a very tricky one. I felt I didn’t contribute enough in that particular task, but at the end of the day, whether I said something or not, would that have made a difference? Would that have won the task? Well probably not, to be honest.’
One of the critics who disagreed with the final decision tweeted: ‘Really unfair to fire Gregory! He’s given so much on the other tasks!’, with Lord Sugar having been thoroughly impressed with his performance in week one, when he used his niche cannon expertise to his advantage during a historical guided tour in Antigua.
‘That’s so unfair on Gregory!! He was good in the other tasks, but this one wasn’t his forte and suddenly that’s bad??’ someone else wrote, while another added: ‘Massively unfair on Gregory.’
Someone else remarked that in their opinion, ‘the two people responsible for the failure of the task stayed’.
Looking back on his time on The Apprentice on the whole, Gregory said that while it was ‘challenging’, he felt ‘very privileged to have been given this opportunity’ and made strong connections with the other candidates in the house.
The first task where he excelled, which was filmed in April last year, happened to fall on his birthday, with the entrepreneur saying he’ll ‘never forget’ the milestone ‘being televised on national television’.
A few days later, he was presented with a birthday cake, while he and the other contestants ‘danced salsa around the house’, which he revealed is one of his ‘big passions in life’.
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‘That was a really lovely experience by all the people in the show, because obviously you’re away from home, you’re away for an extended period of time and you have very little contact with the outside world,’ he said.
‘There was no animosity in the house. I think people generally did get on and there was a lot of support. There’s an understanding that your goal was to try and secure Lord Sugar’s investment, but there’s also an understanding that we’re going to be living together and we’re going to be doing these tasks together. So, of course, it’s difficult for friendships not to be fostered.’
The Apprentice returns next Thursday at 9pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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