Apprentice loser slams Essex accent stereotype

A housewife booted off The Apprentice has criticised You're Fired! presenter Adrian Chiles for perpetuating a 'lame stereotype' about Essex accents. Natalie Wood was fired by Sir Alan Sugar after he told the mother-of-two she was 'out of her depth'. The 30-year-old was hauled to the boardroom and left the BBC One show in tears after her team made the least cash while selling modern art to the public. But the blonde criticised Chiles, who has a distinctive Brummie accent, for asking on the Apprentice spin-off show, You're Fired, if her Essex accent held her back. She said: "He asked me whether I felt my accent hindered me in my particular task, whether I feel that people stereotype me because of my accent. "It's not my problem. I find the question very hard to take when Sir Alan, a multi-millionaire, is sitting opposite me with the same accent. "It's a lame stereotype. It didn't offend me but it might offend other people that are thinking, 'What's wrong with an accent'? "He did say he had problems with his own accent but it is playing a bit of a fine line, stereotyping someone and prejudicing people. We all know what that does. I obviously just played it down." The sixth person to leave the show, Natalie, who has an Open University MBA in business administration and a French degree, tipped 'driven' Kristina Grimes to win.