Fired Apprentice candidate Jeff Wan has said he was framed
Fired Apprentice candidate Jeff Wan has claimed he was "thrown under the bus" and framed after he became the second hopeful to leave the show.The business analyst, 28, was booted out by Lord Sugar after the boys’ team fell short for the second consecutive week as contestants were tasked with designing a luxury hotel room.
Jeff was summoned into the boardroom in the hit BBC1 show by project manager Ross Fretten, who claimed he had failed to keep track of the finances.
The London-based contestant, who left his job in the financial sector to compete in the show, had rejected the opportunity to take control of the numbers side during the initial meeting for the task.
He hit out at his former teammates for “throwing me under the bus”.
“The guys just kept highlighting my fault and putting such an emphasis on it and I felt like I was framed,” he told the Press Association.
Wan said he was seen as a “human calculator” by his fellow contestants but revealed he wanted to use the task to showcase the “huge creativity” he had picked up from his breakdancing.
The Chinese-born businessman teased his semi-pro dance background during the episode but said he regretted not being able to show off some of his better moves.
He said: “Those weren’t my best moves. I had a lot more to come and I showcased the starters, the appetisers.
“In the middle of the series I wanted to give you the big course and at the end when I won the show to give you dessert.”
The girls’ team spent just £5,675 on designing their bedroom, compared to an outlay of £11,495 from the boys. However two experts – a hotel owner and an interior designer – deemed both efforts substandard leading to Lord Sugar declaring the girls the winners.
Confronted by Fretten, Wan and sub-team leader James White, the business giant said: “Jeff, you certainly talk well, but you’ve not been clear in telling me what you’ve done this week, let alone last week.”
“I’ve got a little bit of a dilemma here, but despite your high qualifications, Jeff, I wouldn’t trust you with a hotel in Monopoly,” he added before firing Wan.
Jeff said he left the show with no regrets but added he would have accepted responsibility for the numbers if given the opportunity again.
He said: “I should have just stepped up. In hindsight if I had just done that I wouldn’t have been in this situation so at the same time I thought creativity was my thing.”
The Apprentice returns next Wednesday at 9pm.
