'Nice guy' Howard too ordinary for Sir Alan

'Nice guy' Howard too ordinary for Sir Alan (Image credit: Talkback Thames)

The Apprentice contestant Howard Ebison has insisted he is not just a 'nice guy' after being fired by Sir Alan Sugar for being ordinary. Sir Alan said after firing the 24-year-old retail business manager: "A very tough decision there to fire a very nice guy, but I haven't got time for just ordinary people." But Howard has hit back, saying: "It's not about being nice, I think the way that some of the contestants behaved has been appalling and totally unprofessional and I think it would be a mistake to confuse niceness with being professional." But the aspiring Apprentice refused to elaborate on the 'appalling behaviour' of his rivals. He said: "They've done it all by themselves, they don't need me to stitch them up." Howard insisted he had no problem with any of his teammates turning on him in the boardroom to protect themselves. "I think anyone who believes that they've made strong, deeply-rooted friendships during the filming of The Apprentice is naive because you do need be able to criticise anyone at the drop of a hat," he said. Howard was booted off the show by Sir Alan after heading the Ignite team, with Kate Walsh and Lorraine Tighe. They lost the shopping channel task when rival team Empire outsold them by less than £200. He was accused of choosing safe products and not taking risks.

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Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.