Third contestant fired from The Apprentice after doughnut task

Apprentice hopeful Frank Brooks said it was a “bitter pill to swallow” as he became the third person to be fired from the show by Lord Sugar.

The senior marketing manager from London was shown the door after a doughnut task proved to be his downfall.

He said it was “absolutely not” his time to leave after facing off against Jasmine Kundra and Tom Bunday in the boardroom.

“I was fired too soon,” he said. “I definitely had a lot more to give.

“It has been a bitter pill to swallow.”

Week three of the BBC show saw the candidates summoned to an 18th Century tidal mill in the heart of London’s East End.

Lord Sugar told the group – who are vying for the entrepreneur’s £250,000 investment in their business – that they had to manufacture and sell “fashionable doughnuts” to both a corporate client and the public.

The Typhoon team decided to make treats based on much-loved British flavours, such as strawberries and Earl Grey tea. Collaborative, the team Brooks was in, went for a sweet and savoury theme which included a chilli and chocolate doughnut.

They came up with the idea of fashioning the doughnuts into the shape of a “B”, in a nod to the name of the client they were trying to sell them to.

However, it caused problems as making the bespoke desserts meant things got tense in the kitchen.

With the pressure on, Brooks became stressed about rolling out the dough, and then about getting all the treats fried.

The finished product was less than impressive, with many of the treats messy and misshapen, and in the end the client bought just 17.

The chilli and chocolate flavour also drew mixed reactions, with some people finding them hard to stomach.

The results of the challenge were revealed in the boardroom and Typhoon was the clear winner with a profit of £221.04, while Collaborative had only made £68.08.

Lord Sugar noted that Brooks had become flustered and also highlighted that his team leader had suggested he did not contribute much.

Brooks insisted he was not upset, just hot from frying, but Lord Sugar was not buying it.

Delivering his verdict, the businessman said: “Frank under pressure you become a bit snappy, a bit emotional – you need to be a bit more level headed.

“Your project manager doesn’t think you did anything, you narrowly escaped last week.

“I have to assess who I think could be my potential business partner. Frank, you’re fired.”

Speaking afterwards, Brooks said he thought Bunday was at fault.

“I think ultimately Tom was to blame for the poor logistics, not necessarily being able to make decisions fast enough and asking us what our opinions were, we needed someone to take control and really whip us into shape,” he said.

“And I think also Jackie (Fast) had some responsibility here, that bespoke doughnut for the corporate client cost us a lot of time and ultimately they didn’t sell the full quantity, so they both have questions to answer for.”

“It was absolutely not a fair firing at all,” he added.