You're fired! But life goes on for Shropshire Apprentice hopeful Chiles

However, that's exactly what Shropshire businessman Chiles Cartwright was told at the end of the first episode of the new series, which aired last night.

Back home, the company director of a consultancy firm based near Whitchurch was philosophical about his mauling in the boardroom before Sir Alan and his sidekicks, West Ham vice-chairman Karren Brady and Nick Hewer, whose time on the show led to a new role as host of TV's Countdown.

"I was really disappointed as I thought I was one of the strongest candidates," said 36-year-old Chiles, who has nine years of management experience working for international consumer brands.

"It was unfortunate to be the first one out. If the boys had won, I think I could have gone the distance. I wanted to win, and that was my end goal.

"But life goes on and it didn't knock my confidence."

Chiles said he applied to be on the programme as he had a business idea which he hoped to develop.

He said: "I wanted to get a credible business partner and get some capital investment for my business idea – which is creating a luxury running brand.

"I haven't given up on the idea yet and am still looking for a partner, it is just going on the back burner for a bit."

Chiles went head-to-head with 19 other contestants in a bid to impress Lord Sugar and win a £250,000 investment in his business.

And as millions of viewers saw, taking part involved living in a house in London with the other contestants.

"I hadn't thought about the living arrangements before the process," Chiles admitted.

"I had just thought about the tasks and the business idea.

"I met some really cool people. There were loads of different characters that all had interesting stories to tell.

"It was a great experience.

"James Hill was my favourite person in the house and I mostly bonded with him.

"He has a heart of gold and I would like to keep in contact with him after the process.

"Nobody really annoyed me."

In the first task the contestants were split into two groups – Team Summit for the boys and Team Decadence for the girls.

And commenting on the boy's team name, Chiles said: "I thought the team name was dreadful but liked the idea behind it."

The teams then hit the streets of London, from Greenwich to London Zoo, to sell products.

From coffee and sausages, to flowers and floaty fish, the teams had one day to seek out sales and take as much money as possible.

And Chiles said the task was challenging. He was made a sub team manager and was given a variety of items to sell.

Due to time constraints he made a decision to not sell a pack of T-shirts, which Lord Sugar said was a "fundamental business error".

Chiles said: "Any task in The Apprentice is a challenge but no task would have fazed me. A lot of decisions made on the day were wrong and acting in hindsight I would have changed everything."

The results emerged as the boys selling a total of £696.70 and the girls winning with a total sales worth £753.50.

After the boys' defeat, project manager of the task Felipe Alviar-Baquero decided to bring back Chiles and Robert Goodwin into the boardroom.

Lord Sugar told Chiles: "One of the reasons I allowed you in this process was because I think here's a man who's actually been there, started at the bottom, built up his own businesses.

"Fundamental business errors in the T-shirt thing is unforgivable, because clearly whatever you sold those T-shirts for, you most probably would have won this task."

And on that basis he was fired.

But Chiles said he did not regret appearing on the programme – although he thought the judging was a bit on the harsh side.

"I think the criticism I got from Nick and Karen was a bit unfair," he said. "I can take criticism but it was a bit unjustified.

"However I loved every minute of it. I do not regret it one bit. I would have loved to have gone further but it was an amazing experience."