The Queen saw more in me than Lord Sugar did
FORMER CITY STUDENT FALLS AT FIRST HURDLE IN HIS BID TO BE THIS YEAR’S APPRENTICE CHAMPION
THE first person fired from this year’s Apprentice has said Lord Sugar did not give him a chance, unlike the Queen, who gave him a pandemic honour.
Harry Mahmood, who studied pharmacy at De Montfort University, became the first candidate to fall foul of Lord Sugar’s firing finger during this week’s series opener.
The entrepreneur was labelled as disruptive by many of his fellow competitors.
However, the 35-year-old believed his firing was unfair and suggested Lord Sugar had failed to look closely enough at his CV.
“If Her Majesty the Queen can see the potential in me and me representing the community I am in, and inspiring others, then it is a shame Lord Sugar couldn’t see that in me as well,” he said.
“Because I have got a lot more credentials about me that he didn’t get to see.”
Harry’s royal honour came last year from The Queen, his British Empire Medal in honour of his work in the West Midlands during the early months of the first national lockdown.
However, he faced the dreaded bottom three in the boardroom after he failed to impress during the first task, in which the candidates were told to create a marketing campaign for a cruise liner.
The task, which also included the need to create a television advert, saw Harry clash with his fellow contestants over the men’s team’s logo, which did little to impress Lord Sugar or his advisers, Baroness Brady and former Apprentice winner Tim Campbell.
Despite getting fired, Harry said he has no issues with Lord Sugar.
“I did get on with Lord Sugar. I have got a lot of respect for Lord Sugar,” he said.
“But I don’t think he really gave me a chance, to be honest with you.
“If he had looked into me as a candidate – he went through my application, looked at what I stand for and what I have achieved during Covid, getting honoured by the Queen, winning national pharmacy awards, setting up enterprises from scratch, and all these things in my own time, as well as supporting people in the community – he would have realised that ‘Oh, if Her Majesty the Queen has invested in Harry, surely there is something in him. I haven’t seen him have a chance, really. I will give him a chance.’
“But obviously none of that stuff surfaced.”
Before appearing, Harry had said he hoped his appearance on the show would be an example to others that they should “never give up on life and their dreams”.
Describing himself as “the Asian version of Lord Sugar”, he had hoped they could work together to develop his business to become “the bad boys of the bath bomb world”.
“Everything I’ve looked into achieving, I’ve achieved. I’ve literally done everything I’ve put my mind to,” he said.
Harry is part of a programme set up by Andy Morris, De Montfort University’s employability mentoring manager, working with students to support them in finding work, developing confidence and the soft skills needed for work success.
The remaining 15 entrepreneurs will battle it out to win £250,000 worth of investment. The Apprentice continues every Thursday on BBC One and iPlayer.