In the real world, The Apprentice candidate runs five successful businesses but she believes the show sets them up to fail
There were things that I did do well on The Apprentice this week.
I would have liked to have seen those things more in the episode because to be honest... I do look bad in this -- like really bad. I'm just like, 'Oh wow, it's a bit not fair to look that bad.'
They should have highlighted more about the sales we made. We had £588 worth of sales with the other team only making £150.
There should have been more on the motivation in the kitchen because everyone said on the task, 'You are a really good PM. Whilst it's gone wrong, you have motivated us. You'd be like, "Come on guys, you're doing so well, you're smashing it."'
I was really militant with how we run it because that's how I am. But we have to be because we had 900 spuds. There was only a team of what seven of us. We only had a certain amount of time to do it. There was never a moment in that kitchen when nobody had a job to do and didn't know what they were doing.
Obviously, they didn't show as well Keir [Shave] asking me: where's the towel, how do I take the sausages out the oven?
It was back and forth before I then actually went, 'This is common sense.'
That bit was shown but it was a whole half an hour before that of being asked silly questions. We'd had the same training that morning. I was like, 'You have the same training as me, surely you're the sub PM you should know, you should be picking up the weight.' None of that was shown.
Even the other candidates were saying to him: 'Why are you asking these questions? Just use initiative, there's a towel over there, grab the towel, an oven mitt there to get it out.'
It was silly. I don't know if it was to throw me off or to get under my skin or what but eventually I've just gone, 'Come on, this is common sense.' Because he said, 'Oh, I can't pick this spuds up.'
Then I've gone, 'We'll get the net.' But again it is common sense. Come on, use your initiative!
You've got to remember it's a TV show and there's all this content that gets filmed in this process but ultimately they only are going to be able to show what they can show. It's always about the narrative that goes down and obviously this week I get fired. It does look like I've completely screwed this one.
Honestly speaking, I would have said Keir should have been fired because on the corporate side he completely overpromised and underdelivered.
He said that we could definitely deliver 900 spuds, peeled, chopped up to 55g to 65g. Come on, so unrealistic!
Then when he did go back there, he then dropped the price by £1.50 per bag. If that had been me, I would have held my ground a little bit.
As a massive fan of The Apprentice, I was surprised the most by the choices that you get on the tasks. For example, on this task, I was like, 'Can we do chips?' Cause it makes sense to turn the potatoes into chips. You're in a market stall, who's not gonna buy a bag of chips?
It's cheap as chips! You've been given the spuds, maximise profit.
But no, you've got two options: bangers and mash and you've got the potato skins. So it's a difficult one because you're stuck between a rock and a hard place because well, they're both not great.
I went in with really good intentions because I genuinely felt that like the potato skins are gonna go dry, that you still need to use a fork with them, they're not very attractive. So there's me with my luxury life going, 'Shall we throw some truffle on there my darling?' I would have had bloody caviar on there if I could as well!
Honest to god, I was thinking more about the taste element as opposed to the profit elements. Afterwards, I was like, 'No, Nadia, you've got the wrong task.'
Filming The Apprentice, it is long days. You're knackered. You're exhausted. You're not thinking straight. You're completely out of your comfort zone. You don't know what's coming. It's the suspense; it's the adrenaline, you don't know what situation you're gonna throw me in today.
I'm gutted I went home. I always say, you wouldn't be a true business person if you couldn't hold your hands up and say, 'Do you know what, I messed it up.' I'm one of these people, I go full in, and 99% of the time it goes well. I've got five businesses in the real world and I've done bloody good to get there.
But sometimes it goes wrong and you've just got to turn around and go, 'Do you know what, life's about taking risks in business, they don't always go well and you've just gotta say, well, it's what it is.'
I'm a tough woman. I've been through so many life experiences in my life. I've had all sorts of experiences that have moulded me to get to where I am and be able to be resilient enough to bounce back.
I'm not worried about what the public are gonna say because I've had such a big mixed bag and that's what you would expect when on TV. Come on, everybody knows what they're getting themselves into -- even people who are the best on there are still getting backlash.
What I love is I have got a bit of a fan club! They're like, 'If they fire Nadia, we will start to riot, we will boycott the show, we'll have to go and speak to Lord Sugar.' It's quite funny because I'm like, 'Wow, where do these people come from?'
I would be gutted if I'd left on episode four and nobody even knew my name. I would be absolutely fuming.
Nadia Suliaman tells her story to Lily Waddell.