"I didn't feel like I was the right one to go."
Raj Chohan was the latest candidate to be fired by Lord Alan Sugar in The Apprentice.
In the challenge broadcast on March 28, 2024, the candidates were asked to sell products on live television.
They were required to choose items and sell them for as much as possible.
Raj – who was on the winning team for every task so far – was on Team Nexus. She won the role of Project Manager.
However, she did not set a clear strategy for her team, asking them to pick “unique, but normal items”.
Karren Brady called it a “pretty bizarre brief”.
The contradictory instructions confused Dr Paul Midha and Phil Turner.
Team Nexus ended up choosing a fan, a stain-removal pen, a neck pillow and a tent.
However, during the negotiations for the fan, Raj’s teammates showed concern that the mortgage broker was getting too carried away and losing concentration.
Flo Edwards said: “I am slightly nervous because I think the enthusiasm has got the better of Raj.
“She is not thinking strategically and commercially about this task.
“I think she is just thinking about how much fun she is going to have on TV selling the products.”
Raj Chohan, Paul and Maura Rath were the contestants who presented live on television.
Meanwhile, Phil was in the gallery giving instructions with Flo.
Team Nexus showed a shambolic display of live selling, with Raj being unclear to the public.
As pointed out in the boardroom, the only semblance of clear vocabulary from her was “wow, wow, wow”.
Maura also shouted while selling and created complaints by doing so.
Despite the hiccups, all of their sales went through, generating a total of £1,124.45.
However, the other team attained a higher total of £1,603.79, marking the first-ever victory for Team Supreme.
Although Raj tried to defend herself by pointing out that she had won all the previous tasks, she was ultimately dismissed due to a lack of leadership and sales.
Lord Sugar told her: “Your selling skills Raj, although you say are good, were not good in this case.
“Raj, I’m sorry but I think you are responsible for the failure of this task and therefore, you are fired.”
Surprisingly, Raj Chohan was not the only candidate to be eliminated from the task.
Maura Rath was also fired due to shouting during sales and for causing the channel to have complaints.
In her exit monologue, Raj said: “I will take ownership of my mistakes and unfortunately, Lord Sugar couldn’t see the investment potential in me.
“But it’s OK. I carry on.”
Off-screen, Raj Chohan asserted that she should not have been fired.
She said: “I worked really hard – I don’t think I could have done anything differently.
“I didn’t feel like I was the right one to go. I saw myself in the final five and I felt like I proved myself throughout the process.
“I didn’t think it was my time to go so I don’t think there was anything I could change.
“I didn’t think the fault lay with us for the loss of the challenge.
“The fault lay with the pricing, but unfortunately [Lord Sugar] chose the sales team.”
Admitting that she found the final boardroom difficult and emotional, Raj continued:
“It was really emotional and it’s really tough. It’s great to watch on TV, very entertaining, but it was really difficult.”
Raj also revealed that she hated the loser’s cafe in the show.
She told The Sun: “The tea was disgusting – it was freezing cold.
“I don’t want to say too much but it was the worst cafe I’ve been to in my life.
“It really adds to the pain. You come out of the boardroom and you’ve got to discuss [the failure] but at least if you’ve got a nice mocha or latte, it would give you a bit of a lift.
“The tea – one of the things they don’t tell you because they’ve got to record it and they were like, ‘Raj, can you just take a sip?’
“I’m looking at them like, ‘I don’t want to’ but you had to take a sip so they could see people drinking.
“I’m going to assume nobody was drinking the tea and coffee there or the water.
“That was the hardest part of going there – drinking the tea.
“It was horrific, you could even see the milk and this little cloud floating on the top.
“I’m sure it was made about four weeks ago.”
Raj’s comments were in complete contrast to former contestant Virdi Singh Mazaria, who claimed that he “loved” the cafe.
He explained: “My favourite thing about the cafe was the fact that the owners knew my order straight away because I was there so many times.”
Raj is a 41-year-old mortgage broker from Leamington Spa.
Before The Apprentice aired, she was asked why she felt she deserved Lord Sugar’s £250,000 investment.
The businesswoman responded: “I have business acumen and the drive to succeed, with all the attributes to scale up this business.
“I have life experience and maturity, and I’m considerate yet very determined to reach my goals.
“My business is already working with the opportunity to take advantage of a more profitable way to make an income.”
Raj Chohan also added: “I want to be the UK’s leading lady within the bridging world of finance!”
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