The Apprentice waved goodbye to its third contestant as Lord Sugar fired another hopeful after a poor showing trying to sell a new children’s book
22:00, 05 Feb 2026Updated 22:10, 05 Feb 2026
Lord Sugar fired another contestant(Image: BBC)
Lord Sugar has wielded The Apprentice axe for the third time after the remaining candidates were tasked with creating a children’s book and audio version. As the group created the book which was aimed at 4–6-year-olds, the books and accompanying audio versions were pitched to retailers.
But one contestant failed to live up to expectation and was given his marching orders. Marcus Donkoh, who was the project manager for the losing team, bit the bullet as he had to stand by his actions.
Lord Sugar didn’t pull any punches when the team were unable to provide enough product sales. The book, which had missing illustrations, was said to have had “no point” to the story.
READ MORE: Dragons’ Den viewers all say same thing as new investor joins BBC showREAD MORE: Netflix fans get ‘best gift ever’ as trailer for ‘Black Mirror romcom’ drops
Marcus was fired by Lord Sugar(Image: CREDIT LINE:BBC/Naked (A Freemantle Label)/Ray Burminston)
Lord Sugar fired the series’ third contestant(Image: BBC/Naked/Ray Burmiston/Rufina Breskin)
Marcus had decided to bring back Kieran and Dan before dramatically asking to be brought back into the boardroom to speak to Lord Sugar. He then requested to change his decision by sending Dan back home and bringing back Priyesh.
His decision wasn’t well received, with Lord Sugar deciding that all four candidates should be brought back. Eventually, the business mogul pointed his finger to Marcus, who became the third candidate to leave the competition.
Marcus, however, doesn’t believe he warranted being given the boot. In his Q&A following the decision, Marcus said: “I feel as though, in the real business world, you have a lot of information – you do have to make quick decisions, but you have a time to think.
“It was really intense in the boardroom, I had to make a decision very quickly on who to bring back. So, changing my mind didn’t help, but I feel as though there were other candidates that performed a lot worse than I did, didn’t do what they were supposed to do, and I feel as though they deserved to get kicked off rather than myself.”
Despite Lord Sugar’s decision, the failed contestant says he wouldn’t change anything. “I think what I did was fine,” he confessed. “I am human. Humans can change their minds, and I feel as though I did get penalised for it, but no, I would not change what I did.”
Perhaps in a strange answer, when asked for his highlight, Marcus replied: “Being on camera – I loved it!” He insisted he felt as thought it was his “natural environment”.
He also claimed he learnt a lot about his skills in the business world. “You have to really micromanage individuals when running a team,” he said. “Rather than leaving them to their own devices!”
The first episode saw two contestants face Lord Sugar’s wrath. Project manager Georgina Newton was first to go and quickly followed by Nikki Jetha.
* The Apprentice continues on Thursday nights on BBC1 and BBC iPlayer.
Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.