Yahoo News 'I was fired from The Apprentice after losing 7 tasks but I loved the cafe'
Virdi Mazaria was the latest to be fired in The Apprentice
Virdi Mazaria was the latest to be fired in The Apprentice after losing all seven tasks. Tensions were rising as The Apprentice's candidates had sell and run their own boat and vineyard tours in Thursday's episode.
Fired star Mazaria took Yahoo behind the scenes of The Apprentice as his personal experience and how he built a relationship with Lord Alan Sugar in the boardroom.
I actually quite liked The Apprentice's losers' cafe, after all I was there seven times.
My favourite thing about the cafe was the fact that the owners knew my order straight away because I was there so many times. I'd sit down and my coffee would just be ready for me to drink.
It might be the end of my journey on The Apprentice but it's just the start when it comes to my TV career. Reality TV or perhaps a role in a soap because I've always wanted to do some acting. I'm all ears for any offers. So if you're out there and you want me on TV, give me a call. Celebrity Big Brother, I'm ready.
The Apprentice's boardroom is definitely as intense as they make it out to be while you're watching it, if not more so. Mainly I felt the tension in task one, being project manager and being so close to getting fired.
But after that, honestly, because I spent a lot of time in there, I was a lot more chilled. I realised being a bit more calm and collected with your thoughts was a lot more beneficial than trying to be erratic and letting the pressure get to you. Do you know what? I actually quite liked it.
What I used to motivate me was the fact that when you are losing, you are not really losing unless you are getting fired. More time in the boardroom was more time to get to know Lord Sugar and more time for him to get to know me. I'm so happy that we created our bond and I strongly believe he has a soft spot for me.
Lord Sugar is such a successful businessman and it comes from his resilience and his hard work. As an entrepreneur, that's how I am too. Growing up I was doing a lot of different things and I had a lot of different businesses to try to find the one that was going to make me the most money - like Lord Sugar. I think he saw that determination in me because losing seven times and still be there and the fact he didn't fire me. I think he has some respect for me.
I would 100% reach out to Lord Sugar in the future. He's not really said to anyone else to 'stay in touch' since the process started and I'll definitely take him up on that offer. But only when it's right - I'm not gonna message him to just ask him to go watch the football on the weekend. When I need proper business advice, hopefully he has the time to chat with me.
There definitely is a friendship element there because when I told him that 'he sees himself in me', he had a nice little smile. When it comes to business, I'm sure we can make it work. But for now I'm on my own journey and I'm going to see how far I can take it.
I knew if I didn't win the process, I wanted to stay in touch and I wanted him to appreciate me for who I am. Before I told all the candidates, 'Guys, listen, if I'm getting fired and I don't win the show I'm gonna get the keep in touch.'
I was always destined for greatness, to be in the public eye and to be on TV. I've always had a business mindset. I used to watch The Apprentice and pause it when Lord Sugar would be in the boardroom with someone and I used to reply back like it was me there. That's probably why I was so good in the boardroom because I had all that practice watching the series before. I knew it would be the show for me and as soon as I applied I knew I was gonna get it. Keep dreaming big because trust me, put it out in the world and it'll happen.
Genuinely the highlight of the process for me was being in front of three successful business people: Lord Sugar, Karren Brady and Tim Campbell. Being able to talk about whatever I wanted to them and them giving me the time of day to listen was special. On a daily basis, if you saw them in the street you would never be able to have that conversation. For me to have that opportunity, it was a massive highlight and a privilege.
In this task, I wasn't the worst performing candidate. If it was solely on the task, Foluso Falade should have been fired. There were quite a few times where I would say, 'Are you sure we don't want to change locations? Because it's not as busy right now, people are not as responsive here. Let's move.' But Foluso decided to stay and waste a lot of time in the areas that we shouldn't have. That made us panic sell at the end for a lot lower price than we should have.
In the boardroom, I was up against Rachel Woolford and Foluso. Before then, they never lost a task but that was my seventh loss. So when you come to look at the whole process, I understand Lord Alan Sugar's decision and I respect it. Maybe, I should have been the one to be fired for that episode.
I had big expectations coming onto The Apprentice and it all did match my expectations. But it was definitely a lot harder than I thought, because when you watch the process, I know a lot of people are under the illusion that who are these candidates? How did they get on? Honestly, being on the process and being that silly candidate I know is a lot harder than you think. And I want to vouch for the candidates past and present and even future, massive respect to you guys because what we had to do in there wasn’t easy.
Also it made me value my family and friends a lot more. When you're going through a hard day and you can give them a call and how much they actually support you without you knowing. When you don't have that, you start to realise how important that actually is.
This series every single person is good enough to win the whole process. It could be anyone but the person who I want to win is Phil Turner because he lost seven tasks with me and I want him to go on and win it for us. Not for him, for us! We definitely had a great time because we really understood what each other was going through.
I've also got a lot of respect for Tre Lowe. There's never been a music producer on this show ever and now there's been two in one season is absolutely amazing. I look up to what Tre has done in the music industry. I'm only 25 and I've done a lot in the music industry and in the business world, and it's only gonna get bigger and having someone like Trey there to see his journey is quite inspiring.
This Friday I'm launching my new digital marketing agency called Aventus Social and our job is to empower brands to reach new heights through digital solutions. That's gonna be my business journey and the next chapter in that world.
But in the Virdi Mazaria world, that's gonna be going crazy. We've got new music coming out, DJ tours and I wanna be on TV again - fast. So let's just say this is not the last you see of Virdi Mazaria.
Virdi Mazaria told his story to Lily Waddell.
The Apprentice continues on BBC One at 9pm every Thursday.
