Ex-pro tennis player Max England tells the Mirror about being fired by Lord Sugar and his toughest moment on the BBC show
Former pro tennis player Max England became the latest casualty of The Apprentice boardroom this week after some bad decisions led to a dismal TV shopping experience.
Yet padel enthusiast Max insists that an «important» moment during the episode was edited out, showing the lengths he and Dean went to to ensure their team was successful. Speaking to the Mirror, he also opens up about the toughest part of being on the show, which gradually grew increasingly difficult as the weeks carried on.
This week, each team was tasked with choosing which items to sell live to viewers at home on a TV shopping channel. While one team managed to bag the ideal star item of an air fryer, Project Manager Max’s team were left floundering with an electric mit – among an almost equally unsellable canoe and picnic blanket.
In the end, Lord Sugar‘s finger pointed in Max’s direction and he was unceremoniously fired «with regret». «It’s a tough one,» he tells us. «I’m very sad I’m out. I’m really proud of how I was in the whole process, how I conducted myself, and I really felt like I had a shot of going all the way but I didn’t quite get there in the end. I think we were close and we only missed out to the other team by a few sales here and there. So it could have been very different.»
Despite failing the task, Max has no regrets in putting himself forward as PM. «I think I was the best person to lead the team on that occasion,» he says. «I’ve been in a gallery before and I’ve worked in live streaming – it is on sport, so it is different. I did make that clear in the morning, so everybody you know had that information.
«And I think I put everyone on on the right team. Dean is a is a ‘Wheeler Dealer’ kind of guy, so I made sure he was with me to help me pick the majority of the product, and I trusted the girls to get a star product. If I’m honest, I think there was probably a reason or an argument for any of us to have gotten fired.»
Opening up about a moment that was edited out of tonight’s episode, Max explains that he and Dean had devised a strategy prior to their team going on the TV shopping channel. He also revealed that they had had to choose between outdoor or indoor products – and had hoped for a high value item like a barbeque rather than the canoe they got.
«I mentioned that I wanted a barbecue or something more high value,» he explains. «And we didn’t get that – we had a picnic blanket and we had the kayak.
«But one thing that Dean and I did to try and strategize in the gallery was not giving that much air time to the picnic blanket because we knew it was low value. We knew we’d have to sell a lot. Instead, we upped the air time on some of the other products within the beauty category, which did sell really well.
«So again, that’s the information I had at the time. That didn’t make the episode, which is a shame because it was quite important to the narrative.»
Max also says that he found the show harder to film as it went on. «Being removed from family and friends – because you don’t have a phone – was harder later on as you’re not in contact with them frequently. For the first few weeks it wasn’t a problem, but when you go past the month mark and you’re not speaking to people that you speak to on a daily basis like that’s very unusual and takes a bit of getting used to.
«At the start, you know what you’re getting yourself into, and it’s palatable because you’re doing well in the process. Yes, you can’t speak to loved ones, but it’s a necessary evil, really, in the whole grand scheme of things..»
*The Apprentice airs Thursdays at 9pm on BBC One
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