Apprentice show flirting 'robbed me of my chance'

Apprentice contestant Paul Callaghan was left reeling after his relationship with fellow hopeful Katie Hopkins cost him a spot in the competition.

The ex-Army lieutenant says he feels "totally robbed" by Sir Alan Sugar's decision to fire him after his team lost a task selling British produce in a French market.

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In a boardroom showdown, rival Kristina Grimes told Sir Alan the task was ruined because project manager Paul and Katie had a personal relationship.

Sir Alan demanded: "Are you telling me they're carrying on inside the house?" before opting to fire Paul rather than Kristina or car salesman Adam Hosker.

But Paul, 27, insisted today: "I was totally robbed. It was so unfair. Based on the task in isolation, you could say I made fundamental mistakes, maybe I bought the wrong sort of produce.

"But if you look at the three people in the boardroom and take our overall performance into account, it was obvious that Adam should have gone."

He said of his relationship with Katie: "We were mates. We got close. There was no bonking in the attic, though, that's for sure. Maybe we should have done it anyway, considering I ended up getting fired!"

Paul admitted the pair were tactile with each other in the house.

Katrina told Sir Alan: "If she sits on your lap and you're stroking each other and God knows what, that constitutes a relationship as far as I'm concerned."

Paul said: "That may have happened. But there was no exchange of bodily fluids. And it happened during downtime, not during the task.

"We certainly weren't too busy bonking to sell. We were completely professional."

"We did get quite close but it didn't affect our performance at all."

He and Katie will "probably stay in touch" after the show ends, he said.

Paul's team ended up making a £225 loss thanks to his doomed plans to flog cash 'n'carry British cheese to French punters - and his attempts to sell pork sausages to a Halal butcher during Ramadan.

Sir Alan told him: "I am very disappointed. I had more in mind for you, I really did. I really thought that you were a contender. I think this has been a bloody disaster.

"You're a total shambles. You're fired."

Paul spent four years in the Army, including six months in Basra, southern Iraq.

He said: "The scariest person in a regiment is the regimental sergeant major, who is responsible for discipline. They scream and shout and get in your face.

"I would probably have to compare Sir Alan's style to that. He knows it all, and he knows there are a few irritating oiks to be dealt with."

Paul is now training to be a chartered surveyor.

He named advertising sales manager Naomi Lay and internet entrepreneur Simon Ambrose as the contestants who most deserve to win.

"They are both reliable, young and mouldable into Sir Alan's apprentice. They are also thoroughly nice, decent people, and that counts for a lot."