Marcus Donkoh, a barbershop owner from South London, became the third candidate to be fired from The Apprentice on Thursday night after a chaotic boardroom scene. The 20th season of Lord Sugar’s BBC show saw the remaining candidates tasked with creating a children’s book and audio version for four to six-year-olds. Donkoh’s team failed to secure enough orders, with their book missing illustrations and a story that Lord Sugar said “had no point to it”.
As project manager, Donkoh initially brought Kieran McCartney and Dan Miller back into the boardroom, but then unexpectedly asked to change his decision, wanting to send Dan back and bring in Priyesh Bathia instead. Lord Sugar refused and called all four candidates in for a heated discussion. Baroness Karren Brady noted the move was “very unusual”.
After the debate, Lord Sugar fired Donkoh, who said he was “gutted” to leave, feeling he had “so much more to give”. He added: “I feel as though I didn’t really get to showcase my business acumen… considering I’ve been running a business for five years and a successful one at that.” Donkoh also said he didn’t think he deserved to be fired, as other candidates performed worse.
Viewers were stunned by the twist, with one writing on X: “THIS HAS NOT HAPPENED BEFORE!!” Another said: “Never seen that before, a PM asking to come back to change the two people to bring back in.” The first episode of the series saw two candidates fired after a failed treasure hunt in Hong Kong.
