The Apprentice star 'burst into tears' over filming rule he struggled most with

09 February 2024 , 07:00

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The Apprentice star Paul Bowen shares the show rule he struggled most with (Image: PA)

A fired candidate on The Apprentice has revealed the show rule he struggled with the most.

Paul Bowen was fired by Lord Sugar after admitting to a series of mistakes which saw his team losing for a second week in a row. Speaking to the Mirror, the pie expert said he was encouraged to take part by his loved ones and colleagues, but struggled with one aspect of the process that he wasn't prepared for.

He said: "I think the no contact had a bigger impact on me than I thought it would. Obviously you can speak to friends and family but you can't have your mobile on you. So just getting a text off someone or a quick message, you'd be surprised if you take that away completely how much it affected me.

"I was quite surprised. I remember my fiancée saying, ‘You won't miss me’ and I thought, ‘You’re probably right, I won’t’. But, after a few days without speaking to I nearly bust into tears, I missed her. That was the bit of the process that I didn’t realise. And it is a long day – you are up at three in the morning and I’ve done long shifts with my work but even that was a bit much for me."

Paul was in the bottom three with Asif and fellow pie expert Phil (Freemantle Media Ltd)

The opposing all-girl team has won the first two challenges so far and Paul revealed he wasn't surprised. Reflecting on the secret to the girls' success, he said: "Obviously with the boys there's a lot of testosterone. Everyone’s trying to get their point across and maybe that's something I failed at, I didn’t put up a big fight to the lads.

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"There’s that much noise and not as much production. The girl team, and women in general, are very methodical thinkers. They always work better together, I think personally. We've got a 50/50 split here at [Bown Pies] and I love my female staff, they always do a great job. I think it's always good to have a balance, but with all men, you end up with arguments, which is what we had."

Paul was one of two pie company experts in the process this year along with Phil Turner, who also found himself in the bottom two in week two. Sharing how he felt when he discovered he wouldn't be the only pie maker in the process, Paul said: "It's almost like a battle of Coke versus Pepsi.

"I knew Phil from beforehand, and it was a surprise to see him there. I didn't know him personally, but I knew of him – we're a small industry, and there's not many young bakers in our industry, so to see him was a surprise. I think they must have got the only two pie bakers under 40 in the country."

Charlotte McIntyre