Tonight’s first firing was a bit of a boardroom shocker as Swimming Academy owner Lindsay Booth basically put her hands up to be fired. In fact, if Lord Sugar hadn’t sent her packing, Lindsay admits she’d have gone herself.

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“I think Lord Sugar knows that if he hadn’t fired me I would have resigned,” Lindsay tells RadioTimes.com. “I had struggled and he knew that from the word go. I couldn’t see the point of me staying and drowning even more, so I may as well just hold my hands up.”

While Lindsay was expecting the firing, she admits she’d seen it play out in a different way.

“My plan was to stay quiet and Roisin would bring me back into the boardroom and I’d be fired that way. But Lord Sugar asked me a question and I thought, well, I’m going to tell him how I really feel and see what happens.

“A part of me thought, I don’t know what he’s going to say. I don’t know what’s going to come my way. I’ve got to grit my teeth because at the end of it it’s going to be ‘You’re fired’. It could have been a lot worse,” Lindsay laughs.

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In fact, Lindsay was expecting a lot more criticism from her fellow teammates and isn’t at all bothered Mark turned the spotlight on her failings on the task.

“I don’t mind that it was Mark because he is focused on that investment money. When you’re in that boardroom and you lose, you see who’s willing to fight. Mark will say whatever he needs to and do whatever he needs to to get that investment money and I wish him the very best of luck.

“I was expecting more of them to turn on me actually. That’s the moment when if you want to stay you fight for your place,” Lindsay adds.

Of course, accepting defeat hadn’t exactly been Plan A for Lindsay when starting out in the competition.

“I went into that process thinking I’d do quite well and I had every intention of fighting to the end. So to actually not fight when I’m in the boardroom is totally not the route I was going to go down. But nothing prepares you for that process.

“I just don’t have that confidence and that arrogance that I need. I think I’m quite a confident person in my business and what I do, but actually going into that process is an eye opener. You need a bit more than that. You need extra confidence, extra arrogance. It’s so tough, nothing prepares you.”

Lindsay also admits that not being able to speak to friends and family added extra emotional stress to the process. “I didn’t get to speak to my daughter at all while I was away, simply because of the timing of the tasks. It was one of those things, we’d get home late and she’d be in bed, during the day she’d be in school. Lots of things play on your mind.”

And Lindsay doesn’t think she’s the only contestant who was finding the process tough.

“There are a lot of candidates in there that are feeling the pressure. They’re never going to admit it like I did. I imagine there are quite a few of them that are feeling the pressure that aren’t stepping up.”

So would Lindsay give the show another go in the future?

“No, I think I’ve learnt me lesson.”

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The Apprentice continues Wednesdays at 9:00pm on BBC1

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