The Apprentice's first fired candidate Danny Grant says "I definitely could've won"

The online retail store owner from Kent said he was "very disappointed" to be the first out.

"It was a tricky process in the first task and I think everyone was just talking over everyone," he told RadioTimes.com. "No-one really made any real decisions. We were just winging it a bit if I’m honest!"

Danny also explains that one of the main things he wanted to achieve going into the show was not be PM in week one.

“I went into the show with two rules and two rules only," Danny tells us. "The first rule was that if something comes up that you should know what you’re doing, you’ve got to stand up and jump on it and make yourself be counted. And the second rule was don’t be Project Manager in the first task. That didn’t go at all well to be honest. I didn’t plan on both rules being broken in the first task!"

The task saw the boys and girls producing and selling burgers to both punters and businesses. After being split into two teams – boys Vitality and girls Graphene – the girls emerged triumphant with a £236.78 profit, while the boys, led by Danny, ended up with a £144.70 loss. It prompted Lord Sugar to say he was "looking at a load of dead meat" in the boardroom.

Danny initially decided to bring Harrison back into the boardroom with him. However, Harrison reacted so angrily that Danny backtracked and after some dithering and deliberating instead chose to take Elliot and Charles to face Lord Sugar.

"I stick by what I was trying to do and it was to not throw Harrison under the bus based on one suggestion," he says. "He was really good throughout the whole task, but he just made that one suggestion which did have quite a big impact. But at the same time, he tried his hardest the rest of the time.

"I got on quite well with Charles," he continues. "He’s a really nice boy. But when we were in that boardroom, I was ready to take his head off!

“Off camera, they’re all wonderful people and I get on with all of them," he adds. "But when you get to that boardroom, there are no friendships. There really isn’t. You can try and back someone up maybe, but in the end you know you’ve got to take everyone down otherwise you’re going to be one of the ones taken down!

“I definitely could’ve won [the show]," he adds. "I just didn’t show enough leadership – and I don’t think I was hard enough [on the other candidates] to be honest. I think I was a little bit too soft. Usually I would make a decision before anyone’s even sat down to discuss it, whereas I kind of thought I’d try and be diplomatic but it’s not really what I would do in the real world. But it’s hard to get into your stride if you’re already on the train home by the end of your third day!”

Danny, who stands by the fact the boys' burger was better in taste and appearance than the girls' product, does however have praise for the remaining 17 candidates in the competition.

"They’re all so good," Danny said. "I think in previous years there’s always been the dead weight that will go in the first few weeks, but I think they’ve really stepped up this year in terms of the quality of candidates."

Reflecting on his experience, Danny not only says that he's left with a "new-found respect for every person who has ever taken part in this programme" and explains that he didn't feel like he had long enough in the process to be able to show Lord Sugar what he was capable of.

"It’s a shame because come week two or three I’d have really been in my stride," he says. "And it’d have been a completely different kettle of fish!"

The Apprentice airs Wednesdays at 9pm on BBC1