The Apprentice fired candidate Iasha Masood interview: ‘I have never experienced people like Lottie and Thomas in my life’

The latest Apprentice candidate to be fired by Lord Sugar has been revealed, and she’s thinks his decision was very unfair.

For the show’s sixth challenge, the candidates were tasked with creating and pitching a new roller coaster to theme park experts.

Things didn’t work out too well for the 27-year-old account manager Iasha Masood, who was sent home after being brought back to the boardroom by project manager Scarlett Allen-Horton.

Following Masood’s firing, we spoke with the promising candidate about being “lumbered” with “big personalities” Thomas Skinner and Lottie Lion in her final task and why she thinks she had more potential than her fellow competitors.

Why do you think you got fired?

I think Lord Sugar didn’t get to see enough of me. He’s very busy, and probably hears a few snippets about the candidates, so I don’t think he got to hear about all of my best points. Also, my business plan might not have been to his liking.

This was your first time on a losing team – and you even won as a project manager a few weeks ago. Was it fair that you were sent home?

No, absolutely not. It was a bit like a roller coaster; I was rising, rising, rising and all of a sudden, I had a big drop. I don’t think it was fair, especially with who was in the boardroom with me. I’m really experienced and I had a lot more potential than they did. I’m a professional and I’ve been working in sales for a number of years.

You were lumbered with two of the biggest personalities in this particular task, weren’t you?

Absolutely. Lottie and Thomas – how to describe them? They were like cage fighters! It was like fireworks with more fireworks. It was crazy. I’ve always been in a very professional setting, where people are very reasonable and take turns to talk. When there’s an agreement, we try to figure it out. But, Lottie and Thomas, I didn’t know what to do. I have never in my life experienced two grown adults having a go at each other as they did. I couldn’t believe it.

Why is Lord Sugar keeping them in the show? For entertainment value?

Well, we have to remember that it is a reality show, as well as a business show, and it does have to be entertaining. Come on, would you watch it if it just had reasonable and nice people being very serious about business?

Out of the three you were in the bottom with, who do you think should have gone?

It’s so hard to do this because, off-camera, I genuinely like everyone, but I’d say from a business perspective, it’s Dean who doesn’t have strong business acumen or experience. He’s got a lot of potential and I think he’ll do really well in the future, but now is not the right time for him.

Is he getting away with the most?

Oh, definitely. That guy’s got like nine lives. He just keeps surviving.

There’s been a lot of controversy surrounding this year’s series, with some candidates being quite candid about not liking the way certain issues they had were dealt with. Did you have a similar experience?

I hope you don’t mind, but I’d rather not comment on any of that.

How was your experience overall?

I have to admit that it was tough to do the show, especially coming from a professional business background into an environment that is very aggressive, with lots of big personalities. I was out of my comfort zone. Ultimately, though, I did so well – I practically saved the team in the toy task, totalled £1.2m as a project manager and, to top it off, Grazia named me the best dressed Apprentice candidate. What more could a girl want?

Who did you enjoy working with the most?

I don’t think I enjoyed working on very many things – I’m very open about that. It was such a hard process with long hard days. But, I’m really good friends with everyone – we all interact with each other on social media. It’s quite a positive thing.

Would you say it was tougher than you expected?

Yes. To anyone from a business background who wants to go onto the show, what I would say is that it’s a lot harder than it looks on TV. I don’t think I’d ever see people like Thomas and Lottie in my day-to-day job. But, I’m forever grateful to the show, because what a lot of people don’t know is, after I got fired, I ripped up my business plan, redid the whole thing and launched the business I was bringing to Lord Sugar. It was a tough few months working about 18 to 20 hours a day to try and get it going in time for the release of the show because I knew I’d have a lot of attention then and it was a good chance to get the focus on my brand. I don’t know if Lord Sugar has seen it yet, but when I posted about having a sale on recently, Claude [Littner] retweeted it. To get recognition from Claude for your product... I was like, ‘What’s happened here?’ I never would have done this without the show. I’m so grateful.

What’s the business?

The business is called Insu Beauty;I do electronic facial cleansers. I basically created better cleansers than all of my competitors.

Who do you think has a good chance of winning this year’s series?

I would put my money on Scarlett. She’s very professional and has a very level head. I think she’s got a very, very good chance.

What’s next for you?

Well, I’m growing my business Insu Beauty, which is doing really well. Obviously, I do feel like I let myself down a little bit. Lord Sugar’s probably thinking, ‘She’s got such a great product in business right now – what was going on a few months ago?’, but the reality is, I was working full-time in my job and had very little time to submit my plan. Now, I have a chance to really expand my company, to invest in beauty technology and to see where that research takes me.

The Apprentice continues every Wednesday on BBC One at 9pm