I was fired because I didn't make good TV, complains axed Apprentice

Axed Apprentice candidate Joy Stefanicki has denied that she was fired because she took a back seat, saying she didn't make "good television".

The unemployed marketing and PR director said she became the second candidate to be told to leave because she didn't shout loudly enough.

She said after her exit from the BBC1 show: "It's come across that I didn't particularly participate. The truth is that I didn't participate in the madness.

"I did participate but it probably didn't make such good television. I wasn't prepared to do it in a way that discredited myself."

She added: "I think that when you go on a show like this you have to be aware of what you are doing. I would have been naive if I didn't realise it was entertainment and business."

The 31-year-old, from Birmingham, said that she was fired partly for business reasons.

But she said: "I was disappointed that the person who shouted the most loudly wins. That did have something to do with entertainment as well as business."

Stefanicki, who lost her "dream job" in New York and had to fly home when she was made redundant before signing up for The Apprentice, was fired after her team - the girls led by Laura Moore - failed to make a single sale of their product, a book stand for the beach.

Lord Sugar told Stefanicki: "There are people that come into this process who think they can just step back, don't say anything and don't do anything. They think if they don't put their head on the chopping block they'll escape. They do not escape."

He told her: "I haven't seen anything from you and neither have my two colleagues. Joy - you're fired!"

Stefanicki said she was frightened of Lord Sugar - despite his short stature and unbecoming wardrobe.

She said: "I was surprised. I didn't expect to be as intimidated by him as I was. I think part of that is that he has the celebrity angle now and because he is Lord Sugar."

Her dealings with top business people meant she was "not used to being intimidated", she said.

"Yet here is this small guy in a grey suit. When he pointed his finger at me I swear it was like it went through my whole body."

Stefanicki said it was unlikely that romance would blossom in this year's series of the hit show.

She said: "There are hot boys in there but the women are more focused on who to stab in the back next rather than who they are going to kiss."