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'The Apprentice' Review: Fired Candidate Aisha Kasim Tells HuffPostUK It Should Have Been Natalie Dean Going Home Instead

APPRENTICE: 'It Shouldn't Have Been Me Going Home'
Caroline Frost
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Fired 'The Apprentice' candidate Aisha Kasim tells HuffPostUK she doesn't believe she should have been fired, saying, "I wasn't the weakest candidate, and I was the only person coming up with any ideas."

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Aisha, who was the second candidate to be sent packing following Dan Callaghan's departure last night, believes it should have been her team-mate Natalie Dean who went home instead, following her weak pitch.

"It's what she does for a living," says Aisha in disbelief.

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Aisha doesn't believe she should have been fired by Lord Sugar

Aisha was forced to defend her decision-making after her girls' team failed to come up with a shampoo brand and presentation that impressed Lord Sugar. Inevitably, he called it "a bad hair day" for her losing side, while praising the boys' team for making one of the best presentations in the history of the show.

It turns out Aisha hadn't even planned to take on project manager duties so early on. "I really thought I'd be quiet for the first bit, I thought it would be chaotic," she tells HuffPostUK. "I thought I'd bide my time, shine more later, but it was the nature of the task (that altered my opinion). Because hair's my business, I thought Lord Sugar would drag me over the coals if I didn't step up."

As it was, her team-mates accused her of running roughshod over her ideas, with the word "dictator" even being banded about. Aisha sounds non-plussed by this…

"I was a bit surprised," she says now. "At that moment I was just trying to get something done. There'd been a lot of wasting of time, and nobody was coming up with any good ideas, I was the only one."

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Aisha believes it should have been Natalie (left) going home, following her lacklustre pitch

To be fair to Aisha, she wasn't the only one raising her voice. Elle and Vana clashed as well - is that room too crowded with alpha-females?

"Absolutely," Aisha agrees. "I loved it. I love strong women. But it was early days in the competition, so the group was at full capacity, and it was a stressful situation, with everyone trying to impress."

Sadly, they failed, with Lord Sugar telling the girls they hadn't demonstrated any skills or expertise in the challenge. Aisha agrees, but puts that down to the stressful situation.

"Plus, none of our team were in advertising, and it was a marketing-based task so we were at a disadvantage.

"I definitely got a masterclass in that, plus I learned I could be a bit softer in my approach."

Who's going to win? Aisha says… "Vana was strong (her teammate she brought back into the boardroom), so was Joseph and Richard. My money's on them."

The Apprentice 2015: Celebrity Lookalikes
Aisha Kasim(01 of36)
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Age: 26Business inspiration: Victoria BeckhamSample quote: "Pressure makes diamonds. It's something I respond well to, I think it's go hard or go home." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
This is going to be easy... Rebecca Ferguson(02 of36)
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April Jackson(03 of36)
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Age: 26Business inspiration: Skinny Girl Cocktails' Bethenny FrankelSample quote: "I'm Jamaican. We come first, we win on the track and we will win in the boardroom." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
Imagine Leona Lewis unsmiling... in a board meeting(04 of36)
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Brett Butler-Smythe(05 of36)
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Age: 28Sample quote: "I pride myself on not having any negative or bad traits about myself, they're all good, they're all positive." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
Brett shares the piercing gaze of Good Cop actor Mark Womack(06 of36)
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Charleine Wain(07 of36)
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Age 31:Sample quote: "I would describe myself as very determined, ambitious, and I always want to show that women can succeed in business." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
Mamma Mia, it's uncanny... Amanda Seyfried(08 of36)
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Dan Callaghan(09 of36)
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Age: 23Business inspiration: Amazon's Jeff BezosSample quote: "I'm just a generally all round quite entertaining person, I think. A lot of people laugh at me." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
Will Dan be toasting victory like (a young) Shane Ritchie?(10 of36)
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David Stevenson(11 of36)
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Age: 25Business inspiration: Elon MuskSample quote: "Me and Lord Sugar will work together because you've got age and beauty and those two go hand in hand all the time. Sugar's got the age and I certainly am beautiful." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
Strictly speaking, not identical, but the same baby face as Jay McGuinness(12 of36)
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Elle Stevenson(13 of36)
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Age: 21Business inspiration: Taylor SwiftSample quote: "I hate anything mediocre - I can't be middle. I hate being the person that comes second... I've never been the person that comes second. I'd rather be the one who fell over at the start of the race and never make it to the finish line." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
Imagine Nigella unsmiling... (14 of36)
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Gary Poulton(15 of36)
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Age: 34Sample quote: "I look like the nice, easy going, laidback Brummie but once I start doing my business, people know I'm the real deal." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
Is Gary as funky as hitmeister Mark Ronson?(16 of36)
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Jenny Garbis(17 of36)
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Age: 23Business inspiration: Emma Watson's 'He For She' campaignSample quote: "You will see my name in lights - Jenny Garbis, don't forget that. That's going to be a global name. That's going to be an entrepreneur everyone looks up to." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
As long as Lord Sugar doesn't have cold feet about Jenny... ho ho ho(18 of36)
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Joseph Valente(19 of36)
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Age: 25Role model: Hugh HefnerSample quote: "I am the definition of success, I'm a godfather of business and I'm here to make Lord Sugar a lot of money." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
If in doubt, Joseph, cry! It worked so well for Rylan(20 of36)
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Mergim Butaja(21 of36)
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Age: 23Sample quote: "Why am I a worthy business partner for Lord Sugar? I'd be a challenge to him. Everyone he's met probably sucks up to him. I won't. I'll tell him like it is." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
TV's Rav Wilding(22 of36)
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Natalie Dean(23 of36)
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Age: 25Business inspiration: Liv Garfield, the CEO of Severn TrentSample quote: "If I set my mind to something, I won't quit until I have done it." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
Girl meets Girl, everyone's favourite Jordie lass Denise Welsh(24 of36)
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Sam Curry(25 of36)
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Age: 23Business inspiration: Richard BransonSample quote: "I'm an interesting mix between happy go lucky and adventurous and then quite logical and sensible. It's a strange combination." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
Can't go on looking like(ish) David Tennant... (26 of36)
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Richard Woods(27 of36)
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Age: 31Business inspiration: Richard BransonSample quote: "I'm a Swiss army knife of bouncy skills, business skills, enthusiasm, I've got everything highly-tuned and highly-chiselled." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
Hopefully better luck than England rugby captain Chris Robshaw(28 of36)
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Ruth Whiteley(29 of36)
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Age: 47Sample quote: "Lord Sugar might think I'm a bit gushing, he might find me over-zealous, but I think he'll think I'm great." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
And Grayson Perry thought he was a one-off?(30 of36)
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Scott Saunders(31 of36)
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Age: 27Sample quote: "People do say to me they've never met anyone like me." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
Add a few (thousand) pounds, and it's Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson(32 of36)
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Selina Waterman-Smith(33 of36)
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Age: 31Sample quote: "I am strong-minded; I do like to be the leader." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
Billboard Queen Meghan Trainor(34 of36)
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Vana Koutsomitis(35 of36)
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Age: 27Business inspiration: Ashton KutcherSample quote: "I believe this is a marathon and if you have stamina and if you do things with integrity, morals and direction, you can get where you want to go." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
Add a few pompoms, and she's the spitting image of Miss Price!(36 of36)
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