The Apprentice's Ross Fretten on being 'statistically smart': "It was something I said to get onto a TV show"
The entrepreneur laughs off the stuff candidates say in their auditions – and answers whether he really thinks he's smarter than Lord Sugar
Just before The Apprentice candidate Ross Fretten was fired, Lord Sugar read out that the entrepreneur had described himself as "usually the smartest person in any room" on his CV, prompting Ross to explain how "statistically speaking" his IQ made him a genius.
Ross, however, has said that this was just "something I said in an audition to get onto a TV show", as he described the candidates' audition tapes as "a treasure trove of shit".
"The reality is in the audition, people come out with all these ridiculous, bombastic phrases and statements and they’re 99% bullshit," Ross told RadioTimes.com. "But people get on the show for that reason and then they’re made to look like an absolute dickhead when they get interrogated.
"So the one thing that I said was that statistically speaking, usually I'm the smartest person in any room - and I can qualify that because my IQ has been measured. It’s not that I went into the boardroom and offered that proactively. It was something I said in an audition to get on to a TV show – and I dare say it was a large part of why I made it onto The Apprentice.
"It kept coming up throughout the whole process of getting on the show and it only came up again in the boardroom because Lord Sugar went through the treasure trove of shit people say in the audition," he said.
Asked if he therefore thought he was more intelligent than Lord Sugar, Ross said: "No, I wouldn’t say that I’m more intelligent than him. I’m so smart that I would never be stupid enough to say I’m smarter than Alan Sugar!"
Ross also acknowledged that by the fifth task, which saw the candidates shopping for items to mark Lord Sugar's 70th birthday, he had realised that he wasn't right for The Apprentice.
"I think it became abundantly clear to other candidates, to me and to Lord Sugar that the process wasn’t necessarily right for me," says Ross. "But I got on with everyone well and I think there was a lot of mutual respect between myself and Lord Sugar."
After being fired, Ross is now focusing his efforts working on Kibble – his app for pet owners which monitors a dog’s health and metrics through a smart collar.
“I’ve had so many people get in touch with me and show an interest in this that what I’m going to do is a crowdfunding campaign,” explains Ross, who adds that although he’s got the hardware that works he wants to raise money to pay for the manufacturing costs.
But when it comes to The Apprentice, there's only one person he wants to see win.
"There’s a few people in the house who I want to see go far but if I had to say one person I’d like to see Harrison win. I think people see him as a typical lad but actually me and him had some of the more meaningful discussions in the house and he’s one of the most sincere and authentic candidates in the house this year."
The Apprentice airs Wednesdays at 9pm on BBC1
