Apprentice’s Natalie: Karren Brady is intimidating, I was upset Brett brought it up
“I took that quite personally and probably responded to that quite irrationally,” Lord Sugar’s latest fired candidate admits
Fired The Apprentice candidate Natalie Dean admits she was unhappy when teammate Brett Butler-Smythe revealed she’d been scared to pitch in front of aide Karren Brady on task.
“I was quite upset that Brett brought up me being intimidated by Karren, I took that quite personally and probably responded to that quite irrationally,” Natalie told RadioTimes.com after her poor sales on the children’s book selling task became the hot topic of the boardroom.
Natalie had confided in her teammates after her attempts to shift their ‘Snottydink’ book to a retailer had fallen flat.
“After the pitch in front of Karren, which didn’t go well, I did get quite upset about it in front of Brett and Scott,” Natalie admitted. “Probably because I was ill I was overly emotional about it which probably didn’t help.”
Of her nerves, Natalie said she felt like she had something to prove to the long-standing aide after struggling with a presentation during the earlier shampoo task.
“I didn’t give the best impression [and] I offended her by talking about women over 45. I think I had quite a lot to make up to her from that point.”
But the candidate said Karren’s presence was all too apparent.
“It’s very difficult, because normally if you’re trying to sell a product you don’t have someone with the stature of Karren Brady in the corner making notes on everything you do. It is very intimidating.”
Nevertheless, while Natalie admits she was a bit “shocked” Brett brought it up at all, she understands his reasoning.
“I think when you’re in that situation anyone will use anything they can against the other candidates. So he probably thought that was something he could use against me, which probably anybody would have done.
“He’s fighting for himself in there,” Natalie added.
The Apprentice continues Wednesday at 8:00pm on BBC1
