There was another twist in the tale during Thursday’s (January 12) episode of The Apprentice as Lord Alan Sugar saw two more candidates leave the BBC show. On top of the weekly firing, Shannon Martin quit the boardroom. The Yorkshire candidate made the announcement before the results of this week’s bao buns challenge were confirmed. In the end it was her team of ladies that picked up the win and received a Chinese meal in Mayfair as a reward. Opening up on why she felt she had to depart the 17th series of The Apprentice, Shannon admitted that it was “the opportunity of a lifetime” which she will be “forever grateful for”. The bridal boutique business woman feared that she could have won Lord Sugar’s £250k business investment. Shannon said: “During the bao bun task, I was there in the kitchen thinking ‘Why am I here? What am I doing here making bao buns in a kitchen when I can’t cook as it is?’.I just really felt like I couldn’t focus on the tasks because I was constantly thinking about what was going on at home. “What’s happening with the business? Is everything okay? I knew in the back of my mind that of course everything would be okay, the team is amazing. But I’m a perfectionist. I need to know what’s going on all the time and not being able to know how things were going on at home or what was happening at work was really hard for me.” She continued: “The unknown is definitely not something I’m good at. The more I thought about it, the more I thought, ‘Am I in here for the right reasons? Do I really want a business partner? Is this what I want? Do I want my life to change? “It really made me realise I love my life; I love the team and I love everything about my life. I knew that I could potentially win the show, and did I really want to win and have my life completely changed? No, I didn’t, I wasn’t in there for the right reasons. “The other candidates are just amazing and there’s so many amazing businesses there that I felt that they deserve to win.I’ve already got a very successful business, I just felt that there were more deserving people there than me and it was not right for me to stay in the process.” Even though the BBC reality series is only two episodes in, the number of candidates has now dwindled down from 18 to 15. On top of Ms Martin’s departure, Kevin D’Arcy was given his marching orders at the end of this week’s episode - joining Emma Browne who left in episode one.
