VIRDI Singh Mazaria has hit back at The Apprentice's fans who fumed he was still in the competition after seven losses before he was finally chopped from the line-up tonight.
The music producer became the latest entrepreneur to be fired from the BBC business competition tonight, after finding himself on the losing team again.
Lord Alan Sugar chose to send Virdi, 25, home after he failed to impress as project manager during the tourism task in Budapest.
The part-time DJ, who prides himself on his events-based knowledge, failed to make enough sales with tours around the Hungarian city.
And ultimately, it was his total of being on the losing team again that saw him have to wave goodbye.
BBC viewers have been fuming for weeks that Virdi had managed to avoid being fired, despite his consecutive losses.
But after leaving the show, now Virdi has hit back at complaints about how far he made it in the competition.
He exclusively told The Sun: "I wasn't losing unless I was getting fired, so by not losing, I was just getting more time with Lord Sugar.
"At the end of the day, if one of the biggest businessmen in the world liked me and wasn't firing me and keeping me in the process, why would I care for the opinions of people hiding behind their computor screens commenting?
"I've got more respect for Lord Sugar's opinion than the trolls online."
Virdi added: "Besides, I feel like I built up a bond with Lord Sugar, and that he does have a bit of a soft spot for me.
"I lost seven tasks and I was in the boardroom seven times, but he didn't fire me - so he must have had some kind of soft spot.
"And when I left, he told me to stay in touch, which I feel like he's only said that to a handful of candidates over the 19 years of the show.
"I feel like it was sort of him saying, 'I know you're going to do well, I know you're going to be successful'.
"We haven't chatted again yet but, I definitely feel like we will soon - I want to get him in the music industry.
"You know, I think he might sound good on a track one day, or maybe I'll have him come to one of my DJing gigs. "
Earlier this month, The Apprentice's fans vowed to "boycott" the series after Onyeka Nzweze was fired.
Project manager Paul Bowen brought team members Onyeka and Virdi back for the final meeting, where they were scolded by Karren Brady, who criticised the team for losing money through their pitch.
But Onyeka was sent home after she made a mistake during her presentation, leaving viewers raging as they believed Virdi was the obvious choice.
“Wrong decision on The Apprentice this week. Yes, Onyeka stumbled but not one other person was shown to explain the ethos well and Virdi seems to have more lives than a cat,” one viewer fumed on X, formerly Twitter.
“I’ve actually had enough. Virdi is such an idiot. This guy can’t do anything right, and he has the easiest jobs to do every week, yet he still f***s it up, fire him man,” agreed a second viewer.
“Boycotting The Apprentice over that firing,” a third declared.
While a fourth moaned: “How on earth is Virdi staying in this process, he should have been out on week one!”
The Apprentice continues next Thursday at 9pm on BBC One
