Fired Apprentice candidate doesn't need Lord Sugar, is already writing a children's book with former rival

The pair co-authored Snottydink under the pen name Ellie Curry during week five’s task and their story was highly praised by industry experts.

Curry left the competition on Wednesday after his team failed to turn the most profit on their pop-up discount store, but he revealed that the duo now have an alternative career in the pipeline.

He told the Press Association: “Elle and I are going to write a children’s book together because of the reaction that Snottydink had. We’ve had the initial meeting.

“Not only was it selling for £70 on eBay but the comic book store that we sold it to actually sold out before the episode even aired. That’s how strong a book it was without the press of the show.”

He added: “My father was saying that most people at his company said, ‘We really want to buy a copy of this book, where can we find it?’. Even (author) Cressida Cowell on You’re Fired was professing the virtues of the book and its message and congratulating me on it.”

Curry joined Brett Butler-Smythe and project manager Scott Saunders in the boardroom this week after Team Connexus brought in £962.04 in sales and left-over stock from the discount store they opened at a retail centre in Manchester against Versatile’s £1,511.07.

Curry was pulled up in the boardroom for miscalculating the costs of the team’s stock, including selfie sticks and hand blenders, at the wholesalers and accused of being “selfish” by Selina Waterman-Smith.

But he laid the blame for the task’s failure at the feet of Saunders and Waterman-Smith.

“There was so much negativity on that task and conflict and arguing,” he said. “Scott didn’t have a good day and let it get to him and his managerial skills fell apart.

“Selina can have quite a negative attitude to things that she’s asked to do if she doesn’t want to do them. In terms of teamwork and the energy it creates, that was problematic and she was at fault for that.”

In the boardroom, Saunders appeared to question Curry’s motive for entering the show, saying: “You’re not here for a serious business,” and asking: “Are you here to here to win an investment?”

But Curry denied the accusation that he was on the show to boost his acting career.

He said: “In the house people hear things through hearsay. What Scott misunderstood is I’m a professional actor and have two productions coming up in the new year and I think he thought I didn’t have a business plan at all and I was just going on (the show) to further my acting career, which is not true.”

In response to Saunders’s claim his business plan was not serious, he replied: “All I’ll say to that is that my business is up and running.”

Curry has successfully founded Scholarly Tutoring but he admitted he was hurt when Saunders refused to shake his hand after he exited the boardroom.

“It did upset me because Scott and I got on well during the process and I think he would feel bad about how that boardroom went down.

“He really liked that trench coat that I wore when I left and I said I’d leave it for him, so after I got fired he didn’t shake my hand but I left the jacket on his bed as a peace-offering,” Curry revealed.