Daniel Lassman BITTERLY attacks The Apprentice

Daniel Lassman – of the tenth season of The Apprentice – has lashed out at the BBC reality show as it launches it’s 13th run.

Now 30, the aspiring tycoon – who came third overall in 2014 – has branded the show ‘manipulative’, slamming it for being forced and too structured.

Speaking to The Sun, he said: ‘The whole situation is manipulated into story-lines, I really believe that. They wanted me to argue. I just went with it and let them manipulate me to stay in the show longer.’

The Essex native found himself up against Lord Sugar four times over the course of the 12 week process, finally managing to get through to the interviews stage of the competition.

He fell at the final hurdle, however, and was axed in the penultimate episode, not getting in to the final (which was between Mark Wright and Bianca Miller (Mark won it).

Daniel notably gained weight during the process, and blames the series for doing that to him.

‘When I walked in I was quite slim but by the end I’d put on a stone and a half. I had to get a personal trainer afterwards I was in such a bad way,’ he lamented. ‘I felt so bad living in these surroundings all I wanted to do was eat. Chinese, curry, pizza…’ 

Bitter: Now 30, the aspiring tycoon – who came third overall in 2014 – has branded the show ‘manipulative’, slamming it for being forced and too structured

He’s fired: The Essex native found himself up against Lord Sugar [pictured [C] with aides Karren Brady [L] and Claude Litner [R]] four times over the course of the 12 week process

Last hurdle: He fell at the final hurdle and was axed in the penultimate episode, not getting in to the final, which was between Mark Wright [C] and Bianca Miller [second R]

The ‘conditions’ Daniel speaks of are, according to him, ‘like prison’.

‘I got a 10 minute phone call once a week,’ he said of his contact with his now-wife. ‘At one point it got down to five minutes. If you were a second over [the producers] start looking at their watches and telling you to wrap it up.’

Daniel also slammed the fact that the show doesn’t let the contestants use the internet or their own business contacts during the tasks… despite the point of it being that their acumen and ability is being tested.

Captive: The ‘conditions’ Daniel speaks of are, according to him, ‘like prison’

He also took full credit for his plethora of cringe-worthy one-liners, such as ‘There’s no I in team but there’s five in individual brilliance’ and ‘good chess players think one move ahead, great players like myself think one, two ahead’.

MailOnline has contacted a rep at the BBC for comment on Daniel’s claims.

The new season of The Apprentice kicks off on Wednesday evening on BBC One at 9PM. 

Furious: Daniel also slammed the fact that the show doesn’t let the contestants use the internet or their own business contacts during the tasks… despite the point of it being that their acumen and ability is being tested