It was a dramatic week on BBC One’s The Apprentice, with the boardroom once again becoming a battleground – and this time, it was Roxanne Hamedi who found herself in the firing line. The Persian-Scottish pharmacist-turned-entrepreneur, well known to some viewers from her stint on Geordie Shore and Hot Single Summer, became the fifth contestant to be fired from the show’s twentieth series on February 19, 2026, after a branding challenge left her team floundering and Lord Sugar unimpressed.
For Roxanne, the experience was nothing short of intense. Speaking candidly after her departure, she described the atmosphere in the contestants’ shared London mansion as “a viper’s nest,” a place where alliances formed fast and rivalries faster. “Not everybody has the best intentions, some people would be quite strategic and you’ve got to remember, not everyone’s your friend in this process,” she told The Sun (as reported by Daily Mail). “There was tension. People had their own little cliques and groups. What happens in the boardroom normally stays in the boardroom, but it’s hard not to take stuff back. We were all fighting for our lives in there. It’s tough when you know that you’ve contributed a lot to a task but then end up having to fight in the boardroom.”
Those tensions, it seems, didn’t dissipate when the cameras stopped rolling. Roxanne revealed that feelings of being “thrown under the bus” during boardroom showdowns often lingered, fueling further discord among the housemates. “I just feel like there was definitely a lack of direction and leadership from the project manager, Conor,” she explained to The Mirror. “He said that he wants something bold and clean and I believe that’s what I delivered. So the instructions were very vague but I delivered what was asked for with clarity, simplicity and a creative touch.”
The episode that sealed Roxanne’s fate featured a task that at first glance seemed straightforward: teams were told to create a bottled water brand, design the bottle, film a TV advert, and sell the product live on social media. Roxanne’s team, North H2o, struggled from the outset. Project manager Conor Galvin’s guidance was criticized as unclear, while teammate Rajan Gill was blamed for a string of errors. As sub-team leader, Roxanne took charge of branding – a crucial role, but one that ultimately left her exposed when Lord Sugar demanded someone take responsibility for the team’s lackluster performance.
“Roxanne, you have to take responsibility for it. You were the sub-team leader,” Lord Sugar told her, before delivering the now-familiar phrase: “You’re fired.” The moment, broadcast to millions, was as abrupt as it was final. Yet Roxanne was adamant she’d been made a scapegoat. “It didn’t feel good to be fired, just because I didn’t think that I deserved to be,” she reflected. “There was a lot going on that day and I feel like other people lacked accountability. So yeah, it wasn’t a nice feeling.”
Roxanne’s criticism didn’t stop at her own dismissal. She argued that Conor, as project manager, bore the true responsibility for the team’s defeat. “Conor should have gone because he was the PM and I feel like he did throw me under the bus because I was just an easy scapegoat,” she told Entertainment Daily and BANG Showbiz. She also pointed out that other team members, including Rajan Gill and Levi Hague, had significant roles in the failed advert and branding, yet escaped Lord Sugar’s wrath. “There were people in Conor’s team that were responsible for the advert and the fact that the advert didn’t deliver. Conor then had to pivot and then just used me as a scapegoat in the end.”
Adding to Roxanne’s sense of injustice, she was battling a bad cold during the task – hardly the ideal condition for a high-pressure, televised business challenge. “I was not in the right frame of mind,” she admitted, suggesting that her illness may have dulled her edge at a critical moment. Even so, she conceded she might have fought harder for her place in the boardroom. “I guess I could have fought more in the boardroom, you know, called Rajan out on his lack of input, or reminded Lord Sugar that I’d taken creative risks and didn’t hide in the background. But I didn’t want it to come down to begging or being the loudest or most apologetic person in the room. I stayed true to myself and that takes integrity.”
Roxanne’s journey to The Apprentice was far from ordinary. In December 2025, she was announced as the first candidate for series 20, joining the show to boost her beauty business, North Aesthetica. Her reality TV pedigree – including a stint on Geordie Shore, where she famously dated James Tindale – gave her a unique perspective on the cutthroat world of televised competition. But even her previous experience couldn’t prepare her for the relentless pace and high stakes of The Apprentice. “Nothing could have prepared me for the behind-the-scenes of the BBC business show, with fierce clashes at the mansion,” she told Daily Mail.
The boardroom drama wasn’t limited to Roxanne’s exit. Just a week earlier, Tanmay Hingorani became the fourth candidate to be fired, following a failed negotiation during a challenge that saw teams transform chicken or eggs into profitable dishes. Tanmay, like Roxanne, felt his sacking was unjust. “I am disappointed for it to end this way... I did take the bullet in the boardroom and I do think it was unfair. But you win some and you lose some,” he said, insisting that Megan Ruiter should have been the one to go.
Despite the setbacks and the sometimes bruising nature of the competition, Roxanne has taken positives from her time on the show. “The BBC programme had taught me how to be resilient,” she said. “I left with grace, dignity and my head held high, even if I didn’t get to say everything I wanted to. But I do believe the universe has a bigger plan for me. This isn’t the last that you’re going to see of me.”
The Apprentice continues to air on BBC One and iPlayer every Thursday at 9pm, with the winner set to receive a £250,000 investment and a business partnership with Lord Sugar. As the competition heats up and alliances shift, viewers can expect more drama, more surprises, and perhaps – as Roxanne’s story shows – more questions about who really deserves to stay in the game.
For now, Roxanne Hamedi’s departure serves as a reminder that, inside and outside the boardroom, The Apprentice is as much about surviving the politics as it is about business acumen.