Apprentice candidate first to leave voluntarily on ‘gut instinct’

SCOTT Saunders has become the first ever Apprentice candidate to voluntarily leave the programme after being on the winning team.

Scott Saunders: 'Gut instinct'. Picture: PA

Team Connexus earned the most commission on their task to sell property in London, but viewers watched in shock as Saunders remained behind in the boardroom and resigned from the competition.

However the sales manager, 27, revealed that he might have stayed in the process had Lord Sugar spent more time with the candidates.

Saunders said the decision was “gut instinct” and admitted that Lord Sugar’s distance from the candidates made it difficult to imagine him as a potential business partner.

His resignation came just before Selina Waterman-Smith was fired from the boardroom for not closing any deals as the two teams attempted to sell high-end and mid-range property across London.

Team Versatile – consisting of Waterman-Smith, project manager Joseph Valente, Charleine Wain and Gary Poulton made only £29,560.25 in commission - against Team Connexus’ commission of £76,626.78.

Project manager Richard Woods, Vana Koutsomitis, Brett Butler-Smythe and Saunders sold more than £4 million worth of property in just one day.