Ex-Apprentice star David Stevenson slams ‘sleep-deprivation’ claims from Selina Waterman-Smith as ‘absolutely c**p’
Selina went on record to state that she was "sleep deprived, starved and bullied" during her time on the show
SELINA Waterman-Smith's Apprentice co-star David Stevenson has rubbished the businesswoman's claims that she was "bullied, starved and sleep deprived" during her time on the show.
Event manager Selina posted an online rant and a scathing article condemning the BBC show last week, blasting the bosses for poor treatment away from the cameras - including staging boardroom meetings, depriving them of sleep and leaving them hungry.
She added: "You become prisoners in this dark, insular world of negativity and rivalry."
Selina was also left unimpressed by her food choices, and claimed they were given 'low-quality' food and drink "to ensure fraught nerves and lapses in concentration".
But David branded his co-star as "ultimately, a nightmare" to be around and revealed caterers would keep their kitchen stocked, and they would be taken to restaurants while on the road.
Recounting one such time when the group ate out, David said: "We went to Pizza Express one evening for a meal and she made the waiter go in the back to get ingredient information because she can't eat certain foods. He did that, everything she asked, and then she all of a sudden just started eating random pizzas? After moaning she couldn't eat any.
"That p***ed a lot of us off."
He also claims that Selina exaggerated the boardroom being scripted, and instead they are asked to return to re-record lines that aren't picked up clearly enough.
He revealed: "I can tell you know no one tells us what to say at all, everything we say, we said.
"The only time they ask us to repeat ourselves is if in interviews we say something, and for audio purposes it isn't clean enough to use so they just ask us to repeat it. But isn't that normal for a TV show?"
Despite this, David felt some sympathy for Selina as he was also fired from the show after a disastrous turn as a party organiser.
He said: "Everyone of us felt hard done by when we got fired, and each one of us could of said why we think the show plotted against us to get us out.
"But let's look at the reality - it's just us trying to find excuses as to why we got fired and it was "never our fault" something that happens.
"I would have so much more respect for her if she admitted 'OK hands up I did poor this week, I've got to go' - There is so much credibility in that.
"Was I happy I got fired for failing to iron transfers on t-shirts? Hell no. But I had to accept it as it cost us 300 quid in the task."
Ultimately, he also supports the team and said that finalists haven't been pre-determined the way Selina suggests.
He said: "It is genuinely impossible, let's take the marketing task week 2, you've got two hair and beauty experts in Aisha and Charlene who should come up with a fantastic product, yet on the boys you had me and Richard as the marketing experts and we absolutely trounced the girls with zero knowledge of the industry."
On the winner Joseph, he said: "I'll be the first to admit, I wanted him to be fired by week 4! But the guy kept getting stronger and stronger every task.
"He looked after the sub team on the marketing task, he lead in France week 3, smashed the sales at the pet show week 4 when I was PM, week 6 he saved my team some embarrassment when we didn't know how to do DIY..."
He added: "If you look at it Joseph was a very worthy winner and never hand picked."
A spokeswoman for The Apprentice also refuted Selina's claims, stating: "We take our duty of care to the candidates throughout filming very seriously and strongly refute any allegations to the contrary.
"Claims that scenes are falsified or that the finalists would be picked before the show starts are completely incorrect."
Catch the new series of The Apprentice, Thursday on BBC1.
Got a story? email digishowbiz@the-sun.co.uk or call us direct on 0207 782 4220