The Apprentice 2013: Zeeshaan Shah hits back at claims of male chauvinism in the boardroom

Apprentice candidate Zeeshaan Shah was fired by Lord Sugar last night after being accused of chauvinism by fellow contestants Natalie Panayi and Leah Totton.

Totton and Panayi were brought back into the boardroom over Neil Clough and Kurt Wilson, whose failings to buy the correct items led to the team’s defeat.

Both women said they could not understand why they had been brought back into the boardroom, with Panayi claiming Shah was “unable to work with women”.

But Shah has hit back at the sexist claims, saying: “These are baseless allegations, I don't know where Natalie pulled it out from. It's completely below the belt and something I'm really not happy about. If you want to lie through your teeth then do it but do it with some respect.

”There were certain parts of the boardroom that were not shown because I don't think they could have been shown. There were certain things she said - you heard me say to her 'can you mind your language' and it wasn't because she called me a male chauvinist.“

But Shah still had huge levels of self-belief despite being axed from the show, saying: ”The name Zeeshaan will go down in history. I'm not sure how exactly, why as yet, but it will.“

And since he finished filming the show he admitted he is still not quite sure for what he will be remembered.

However, he said he is now working on a trade forum between the UK and Pakistan and said: ”It's very important to dedicate yourself to a cause bigger than yourself.“

He predicted Luisa Zissman would go on to win the show.

”Everyone's going on about the fact that she's very girly and a bit friendly and she's always running around in pyjamas and there's nothing wrong with that. But people are overlooking the fact that she's a very shrewd businesswoman,“ he said.

PA