'The Apprentice' contestants were left "really devastated" over Shama Amin's early exit.
Shama Amin pulls out of The Apprentice on medical grounds
The 41-year-old day nursey owner, who was part of the series 16 line-up on the BBC business reality show, has pulled of the competition early on medical grounds.
Comedian Tom Allen, who hosts spin-off show ‘The Apprentice: You’re Fired’, said on 'The One Show': “It’s so sad because she’s absolutely brilliant and such a clever person and such a lovely person.
“And I know all the candidates were really devastated that she had to leave the process early.
“She would have gone a long way in the competition actually. I’m sure she’ll go on to great things.”
Shama sufferers from rheumatoid arthritis - an autoimmune disease which causes pain, swelling and stiffness in the joints - and she will reveal on Thursday night's (20.01.22) show that she is leaving the process because the programme is too "physically demanding" for her.
In the upcoming episode, Shama tells Lord Sugar: "I would just like to say something, Lord Sugar, if that’s OK.
"I suffer from a condition called rheumatoid arthritis.
"Because of medical reasons, due to this process being so physically demanding, despite the efforts the whole team has made to support me, I’ve had to make a difficult decision to leave the process."
A preview of the next episode showed the teams being tasked to design non-alcoholic beverages.
Commenting on the boys' performance throughout the series - in which they have lost two tasks out of two - Tom added: “They are either too quiet or too loud.
“Either way they don’t listen to each other very much. I think it’s always about communication with the boys’ team.
"It’s often the boys’ teams early on that let themselves down. Silly boys in their lovely suits but they talk too much and they don’t listen to each other and they come up with some truly dreadful products.”