A housewife booted off 'The Apprentice' has criticised Adrian Chiles, the presenter of the show's spin-off programme, for perpetuating a "lame stereotype" about Essex accents.
Natalie Wood, 30, from Upminster in Essex, was fired by Sir Alan Sugar in the programme last night after he told the mother-of-two she was 'out of her depth'.
But she criticised Chiles for asking whether her Essex accent held her back during the final task. The blonde was hauled to the boardroom and left the BBC1 show in tears after her team made the least cash while selling modern art to the public.
Chiles, 40, who has a distinctive Brummie accent, asked Wood on the Apprentice spin-off show 'The Apprentice: You're Fired!' whether her Essex accent had been a hindrance. Wood, who completed an Open University MBA in business administration and a French degree before being selected for the BBC1 show, said: "He asked whether I'd been picked up over my accent. But how can you pick up on my accent when Sir Alan is sitting across the table? How can he say that?
"Essex is fantastic and I'm proud to come from Essex. A lot of people from Essex are very successful. I find it hard to swallow."
Wood is the sixth person to be thrown out of the hit show. Wood, who lost six stone through WeightWatchers, said she had no regrets about taking part in the popular TV series.
She said: "I learnt a lot more about human nature. For example, I was very, very surprised and disappointed about some of Katie's (Hopkins) feedback. She never said anything directly. It was always behind the back. She's clearly playing a good game."
Wood, who has two sons aged one and two, said she believed pharmaceutical sales manager Kristina Grimes, 36, would win the third series. "She absolutely rose to the task, 100%," Wood said. "She's ruthless but not nasty at all. She's totally driven and the one person in there who's playing a good game."
