Dubliner Jordan Dargan, who made it to the semi-final of BBC One's The Apprentice last week, has said show boss Alan Sugar has his phone number.
The 22-year-old Castleknock man joined Oliver Callan on RTÉ Radio 1 on Monday to reflect on the competition, which he has been a fan of since the age of seven.
"Even [getting to] the final five - I wasn't happy with that to be honest," admitted Dargan, who was the youngest contestant in the current series, which was filmed from April to June last year.
However, Dargan told Callan that he now has "a few extra digits in the WhatsApp from a certain billionaire".
"Alan Sugar is now on your contacts list," said the presenter.
"Definitely my most famous contact," said the entrepreneur.
"Have you been in contact with him since then?" asked Callan.
"I have," Dargan replied. "At the end of the episode [last week], you heard Karren Brady (one of Alan Sugar's advisors) say, 'How long do you think Jordan will take? I'd say two minutes before he calls you!' I genuinely think I got back to the hotel and gave him a text!
"It was just a 'thank you for the opportunity' text. Lord Sugar only replies in one-word answers - that's it. So I gave this big, long paragraph and I got, 'Welcome'! And then I got, 'What is your email?' And I gave him my email and he just said, 'Thank you'. That was it."
Dargan said he has been "in talks" with Sugar's company Amstrad Digital "in the year leading up" to the transmission of the current series of The Apprentice.
"We'll see how it goes," he said. "Who knows what the future holds? I'm 22 now and I think I'm still figuring it out."
"I'm a trier," he added. "I don't care if I'm not supposed to be there - I'm going to figure out a way to get in and open those doors. And this (The Apprentice) is one of them."
The final of the current series of The Apprentice airs on BBC One this Thursday, 17 April, at 9:00pm.
The Oliver Callan Show, weekdays, RTÉ Radio 1, 9:00am
