Who left The Apprentice last night? What happened on Week 3 of BBC series 2023, which candidates have left

The Apprentice has said goodbye to another candidate as the race to become Alan Sugar’s next business partner intensifies.

The long-running BBC show features 18 contestants who compete against each other over the course of the season to complete a series of business tasks to the best of their ability.

The contestants work in two different teams to complete the challenges and each team assigns one member to be project manager and oversee the operation.

The team who makes the most money wins the task, while the least profitable team are the losers. The winning team progress to the next phase of the competition, while the losing team face a potential eviction from the show - with Sugar often choosing to fire one or two candidates each week.

So far this year there have been three departures from the show including a double exit this time around.

But who has left The Apprentice so far and why were they fired from the show?

Here is everything you need to know.

What was the task?

During the third episode of the show, the candidates were assigned the task of creating a short cartoon aimed at pre-school aged children, and were judged by industry experts.

The participants were split into two teams, with Team Affinity made up of Dani Donovan, Shazia Hussain, Sohail Chowdhary, Mark Moseley, Marnie Swindells and Bradley Johnson, with Avi Sharma as project leader.

The other team was Team Apex, led by Reece Donnelly, with Denisha Kaur Bharj, Gregory Ebbs, Joseph Phillips, Megan Hornby, Rochelle Anthony, Simba Rwambiwa and Victoria Goulbourne.

Team Affinty opted to make a story about Yogita the Giraffe, which followed a giraffe who is self conscious about her height, but manages to make friends at school.

Team Apex on the other hand made a story about Femi and Faye, in which Femi decides to join wheelchair user Faye in a clapping game after she is unable to play on the slide - however, much to the group’s disadvantge, they realised that they did not animate any hands or feet for their characters.

The industry experts choose Team Affinity as the winners after calling out Team Apex for the “condescending” moral behind their story.

Who was fired?

At the end of the episode, project leader Reece decided to bring Denisha and Gregory in with him to face Lord Sugar.

Whilst Denisha was criticised for her leadership skills, and Reece blamed for the idea behind the story, it was ultimately Gregory who was fired for failing to contribute anything useful to the team.

Who else has been fired from the show?

Over the course of the series, we’ve seen three contestants be fired - and one voluntarily leave the show:

• Emma Browne, fired in the first week
• Shannon Martin, withdrew during the second task
• Kevin D’Arcy, fired in the second week
• Gregorby Ebbs, fired in the third week

What happened to Shannon Martin?

Shannon Martin is a 35-year-old bridal boutique owner from West Yorkshire.  Her business Bridal Shop Yorkshire, based in Huddersfield has a total of over 20,000 followers on Instagram.

Martin competed in two tasks of The Apprentice in series 17 but sensationally quit the show before the results were confirmed - in a move that shocked many of the viewers.

Speaking on the show Martin said: “Lord Sugar, if I may, I’ve made the decision to leave the competition - I just don’t think it’s the environment for me, but I want to say thank you.”

Reflecting on her decision the bridal boutique owner said: “I think that going into the process, I was already having some doubts of whether I should go in or not. But when you’re given such an amazing opportunity, you’re not going to turn that down, it’s an opportunity of a lifetime that I’m forever grateful for.”