The Apprentice 2023: Fired candidate Joe Phillips says he wants to be the next David Attenborough

Virgin Radio

10 Feb 2023, 15:54

Never mind impressing Lord Sugar, The Apprentice’s latest fired candidate says he’s after Sir David Attenborough’s job. 

Joe Phillips was the sixth candidate to be fired by the business titan on Thursday’s episode, admitting lots of “silly mistakes” caused his team to lose out on the task (and 60% of the profit).

While his time on the BBC competition is well and truly over, Joe has his sights set on something outside the boardroom. While chatting exclusively to virginradio.co.uk about what he wants to do next, the entrepreneur, who has a background in zoology and ethology, revealed he’s turning his attention to the world’s wildlife. 

Joe explained: “I’ve always wanted to be a wildlife documentary presenter, so if I can have the opportunity to work on TV as a wildlife presenter, then I'm going to grab that with both hands.” 

The South African businessman already has his inspiration down, and discussed following in the footsteps of legendary nature documentary presenter David Attenborough. 

He added: “I would love that you have no idea. David Attenborough has been my hero since I was a kid. So if I can even be like him in a fraction of the way, then I'll be very happy.”

For now, Joe is keeping a watchful eye on his current businesses, including sustainable cosmetics company Surf Balm.

“I've always got a project going,” the businessman continued: “I can't keep still for very long, so I'm definitely going to pursue my business aspirations. I'm going to scale up my business Surf Balm to launch a range of sustainable cosmetics…so definitely pursuing my business ambitions…and I also want to pursue my passion for nature.”

Elsewhere, Apprentice fans are still reeling after Joe was sent packing following his team’s disastrous attempt at impressing international clients with a corporate away day in Dubai. 

Joe put himself up as sub team leader in charge of the catering for the clients, but a costly decision to announce they were only allowed two glasses of water during their desert-based evening out became one of the reasons the company requested a 60% refund, causing the team to lose the entire task.

On where it all went wrong, the former candidate said: “It was a classic case of being over-promised something was the one reason why this task failed. And under-delivering the actual service, which is the second reason why the task failed. So it's kind of a combination of both things - over-promising was the fault of the PM team, and under-delivering was my fault and the fault of my team.”

The Apprentice continues Thursday at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer.