Reece Donnelly of The Apprentice has opened out about his early withdrawal from the programme, detailing how he was brought to the hospital when the candidates landed in Dubai.
The 25-year-old theatre entrepreneur was forced to leave the BBC series earlier this month owing to health difficulties.
In a statement released at the time, he said: ‘I was unable to complete the task in Dubai for health reasons and therefore I could not continue on The Apprentice.’
Later, it was stated that he had been drinking on the aircraft to Dubai, to which a spokeswoman for the show reacted, saying, ‘Reece was unable to continue in the process, this was discussed and accepted between Reece and programme-makers.’
According to a new interview, Reece was ‘brought directly to hospital’ when he landed in Dubai.
‘So I was terribly ill for the four days they were in the desert and on yachts. When I returned to the UK, it simply came down to the fact that I couldn’t continue the show owing to a health problem that I had picked up before going to Dubai. ‘I wasn’t aware of it,’ he told Go Radio, according to the Glasgow Times.
Reece contrasted his predicament to Olivia Attwood’s on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!, who had to quit the programme due to medical concerns.
‘We get medics that come in every few days and they go, “Your levels do not match in order for you to go out in 45-degree heat, you better go and get yourself sorted out”,’ he recollected.
‘Long story short, I basically had a conversation with the bold big man, Lord Sugar and we made the executive decision that I was going to bow out of this year.’
Reece addressed the report that he was drinking on a flight, saying it was a ‘bizarre’ claim.
‘May I add, you sit in between two chaperones and you are lucky if you can get an orange juice, let alone a bottle of wine, so it’s just bizarre.’
The Apprentice returns tonight at 9pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
Source My Celebrity Life.