Fired Apprentice candidate Lindsay Booth has confessed that since leaving the show she does not work as hard because she wants to "have a life".

The 29-year-old swimming teacher - who owns her own swimming academy - admitted she was out of her depth on the BBC business competition, and probably would have quit if Lord Sugar had not fired her first.

Lindsay landed on the losing team after the candidates were tasked with making and selling luxury candles. Lord Sugar fired her before the final boardroom showdown, saying she had not contributed to the last few tasks and seemed as though she did not want to be there.

She confessed: "If he hadn't have fired me I would have resigned, and I think he knew that and he got in there first.

"I went into the process thinking I would be quite confident and quite good at it, and obviously I wasn't. And, disappointing as that is, I just felt I had nowhere to go but get fired or resign."

But despite almost becoming the first person on the show to quit before she was fired, Lindsay admitted: "I don't know if I had the guts to do it."

The only person ever to have quit the show was Raleigh Addington in 2010, who left for personal reasons after his brother was wounded in an explosion in Afghanistan.

Lindsay revealed that since returning to running her swimming school in Leicestershire she no longer puts in as many hours, because she has realised work is not everything.

She said: "When I left to go to The Apprentice I worked seven days a week, because you can become obsessed with business to the point where it takes over your life.

"And since leaving The Apprentice I've made my business smaller and for the first time in years I have a life. I'm never going to back to the point where business is everything. It's a huge part of my life but it no longer takes over my life.

"I finally have days off. I used to work seven days a week and now I work five."

Meanwhile, Nurun Ahmed was also fired from the show after failing to prove her sales ability on the candles task.

The 36-year-old fashion retailer from Peterborough said the experience had toughened her up but she still believed she could be nice and succeed in business.

Nurun said: "I've learned to be a little bit more shrewd, but I'm very considerate and I have a soft approach, and that's something I'll never change."

The new episode of The Apprentice airs on BBC One at 9pm on Wednesday October 29.