The Apprentice candidate and cosmetic dentist Dr Jana Denzel reportedly used racist language in a task and was pulled up by fellow candidates before being spoken to by production

BBC’s The Apprentice candidate Dr Jana Denzel, who has been revealed as the candidate who quit the series, was pulled up for using racist language during filming.

It is understood the cosmetic dentist used the term ‘coloured’ to describe a black person during a task. It is believed he used the term during a task which saw the team creating a character for a marketing campaign. Two female candidates were shocked by his comment and told show bosses. All 18 contestants had been given a warning about sensitive language during an earlier task too.

Jana was pulled up on the use of the term by fellow candidates and the incident was later reported to the show’s producers. As a result, he was spoken to by production to ‘understand why the remark was wrong’ and underwent additional training after the event – by this point, Jana had already quit the process.

Dr Jana has left the process ( 
Image:
BBC/Naked/Ray Burmiston)

Lord Sugar is looking for his new business partner ( 
Image:
PA Photo/BBC/Boundless)
A spokesperson on behalf of The Apprentice said: “We were made aware of an ill-informed comment made by Jana during the process and action was taken. Whilst we have made it very clear to Jana that his use of language was not acceptable, we are confident there was no ill-intent behind it and the concerns of all parties involved have been addressed and resolved.”

Yesterday, it was revealed one candidate quit the BBC series early during a boardroom showdown with Sir Alan Sugar. The identity of the mystery candidate was later revealed to be Jana. However, a spokesperson has stressed that Jana’s early departure from the series was not linked to the early incident of offensive language. They said: “Jana withdrew from the process for completely unrelated and separate reasons, and he has our full support.”

During scenes in the boardroom, Dr Jana told Lord Sugar he didn’t feel he was a “good fit” and was leaving the process. His exit is expected to air at the end of the fifth episode in two weeks time, and his “ill-informed comment” won’t be explained on the show itself, but his exit scenes will air for viewers in a fortnight.

“The team had been discussing what the character should look like, and there were suggestions from some members to make sure the character was inclusive. It was then that Jana made the ‘coloured comment’, which particularly upset two female candidates on his team. The team were particularly shocked because, coming from a minority background himself, they did not expect Jana to use such offensive language to describe their marketing campaign,” a source told The Sun.

“While his co-stars did push back and made it clear to Jana the comment was unacceptable, it was then escalated further when it was flagged to the production team, who pulled Jana aside.”