FIRED: Celebrity Apprentice contestant Brian Mannix. Picture: Channel 9 Source: Supplied
BRIAN Mannix has been the third contestant to be ousted from the Celebrity Apprentice boardroom after failing to land the big bucks in last night's photoshoot challenge.
But the 80s rocker claims his photo, which was auctioned for the least amount at just $2,700, was actually the best of the lot and blames a bout of food poisoning for his teams' poor performance.
"We were all sick. Five of us got food poisoning from the food they were feeding us on set," Brian tells news.com.au.
"It really put the codswaddle on things. Dermy [Dermott Brereton] couldn't even make it to the auction."
"The next day they fed us green curry, we couldn't believe it!" the former Uncanny X-Men frontman added.
Mannix, who came under fire back in March for comparing Nine's hit reality show to being in a terrorist prison, admits that if he had his time again he probably wouldn't take part.
"It wasn't fun at all. If you like arguing, cracking the sh*ts and being a b*tch then you'd love it but I found the whole experience a bit morally bankrupt.
"I had issues with some of the moral standards of the show."
This week, teams were given a bit of a re-shuffle. Dawn and Prue joined the 'not so young' team while Millsy and Jon Steffensen joined the 'youngies'.
The task was to choose one muse from their own team to photograph and reveal their untold story with a series of shots.
Team Supreme, led by swimming champ Steph Rice (much to Roxy's frustration), decided on Jon after he revealed his touching tale about how he got into running.
Prue MacSween was very vocal about wanting to lead this challenge and the rest of Team Fabulous complied, opting to photograph former world champ Jeff Fenech after he opened up about his misspent youth.
It was an emotionally-charged episode as teams raced against the clock to capture their ideal picture, chasing big money for charity.
When it came to crunch time at auction however, Brian's black and white close-up of Fenech wasn't enough to compel buyers to pay the big bucks, going for $2,700.
After the under 40s walked away with the win and $84,000 for Rice's chosen charity, it came down to over 40s leader Prue, Mannix and Dermy, with Brian bowing out.
"I probably could have argued a lot harder to stay on, but I didn't want to," Mannix admits.
The big shocker however, and a Celeb Apprentice first, was the moment Jeff Fenech stormed out of the heated boardroom, firing himself after a squabble with mate Steffenson.
"We all started to think 'what have we got ourselves into here?'" Mannix says of the awkward moment.
"He left because he feels disrespected," Roxy chirped up, unable to help herself.
Jeff was eventually coaxed back inside, leaving everyone none the wiser as to what the tiff was about.
All in all, it was a fiery episode. The ongoing hostility between powerhouses Steph and Roxy finally reached breaking point, with tears from Rice and a theatrical storming out from Jacenko and her saggy denim harem pants.
Mannix admits the frequent tears from contestants started to get very tiresome: "Prue cried about four times during that day, Roxy didn't do herself any favours, Steph had a few moments, even Millsy at some point got teary."
Speaking of Millsy, no one could help but notice the sparks flying between this smooth-talking entertainer and a certain brunette swim star.
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