At a glossy, dark wood conference table in front of a live audience of 17,000, James Sun sat baffled at the two words he never thought he’d hear.

“You’re fired.”

The internet entrepreneur made it to the final round of “The Apprentice: Los Angeles,” NBC’s 14-week job interview created by business tycoon Donald Trump.

Over dramatic background music, Trump praised Sun’s creativity, but then added: “There were certain things and certain dialogue that you gave during the course and you know what I’m talking about. That bothered me very much.” Los Angeles attorney Stefani Schaeffer was ultimately hired for the $250,000 position.

Sun had a winning record throughout the reality game show and told KoreAm he was confused as to what “dialogue” Trump was referring to.

“Everyone thought that I was going to win,” says Sun, 30. “Even some of the producers thought I had it in the bag. If you see the way that I was fired, something was very strange about the whole thing. It was a little unjustified.”

Sun, the founder and CEO of social networking site Zoodango, is now back in Seattle with his wife and two daughters, who cheered him on each week from their television set.

“[The Apprentice] is something [my kids] will take with them forever,” Sun says. “Even if they are Korean and female, they can do great things in this world. If daddy can be on TV, they can do anything.”

— Michelle Woo