Apprentice bully Dan Harris terrorised staff at his own company... even making them wear a face mask of him on a night out.

The egomaniac - first to be fired by Lord Alan Sugar in the new series of the BBC hit - was shown bullying and swearing at other contestants on the programme last week.

Now a former employee of his firm, 1st Place Graduate Recruitment, has told the full story of his bizarre antics and extreme tantrums.

The woman, who worked for Harris for two years until the firm went bust last New Year's Eve, said: "Dan was a bully and an ogre. One time we were all going out for a drink and Dan printed out life-size pictures of his own face and made them into masks so we could all wear them and pretend to be him.

"He thought he was fantastic. He would strut around calling himself 'Dan the Man' but his management style was to scream and shout abuse at people. He was hideous."

Father-of-two Harris, 34, from Oxfordshire, was the eldest contestant on Series 6. In the first episode screened last Wednesday, he was leader of a team making and selling sausages.

Lord Sugar slated Harris in the boardroom and then fired him.

The former female employee, who does not want to be named, revealed that Harris's temper was uncontrollable at work.

"He would take turns to bully one person," she said, "and make their life a misery, saying 'You're f***ing worthless, you don't deserve to be in a job.'

"Dan would reduce people to tears on a regular basis. One poor girl was trying to pass on a message that his girlfriend had phoned.

"He just flipped his lid, said it was none of her business, and he hurled his plate. It hit the wall and just missed her head. I'm so glad Lord Sugar saw through him."

Another female ex-employee, now 23, said: "After two drinks down the pub he would get really angry. He squared up to an employee once. The atmosphere around him was like treading on eggshells.

"To find out he went off to be on TV while we were working hard to keep the company afloat is like being stabbed in the back."