In this week’s episode of the Apprentice, Lord Sugar challenged the candidates to make a profit in the secondhand market.

Lord Sugar tells the candidates that there are people who make money by taking things that others discard and they make it into something that someone wants to buy. His prep talk set the scene for the task and he ended by saying: “That’s what this task is all about, you’re going to have to source your second hand stock and then you’re going to sell it to the public.”

The teams were reshuffled for the task and each given £1000 startup capital to source their stock. Lord Sugar also laid on a couple of shops in the East End of London for them to distribute their goods.

Laura put herself forward on manage Team Sterling, and Tom was voted in to manage Team Phoenix.

See the teams in action in the video clip below:

However, it was Jane McEvoy that ended up on the heap has she became the latest candidate to be fired by Lord Sugar.

Laura’s team who had total sales of £1444.25 with a total spend of £660.76 so a total profit of £783.49.

Tom’s team finished with total sales of £1423.50 with a total spend of £360.10 so a total profit of £1063.40.

As Phoenix enjoyed a 40s Swing party, Lord Sugar grilled Sterling in the boardroom, bringing their attention to the fact that they bought a huge amount of items for their store, with over 200 products purchased, compared to Phoenix’s 50.

Laura decided to bring Gabrielle and Jane back to the boardroom, Gabrielle for her costings on the upcycling and Jane for her lack of sales.

After explaining that this boardroom decision was a tough one, Lord Sugar delivered his final verdict:

“Gabrielle – you got blamed for spending too much money but I admire your enthusiasm and on this particular occasion I’m going to let you stay in the process,” Lord Sugar explained.

“It leaves me with having to make a decision about you two ladies. It’s one of the more difficult ones I’ve had to deal with. I have to judge it on the person that’s got the most potential in coming in to business with me.

“Laura – you lost the plot and you didn’t run the team very well. But I have a bigger concern with you Jane – you’ve been in the losing team three times in four weeks and nothing I have seen yet tells me that you are this great business person. So on that basis, Jane – You’re Fired.”

As she was driven away in a black cab, a tearful Jane reflected: “Lord Sugar mightn’t have wanted me but I will be extremely successful in everything that I do and hopefully in a few years time he’ll look back and say ‘I shouldn’t have fired her.”