Howard fell agonisingly short of the interview week after Sir Alan fired him for his failure on the TV shopping task.
Ignite suffered a surprising loss having failed to sell their high-value products for as much money as Empire sold their cheaper stock.
As project manager for Ignite, Howard made an inauspicious selection of a pet craft kit (£16.99) and an infrared toy air guitar (£14.99) along with Lorraine.
But their companion Kate went for the high-end products, a chip fryer (£139.99) and some real leather metallic jackets (£149.99).
By contrast, Empire's highest-priced product, chosen by team leader Yasmina - working with James - was a leaf-collector called the Grabosaurus (£29.99).
Yasmina and James also chose a remote control car (£13.99). Debra, working alone, plumped for some hideous-looking polo-neck ponchos (£9.99) and hair clips (£17.99).
In the practice for the live television presentations, Lorraine for Ignite was not convincing at all while Kate also seemed to lose her nerve somewhat.
Nevertheless, and despite criticism by Lorraine, Kate was named as the solo presenter with Howard and Lorraine working together once again.
On Empire, Debra was named as the soloist based on Yasmina's belief that she works better alone, leaving Yasmina to work with James.
Yasmina and James were first to present, showcasing the products chosen by Debra who was in the director's chair.
Ignoring Debra's directions to announce the price of the remote control car, Yasmina and James then went completely off-topic in between presenting their two products.
Perhaps still distracted, Yasmina then gave the wrong price for their second item - the hair-clips - pricing them at £9.99 when they were £17.99.
This was corrected by James and the pair noticeably relaxed, particularly James who provided some quality comedy sales patter.
Team-mate Debra presented without any hitches.
But her items chosen by Yasmina/James - the polo-neck ponchos and the Grabosaurus leaf-collector - left Sir Alan wondering if the cautious approach of aiming for low-price products would work.
Sir Alan expected Ignite would do so much better with their high-value items - some hideous metallic-style leather jackets and the fryer, selected by Kate.
But, due to the rules, they were presented by Howard and Lorraine.
The pair did a fine job of showing off the items but failed to mention the product number, telephone number and website anywhere near enough.
Kate struggled unsurprisingly to present the pet craft kit, and admitted later it was "not the most exciting thing to demonstrate".
But she did better and loosened up to show off the infra-red air guitar in brilliantly entertaining fashion.
It was still not enough, however. Empire, with sales of £1541.88, beat Ignite who recorded £1376.73 despite their higher-priced items.
Empire's Debra, so often at odds with the other side of the boardroom desk, received high praise for her ability to present the shabby ponchos - selling over £900 personally.
Nick Hewer said: "She took to it like a duck to water. She was exceptional."
Her reward along with James and team leader Yasmina was a thrilling private jet aerobatics session - the loop-da-loop and kamikaze dives ensuring this was easily the best prize of the series.
But Ignite were back in the boardroom to face Sir Alan.
On the one hand, they had suffered from poor product selection (the pet craft kit and air guitar) by Howard and Lorraine.
And, on the other hand, they suffered from the poor presentation - again by Lorraine and Howard - of Kate's high-value products (the jackets and the fryer) which should have ensured victory.
Sir Alan informed the team of some damning stats. They sold less than 10% of what was expected in the period for the air guitar.
Worse again, they sold less than 5% of what was expected on the leather jackets.
Lorraine was criticised by Sir Alan for not following through her instincts after she favoured a lizard toy which was not selected.
Lorraine defended herself by stating this selection, although once again ignored, showed her "natural flair" for the vacancy.
Sir Alan also slammed Kate for her wooden presentation, accusing her of being "like a programmed robot" and he compared her solo figures to Debra's.
But it was team leader Howard who took the most stick in the boardroom.
He was then blamed by Sir Alan for not being willing to take the risk with Lorraine's novelty toy lizard and it was suggested he was risk-averse - no more than a "steady-eddie".
Even Nick Hewer bashed Howard, stating his actions suggested he was "not a brave warrior".
And so, in a decision which Sir Alan described as being "very tough but a sign of the times", he sacked nice-guy Howard and kept Kate and Lorraine.
He said: "All three of you have come a long way in this process but, as you all know, it has to come to an end for one of you today. Howard, you're fired."
In the cab, Howard was clearly disappointed but remained in his calm, philosophical self.
He said: "I'm gutted, really gutted. There is no denying that. I really wanted to go all the way through the process.
"But if Sir Alan thinks that I'm risk-averse then I will take on the feedback and maybe I need to be a bit more maverick.
Howard's departure leaves James as the only male candidate to make the interview stage, a point his female rivals were not slow to notice back at the penthouse.
He will be up against four women - Debra, Kate, Lorraine and Yasmina, the first time so many females have made the penultimate week.
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