The Apprentice - series 5, ep 6: Time runs out for Noorul

Noorul was fired at last by Sir Alan Sugar but only after the most turbulent boardroom session in the series following Empire's failure in the bric-a-brac task.

The 33-year-old science teacher Noorul had previously escaped attention by making a minimal contribution to tasks and avoiding being brought back into the boardroom.

Only last week, Philip made the point that while he had came up with the dreadful 'Pantsman' idea, Noorul had simply hidden in a superhero costume.

But this time, Noorul was not so lucky as he took his place in Empire under Ben's leadership.

Philip, meanwhile, was chosen as team leader of Ignite and was aiming to restore his reputation after the previous disaster.

After a meeting in an auction warehouse in Chiswick, the teams were tasked with offloading the same ten items of varying values with the aim of making a profit against the market price.

The purpose of the task was to see which candidates could make accurate valuations.

But neither of the team leaders were adept at spotting the luxury.

Philip seemed particularly clueless and, once again, he clashed with Lorraine.

This time, their argument was over the value of the Indian rug which Lorraine suggested was "the gem in the pack" but which Philip rejected as cheap tat.

Lorraine was right, though, and they should have realised this when they struggled to sell the item in a street market in what was described by Margaret Mountford as "one of the most stupid activities they have yet engaged in".

She said: "I'm speechless. That rug is the most expensive item that they have. They have completely ignored its true value apart from Lorraine."

But Ignite enjoyed a bit of luck by unexpectedly selling their human skeleton to a punter in the pub for £160.

And at least Philip had organised the task so that he, Mona and Lorraine had five items while Howard and Kate had the other five.

Over at Empire, cocksure team leader Ben was attempting to sell seven items with Noorul and Debra leaving Yasmina and James with just three.

Aware of the time constraints, Ben started to sell his items without taking valuations on them first, which meant their rug was eventually sold for just £55.

Noorul also sold the human skeleton, worth at least £150, for just £60 having set up a meeting... with an impoverished student.

Nick Hewer said: "They are treating the whole thing as a sort of flog off.

"I think it's about time to start getting a grip on this, otherwise you're going to start to panic and with just cause."

Indeed, the results for both teams were damning - they had both lost money!

Ignite made an overall loss of £34, making a profit of £96 on some items and a loss of £130 on the other two.

Empire made a "thumping" net loss of £169, making a profit of £78 on some of their items and a loss of £242 on others.

Winning team leader Philip allowed himself a smile as the results, and their reward of truffle tasting, was read out.

But this was jumped on immediately by Sir Alan.

He said: "As far as you're concerned, you have won but I don't know what you're smiling about - a loss is a loss.

"Philip, I really do hope you're signing on to what I'm trying to say because your mind is like concrete to me - thoroughly mixed but set in its ways."

But, as ever, Sir Alan saved most of his ire for the losers.

He blasted Ben for failing to take valuations and for not taking splitting the items evenly in his team.

And he accused Noorul of needing Ben's help to close the deal on the skeleton.

When Yasmina accused Debra of negativity, Debra claimed she had made more sales than anyone else on the team.

But Nick Hewer responded by suggesting she, too, had been helped by Ben in selling the books.

This provoked an angry reaction from Debra, which in turn irked Sir Alan.

Sir Alan said to her: "Excuse me. You find another way of expressing yourself. Stop talking to him [Nick] like he's a second class citizen.

"You talk to me and get your points over to me. Don't talk to him in that manner. Am I clear?"

Ben brought Noorul and Debra back to the boardroom but only after he had first selected James, with whom he has a long-standing rivalry, in place of Debra in a seemingly tactical move.

When James (and Sir Alan) reacted with bemusement to his selection, Ben changed his mind to Debra who made it clear she was "well up for" a boardroom confrontation.

As it happened, Debra escaped most of the crossfire, although she was told she was "nothing special" by Sir Alan.

The action was centred mainly on project manager Ben, who was accused by Sir Alan of looking like "a defeated man" and "a broken man".

And, later, Noorul got personal with Ben and suggested he was only on the show to secure magazine deals afterwards to which Ben responded that Noorul was "a desperate man".

But Sir Alan recognised that it was Noorul who effectively cost his team the task by underselling the bike and the skeleton.

It was for this, and the fact he had been so lucky in previous weeks, that Sir Alan fired him.

Sir Alan said: "It's been a difficult decision and I take the last six weeks into account.

"Noorul, I don't know what you have been doing here and I think you have escaped the radar. You're fired."

And once Noorul had walked out the room, Sir Alan added: "I got this feeling about Noorul. I did not see much from him in the past six weeks.

"All I can say is that whoever employs him better get a receipt."

But in the cab, Noorul said: "I certainly think Sir Alan fired the wrong person. Ben is such a hot head. He lied throughout.

"The fact that I spoke against him when all five of us were in there probably was what led to my downfall."

Meanwhile, Sir Alan had left survivors Debra and Ben in no doubt that they are both on unsure ground with Ben on a last warning.

The Apprentice - series 5, ep 4: Loss-making Paula in a lather over costs

Paula was fired for a massive mistake over her costs as Empire made a second loss in the series.

But Ignite's win was thoroughly unconvincing as all of the candidates still struggle to shine.

For the first time, Sir Alan named the team leaders himself. Noorul was appointed to Ignite and Paula to Empire.

He shuffled the teams again so that Paula, Yasmina and Debra worked with Ben, James and Kate in Empire.

Howard and Kimberly moved across to work with Noorul, Lorraine, Mona and Philip as Ignite.

Requested to meet Sir Alan at Kew Gardens, both teams were asked to create and produce an original natural body-care product.

They would then need to sell it on the streets of London.

Not for first time in the series, both teams had pretty much the same idea and produced soap bars with Ignite also selling bubblebath.

Noorul was quiet as team leader in the ideas stage of choosing their natural product.

After much deliberation, they eventually chose honey for their soap, which they branded as “Honey I’m Home”.

Ignite were also confused by how much honey which they would actually need and later by the lack of a batch number.

And Philip got particularly upset by the batch number issue, proceeding to act like a spoilt teenager (or “a dickhead”, according to Lorraine) for much of the rest of the show.

Sir Alan’s aide Margaret Mountford said: “I think Noorul has been a very poor manager of this team. They have been in a muddle right from the very outset.

“If it was left to Noorul, they would not have done anything.”

But none of these mistakes was as bad as the one made by the Empire team.

HR manager Paula had delegated responsibility for costing to Ben and Yasmina but she stayed with them in the factory as the others set out for their natural element, seaweed, for their product “Rockpoole”.

Indeed, while Ben took a backseat by working on the production side, Paula was very much involved in the costing side with Yasmina.

But between the two of them, they confused cedarwood oil for the much more expensive sandalwood oil.

And they compounded their error by misreading the formula by buying in 450g of it, as Sir Alan’s aide Nick Hewer helpfully pointed out a little later.

Over at Ignite, though, there were still problems.

They struggled throughout selling their less quality product for £5 a set at Camden Lock and on Carnaby Street. Noorul, in particular, failed to sell at all.

Then, after deciding to leave Carnaby Street, he got lost in trying to find Bond Street underground station which had only just been vacated by Empire because of numerous turn-downs by busy commuters.

Empire had also chosen an inauspicious selling point – next to a hotdog van at Portobello Market.

But the Notting Hill locals were not put off by their higher prices. Then, late in the day, they made a deal with a vendor and sold their remaining stock for £400.

It was a case of being too little too late, though, after their costing disaster – and the show produced yet another clear result.

Empire made £1073.20 but spent £1141.24 for a loss of £68.04 while Ignite made £900.85 and spent £406.88 to make a profit of £493.97.

Ignite were rewarded by attending a sushi and Saki evening at a top restaurant but Sir Alan criticised the low quality of their product and Howard later admitted that it had been a “frustrating win”.

Empire, meanwhile, were blasted for failing to heed Sir Alan’s warnings over cost.

He said: “I have been banging on for the last four weeks about costs. What the hell’s gone wrong?!”

Team leader Paula brought her costing partners in crime Ben and Yasmina back into the boardroom.

It was Ben’s second successive boardroom appearance and his third loss in the opening four weeks.

Sir Alan accused him of avoiding the work of being involved in the costing despite him being allocated that part of the task.

But he also blasted Paula’s excuse as an HR manager for delegating the task as “feeble”.

Yasmina, who was implicated alongside Paula for the oil mix-up, escaped most of the crossfire by loading the responsibility on the team leader.

And Ben, who promised to “rip [Paula] to shreds” in the boardroom, fought his corner in typically pugnacious style.

He said to Paula: “You did not just get it a little bit wrong. You got it very, very wrong.”

After deciding he wants to see Yasmina as a project manager again, Sir Alan agreed with Ben.

Sir Alan said: “I have decided that on balance, Paula, you were responsible for the fatal mistake. So, Paula, you’re fired.”

In the black cab, Paula said: “I just feel disappointed that I have gone so early in the competition.

“It was because of a mistake and everyone makes mistakes so there is absolutely no shame in that.”

Ben, even after his reprieve, still tried to talk himself into trouble, but – fortunately for him – Sir Alan resisted to fire for the second time.