The Apprentice - series 5, ep 7: Cocky Philip finds it grim back up north

Cocky Philip's attitude proved to be his undoing as he was fired by Sir Alan having failed to sell anything in the latest task.

The candidate from County Durham once again clashed with Lorraine but she held the upper hand having made more sales in a woeful overall performance by Ignite.

Sir Alan had tricked the teams into thinking that they were going abroad by asking them to pack an overnight bag and meet him at the London Gateway.

Ben packed his swimming shorts, flip flops and sunglasses in anticipation of soaking up the sun while Philip drooled over the prospect of seeing some "bikini babes".

But London Gateway turned out to be a service station on the M1 motorway and instead the teams were heading north to Manchester and Liverpool.

Once there, they had to select two products from a range of 12 and then sell them to stores in the North West with two pitches already set up by Sir Alan on day one.

Sir Alan moved Mona and Howard to Empire with Ben and Yasmina going in the other direction.

Mona, who lost as project manager in week one, gained the approval of her new Empire team mates to lead this task.

And Lorraine stepped up for Ignite, having not been a project manager previously.

For once, Lorraine's instincts, which had previously served her so well, let her down.

She turned down the 'Lovers' Lead' - a two-handled dog lead - in favour of the 'Cat Playhouse', which were effectively cardboard boxes decorated as an airplane, tank and fire engine.

Ignite also put their faith in the 'POD', a bag to carry shopping on the back of a bicycle.

Empire decided to go with the aforementioned 'Lovers' Lead' and a 'Silk Bag', a full-body sleeping bag with separate sections for arms and legs.

As the teams arrived at the first of the pitches arranged by Sir Alan - a hardware store in Liverpool - both of them started to realise the limitations of their products.

Ignite's 'POD' was criticised by the store manager for unbalancing the bicycle - to which Yasmina oddly suggested two bags would need to be bought to even the weight distribution.

Lorraine and Yasmina were even more wide of the mark when they tried to get the hardware store to buy 5-6,000 'Cat Playhouses'.

At Empire, Debra and Howard struggled to convince the hardware store of the use of their 'Lovers' Lead'.

And the store manager was stunned by their attempt to suggest selling the sleeping bag for £89.

At the second pitch arranged by Sir Alan - a designer home store in Manchester - Empire continued to make little headway.

Their sleeping bag, in particular, failed to fit in with the store's values.

But, over at Ignite, matters improved a little with the designer home store considering an order for both the 'POD' and the 'Cat Playhouse'.

Not the other half of Ignite were doing so well with Philip, Kate and Ben managing to secure just one pitch for day two.

That pitch was at a cycle superstore in Chester but it met a dead end even though Philip went so far as to demonstrate how the 'POD' would work on a bike.

Ben looked as if he might have improved Ignite's chances by fixing up a meeting with the UK's biggest pet retailer.

But, having squabbled over who should lead the pitch, Lorraine and Yasmina still went in with totally unrealistic expectations and thought they could sell up to 20,000 'Cat Playhouses'.

The retailer ended up agreeing to 50 and no more.

But that was still more than the sub team of Philip, Kate and Ben - all three went all day without selling anything.

Sir Alan's aide Nick Hewer said: "Frankly, returning to London with no sales is a bit like the three of them popping into that cat plane and taking off to join the Battle of Britain.

"They haven't got a chance."

Empire did rather better at the same pet retailer, with Debra and Howard securing 200 orders for the 'Lovers' Lead'.

And the 'Silk Bag' sleeping bag was at least shown to be able to sell to camping stores.

It all added up to a clear victory for Empire who made £4501 from their orders while Ignite made just £1302, none of which had come from Philip, Kate or Ben.

And so, while Empire enjoyed a VIP ride in a Rolls Royce helicopter over London at sunset, Ignite were summoned back to see Sir Alan.

In the boardroom, Philip made the audacious claim that he, Kate and Ben were the three best salespeople on their team despite none of them managing to make a single sale.

By contrast, Lorraine, who made £807 in sales, and Yasmina, who made £495, sold at four of their five pitches.

Ben defended his record on the task, having managed to fix up the appointment with the pet retailer.

And Sir Alan criticised Lorraine and Yasmina for their wildly ambitious pitches.

It was Philip, though, who continued to act like a drama queen, criticising Lorraine for her over-reliance on instinct and revelling in the fact she had got it wrong this time.

Sir Alan made it clear he was not impressed and warned that up to three candidates could be fired as Lorraine brought Philip and Kate back into the boardroom.

He started by attacking Philip for putting on his resume that he is "arrogant, cocky, stubborn and a control-freak", and questioned if he needed people like that in his business.

But he also questioned if he needed Lorraine who had admitted herself that she was a "slow burner in the thought process".

Sir Alan also suggested that she had alienated the other team members from herself.

Lorraine defended herself based on her sales but struck a low blow when suggesting the growing relationship between Philip and Kate had affected their work.

This was a surprising, almost Machiavellian move, which appalled Kate in particular.

But it was Philip who turned the attention on himself even more when he attempted to defend his recent record.

Of course, he soon piped down when Nick Hewer reminded him of 'Pantsman'.

And Sir Alan played down Philip's victory in last week's task, saying he won by default after making a smaller loss than the opponents.

Sir Alan accused Kate of going from "hero to zero" but accepted that her previous performance had meant this was her first boardroom appearance.

But he had little such sympathy for destructive Philip.

Sir Alan said: "I'm clear in my mind that your bravado and attitude ain't going to fit in my organisation. You're fired."

Philip remained defiant in his own ability to the end and, audibly, called the decision "a joke" as he left the boardroom.

In the cab, he said: "I'm disappointed. I thought I had the potential to go a lot further than this but, unfortunately, I crossed paths with Lorraine and it was the end of me."

Philip repeated that he thought he was a better candidate than Lorraine although at least he accepted that he would be forever remembered for his Pantsman idea.

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 5: Kimberly fired for pants idea

Ignite team leader Kimberly paid the ultimate price for team-mate Philip's bizarre 'Pantsman' idea in an advertising task for breakfast cereal.

The task - to create a new brand identity for a healthy breakfast cereal - should have been ideal for marketing consultant Kimberly.

But from early on, Philip forced his pants concept on the rest of the team, which had remained unchanged from the last task.

Despite Lorraine's protestations, Ignite backed what was an obvious loser and the further the idea evolved, the sillier it got.

Philip continued to spearhead the effort. He branded the cereal as 'Wake Up Call' and invented a character, Pantsman.

Pantsman would point out that only superheroes are allowed to wear their pants outside their other clothing, and that eating Wake Up Call could prevent people making that mistake.

Lorraine remained unsure but this caused Philip to throw one of his now notorious tantrums and he accused her of being overly negative.

It took Howard to calm the situation but the arguments further undermined Ignite's efforts.

The lost time forced them to rely on the designer to produce their cereal box based on Kimberly's incredibly vague suggestions over the telephone.

Unsurprisingly, the finished product was a let-down with only the front panel of the box showing any design.

Empire, led by Kate, displayed the most impressive team performance of the series so far.

Unlike Ignite's mess, Empire's idea was clear and their whole approach seemed logical.

James came up with the concept of 'Captain Squak', a parrot dressed as a pirate, who would be used to market their cereal, branded as 'Treasure Flakes'.

Even the jingle for their advert was a relevant sea-shanty - in sharp contrast to Philip's horridly out-of-tune wailing for Ignite.

Indeed the only thing Empire were particularly criticised for was the execution of their advert as they threatened to over-complicate matters.

But, while Ignite's execution was seen to be better, the advert did not appeal to their child actors and it showed up the project's flaws clearly.

Sir Alan's aide Nick Hewer said: "Ignite has come up with a very strange, very bizarre theme involving Pantsman.

"Incidentally, the children don't think it is at all funny. But those involved in the production think it's hilarious"

In the boardroom, Sir Alan and his other aide Margaret Mountford praised Empire for their team-work.

Margaret said: "I think they worked very well as a team. It really was a good performance."

Their reward was a yoga and laughter therapy session, which was almost as odd as Ignite's idea.

But, even before the result had been confirmed, sparks were flying in the Ignite team.

Lorraine accused Kimberly of giving her "continuous mixed messages" while Sir Alan forced Philip to defend his invention of Pantsman, which he said looked more in place "in the middle of a Harry Enfield show".

And it was clear that the whole project had flabbergasted Sir Alan.

He said: "This is totally garbage. Absolutely garbage.

"How you can honestly believe that you could have an advertising campaign based around pants is beyond my comprehension!"

Kimberly brought back task troublemakers Philip and Lorraine back to the boardroom, allowing Howard, Mona and Noorul (again!) to escape.

Philip showed his disgust at being brought back while quieter members remained under the radar, even to the point of suggesting Kimberly should go for that decision.

In his summary, Sir Alan showed he had little time for Philip's cocksure attitude and compared his forceful nature to a bulldozer.

He also criticised Lorraine for her argumentative attitude but it became obvious that he had reserved his firing for Kimberly.

He said: "You remind me of the final scene from the Wizard Of Oz.

"You look very impressive but, in my opinion, behind the curtain there is nothing there. You're fired."

Unsurprisingly, Kimberly - who styled herself as a "rough, tough creme puff from New York" before the series - disagreed.

She said: "I think that Sir Alan definitely fired the wrong person today and he will see, he will see.

"If Sir Alan does not want me to be his apprentice, I am upset about it but there's nothing I can do about it.

"I'll find something else to do and I'll make the best of that."

With ten candidates left, there is still plenty of work for Sir Alan to do if he wants to find his "diamond in the rough".

And though some satisfaction could finally be had after a respectable performance from one of the teams, it was equally frustrating that some of the lurkers have stayed off the radar again.