The Apprentice 2018: Lord Alan Sugar makes wrong decision — and four other talking points from doughnut task episode

Which candidate did Claude reserve a smile for?

Lord Sugar said nobody wanted to talk to Katie Hopkins at the Apprentice wrap party

It was The Apprentice meets Great British Bake Off tonight as the remaining candidates’ doughnut-making skills were put to the test.

While last week’s instalment saw David Alden fired following an intense boardroom showdown with Frank Brooks and Kurran Pooni, this week saw Brooks on the losing side once again. This time, however, he wasn’t so lucky as Lord Sugar pointed the dreaded finger in his direction, sending him home.

The episode also saw one candidate break an arm, while another emerged as a frontrunner with Claude Littner heaping rare praise upon them.

Below are five of the episode’s biggest talking points.

Team names are decided

This week, Lord Sugar shook up the teams putting an end to the boy-girl divide. Their fast task? To come up with their all-important team name. After a few options (Imperium and Impetus – the latter tossed for sounding too much like ‘impotent’), Team A settled on Camilla’s choice of Typhoon (“because we’re fast and we’re gonna be a storm in the boardroom”). Team B’s choice – Collaborative – seemed great up until they all ended the episode shouting over one another in the boardroom. “You’re about as collaborative as nitro and glycerine.”

Kayode is impressing all the right people

In a rare spot of back-slapping, Claude Littner doffed his cap to “marvel” Kayode who put his professional speaking talents to good use by shifting some rather unappetising looking doughnuts in several languages (turns out he’s fluent in German). “It’s not about the look, it’s about the taste,” he tells a customer, clearly won over by his enthusiasm. He’s certainy one to watch.

Kurran strikes injury for the most ridiculous reason

In a non-boardroom related injury, we discovered that the competitiveness between candidates continues when the cameras aren’t rolling. The night before this week’s firing, acting extra Kurran fractured his arm during an arm wrestling match leaving Lord Sugar to dish out all the puns he could manage, Austin Powers-style (“You finally got into a cast, anyway. You got your big break – and from what I heard, you appeared in Casualty also”).

Jackie gets away with it once again

Jackie Fast is proving herself to be this year’s shrewdest candidate. This week saw the Canadian continually push the bespoke “B” shaped doughnuts, despite several others – including Kurran and Jasmine – highlighting they were probably a very bad idea. Had they opted for normal doughnuts, it seems the team could have won considering the ‘B’s ended up looking more like the number eight. Tom failed to bring Jackie into the boardroom – something fired candidate Frank told us could have been tactical.

Frank gets the (undeserved) boot

So, senior marketing manager Frank got fired – his punishment for getting a tad hot-headed while frying 300 plus doughnuts. This was yet another case of the wrong person getting fired with Project Manager Tom escaping by the skin of his teeth. “This is your wake up call,” Lord Sugar warned the clearly-shaken tree surgeon. Read our interview with Frank here. In it, he explains why he thinks he made the tycoon “uneasy” and who exactly he’s backing for the win.

Catch up with all of the episode’s key events in our live in our live blog below.

The Apprentice airs every Wednesday on BBC One at 8pm

[17 October 2018 14:53 · Jacob Stolworthy]

Hello, and welcome to our live coverage of The Apprentice!  

[17 October 2018 15:20 · Jacob Stolworthy]

Tonight sees the candidates take on doughnuts, so expect to be sick of the (w)hole thing by the end

[17 October 2018 15:45 · Jacob Stolworthy]

Warning: I will not tire of making doughnut puns throughout this live blog. I refuse to apologise for this

[17 October 2018 16:10 · Jacob Stolworthy]

Last week poor old David Alden was fired... He followed in the footsteps of Sarah who was sent home the week before

[17 October 2018 16:35 · Jacob Stolworthy]

If you didn't know, we're interviewing the fired candidate each week here at The Independent - so don't forget to check back as soon as tonight's episode ends

[17 October 2018 17:03 · Jacob Stolworthy]

This is what Sarah had to say about her firing the other week

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[17 October 2018 17:28 · Jacob Stolworthy]

Little surprise to see she thinks Lord Sugar made a mistake... but who are *you* backing for the win?

[17 October 2018 17:55 · Jacob Stolworthy]

An early favourite of ours is Kayode

[17 October 2018 18:20 · Jacob Stolworthy]

It seems tonight, Kayode will be impressing none other than Claude Littner also...

[17 October 2018 18:45 · Jacob Stolworthy]

Speaking of Claude, we spoke to him ahead of this year's series. He was actually very very nice and in no way scary.

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