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The Apprentice 2014 firing: Jemma Bird 'the girl who nearly wins' sent home

Only one boardroom casualty as the candidates start to dwindle

Neela Debnath
Wednesday 05 November 2014 23:00 GMT
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The Apprentice - Jemma Ford is fired
The Apprentice - Jemma Ford is fired

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Lord Sugar kept his pointy finger in check this week and only fired one candidate. Operations manager and dance teacher Jemma Bird was sent packing after a shambolic attempt at this week's tour guide task for Summit.

The 26-year-old from the West Midlands got into trouble stumbling through a tour about the Hever Castle in Kent, leaving her audience unimpressed at having forked out 60 quid for the privilege.

“Jemma, I can tell you that the feedback from the customers was this was a very, very poor tour. But the big worry I have is that I don’t know what you’ve been doing here for five weeks to be honest,” Lord Sugar told her.

James Hill, the joker of this year’s bunch, escaped the boardroom, much to Lord Sugar’s dismay. He warned the 26-year-old business owner for the last time to “clean up his act and stop being a clown”.

Hill appeared to spend most of this week's task donning fancy dress and singing "The Wheels on the bus" instead of offering any information during the tour.

Tenacity’s pricing strategy won them the task. The team made a profit of £1,037.99 by initially charging £99 per ticket, compared to Summit’s £60. The latter team's prices dropped further when Bianca accidentally let slip that they were desperate to sell off all the tickets.

Summit's James Hill proves to be the tour guide from hell
Summit's James Hill proves to be the tour guide from hell (BBC)

Winning team Tenacity were treated to an abseil down the side of the Orbit sculpture at the Olympic Park in Stratford. Yet despite their victory, there was discord, particularly between events organiser Daniel Lassman and digital marketing sales manager Mark Wright. Initially, both wanted to take on the role of project manager, with Lassman winning out.

There are now 11 candidates vying to become Lord Sugar’s business partner.

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