The Apprentice: Kurran throws Rick under the bus – and four other talking points from episode five

Urban lingo and arguments galore

Tonight’s episode of The Appentice was the 16th series’ most dramatic yet, with a last-minute twist and dramatic boradroom showdown usually reserved for the competition’s later stages.

The candidates’s creative skills were put to the test, with teams instructed to create and sell their own footwear brand.

With the series low on drama thus far and, with the series’s halfway mark fast approaching, viewers were treated to an entertaining dose of headlocking tonight.

It was Khadija vs Sabrina, Jasmine vs Rick and Kurran vs everyone as Jackie and Sian attempted to lead their teams to victory despite constant obstruction in the form of disruptive wannabe business partners.

Below are the episode’s five biggest talking points.

Kurran hates the product

“The last thing I want to do is bring a negative energy around this product,” Kurran tells the camera in tonight’s episode, having spent its entirety doing just that. After withdrawing his candidacy for project manager, Kurran decides to continually voice his concerns with Jackie’s choice of an "urban graffiti" heel instead. Later, he locks heads with Jasmine over its slogan. “You’re not seeing the whole composition,” she tells him after one particular encounter, to which he grouchily fires back: “I can, I’m looking at it." Maybe it’s the painkillers…

Karren learns some urban lingo

Having decided on the designs of their respective shoes, the teams must come u with a brand name. Over to Kayode, who suggests using the pretty awful name Fleekies, derived from the pretty popular phrase "on fleek". “It’s commonly used in urban communities,” he tells a confused Karren, who thinks it sounds more like the name of cat food. Not that Lord Sugar or Claude are any the wiser later on in the boardroom, either.

Fights galore

Tiredness is clearly in the air this week with tempers beginning to fray among several candidates. Sub-team leader Jasmine lock heads with Rick, taking umbrage with not only his kitchen skills but his selling technique. “Please don’t speak because you’re offending them,” she tells the soon-to-be-fired quality surveyor, warning him she may ask him to leave. Then there is Khadija, who grew irate when Sabrina intercepted her rather desperate pitching attempt to a client who'd already told her he isn't interested in the footwear.

Lord Sugar deals out some home truths

After Jackie’s team lost, Lord Sugar asks her which two people she’d be bringing back into the boardroom. Her decision? Kayode and Kurran. Unhappy with her selection of the former, Lord Sugar takes matters into his own hands and demands all candidates return. The tycoon dishes out some home truths to Sarah Ann specifically – he warns her to stop blending into the background and to step up her game.

Rick gets the boot

Ultimately, however, the boardroom is a duke out between Kurran and Rick (unbeknown to the latter). Lord Sugar, on the brink of delivering this series’ first double elimination, holds back when Kurran demands he’s kept in the competition, promising to step forward as project manager in next week’s task. “Come hell or high water,” he says before sending poor Rick packing.

The Apprentice continues every Wednesday at 9pm on BBC One