The Apprentice: Lord Sugar fires Kayode 'with regret' – and four other talking points from episode 7

This week's gardening episode muddied the waters in the most awkward way

This week’s episode of The Apprentice was big on surprise leading to the departure of one of this year’s early frontrunners.

Both the contestant’s selling and creative skills were put to the test, with teams instructed to “summer up” sparse courtyards around London after creating their own urban gardening business leading to some extremely awkward encounters.

For the first time this series, Lord Sugar seemed to struggle when choosing someone to eliminate – especially considering the least impressive candidates were fortunate enough to be on the winning team.

Below are the episode’s five biggest talking points.

Daniel finally steps up

With everyone else having been project manager at least once, it’s the turn of lifestyle brand owner Daniel Elahi to throw his name in the ring – not that he has a choice. “Time for you to show me what you can do. Hint hint,“ Lord Sugar tells him, while announcing this week’s task to the candidates. Despite some bum steers along the way, Daniel eventually leads team Collaborative to an overdue success. “The reason we won this task was because of me,” he later states. Modesty’s clearly not one of his strong suits.

Jackie vs Khadija

This week’s tension comes courtesy of Jackie and Khadija who lock heads on the sub-team during a discussion regarding – of all things – funding. “Why are you still talking?” Jackie bellows at Khadija, who responds by calling the sponsorship consultant “rude and ridiculous.” For some reason, Daniel permits the pair to work together the following day which unsurprisingly leading to disaster (see below). Their fracas is later brought to the attention of Lord Sugar who hits the nail on the head: “You two work well together like matches and petrol.”

Muddy waters

The award for most embarrassing encounter goes to the aforementioned warring duo who anger the owner of a London barbers by essentially destroying her courtyard. All seems to be going well until the jet washer’s unearthed, something which neither Jackie nor Khadija can figure out how to use. Instead, they decided it’s a good idea to soak the slabs in tap water and proceed to sweep it with a brush. The result is disastrous. “You’ve swept the dirt all over the floor,” the owner tells them, refusing to pay the full amount. Khadija attempts to barter her up but the owner’s having none of it. ”I just want you out my shop now,” she tells them.

Sabrina’s staying power

Tonight saw Sabrina officially emerge as one of the favourites as the tennis events company owner displayed some cut-throat tenacity after criticising a surprised Jasmine despite the pair doing essentially the same amount of work. Later, she comes out fighting even more when the losing team’s project manager Tom brings her back to the boardroom – not that Sabrina is in any danger of leaving. While providing counsel to Lord Sugar, Karren Brady deems her “a very good” and “incredibly smart” candidate. Could she be a finalist?

Kayode fired “with regret”

If Lord Sugar didn’t make it clear he faced his toughest boardroom decision yet, he did just that when ushering in the series’ first “with regret” before firing the self-titled Mr Sunflower Guy, Kayode. The public speaker puts up a fair fight, however, his luck runs out when Lord Sugar questions his business acumen. “I don’t think you have the calibre of what I’m looking for in the long term,” he tells him, adding, ”and so, it is with regret, Kayode, that you’re fired.” He’s none too pleased but swiftly looks at the bright side by expressing excitement at being reunited with his cat in his piece-to-camera in the taxi home.

The Apprentice continues at 9pm every Wednesday on BBC One