Onyeka Nweze was the latest candidate to be fired from The Apprentice on Thursday’s show after her team lost in a big-money challenge.
The candidates were tasked with launching a new Formula E team before pitching it for sponsorship, and they stunned the board by raising the largest sum in the show’s history.
Multi-million pound negotiations were jeopardized when disastrous car designs were revealed and questionable brands came to light.
But despite this, the winning team stunned Lord Sugar by securing sponsorship worth £38.7 million.
While her team lost, Lord Sugar noted that Onyeka’s ‘lack of ethos’ on the task remained a concern, especially after her pitches to bankers failed to secure investment for them.
Onyeka Nweze was the latest candidate to be fired from The Apprentice on Thursday’s show after her team lost in a big-money challenge
Lord Sugar called their video ‘trash’ and decided that Onyeka would be fired.
He said: “Onyeka, the failure to explain the ethos is also a very, very serious matter. You are to blame for the failure…
“Onyeka, you are clearly a charming and very intelligent lady, and I appreciate you trying your best throughout this process, but this time it just wasn’t enough. So it is with regret that Onyeka dismissed you.”
After getting out of the taxi, Onyeka said, “Big shock. I didn’t expect it, but look, it is what it is. It happened and I have to take it on my shoulders.’
After completing the big-money Formula E task, one team raced to the top of the podium after securing sponsorship money worth a staggering amount of money. This surpassed the previous record figure of £1.2 million for the 2015 series electric bike task.
The winning team’s sponsorship offer, the largest in the show’s 18-year history, surprised even Lord Alan Sugar himself, who was convinced it must be a mistake.
Speaking about the win, Baroness Karen Brady explained that Lord Sugar was impressed with the performance.
She said: ‘(He was) excited. He couldn’t believe it when he saw the number. He said, ‘Are you sure? Did someone make a mistake? Can you check it again?’ That amount of sponsorship is a huge amount!’
The candidates were tasked with launching a new Formula E team before pitching it for sponsorship
Lord Sugar was stunned when it was revealed that the winning team had secured sponsorships worth £38.7 million
While her team lost, Lord Sugar noted that Onyeka’s “lack of ethos” on the task remained a concern, especially after her pitches to bankers failed to secure investment.
The winning amount is the largest amount earned by a team since one of the teams secured £1.2 million in the electric bike challenge in 2015.
The then record total impressed Lord Sugar and left the rival team – who had raised just over £400,000 – speechless.
It comes after last week’s episode of the latest series saw a double fire, with both recruitment director Jack Davies and pharmacist and business owner Amina Khan getting the boot.
During the show’s fourth episode, the group headed to Jersey to secure and bargain for nine items synonymous with the area at the lowest price.
However, Lord Sugar was less than impressed with Jack and Amina’s efforts in the challenge, telling them that their ‘lack of strategy’ was their downfall.
He said in the boardroom: ‘Jack, you were ultimately responsible for the strategy, and that strategy failed.
‘But Amina, you were responsible for the sub-team’s lack of strategy and it cost the entire team a lot. And so it is with regret, Amina, that you are being fired.
“And Jack, I’m sorry to say, you’re fired too.”
Raj was selected as a team leader for her team when she applied for the job.
Meanwhile, Jack claimed he had eight years of experience negotiating with clients and insisted he could ‘lead his team to victory’. He received the most votes from his team and was elected team leader.
Last week, Recruitment Director Jack Davies (pictured) and pharmacist and business owner Amina Khan were axed from the show after a double redundancy
Their Apprentice journey came to an end after they found themselves under Lord Sugar’s line of fire in the boardroom during Thursday’s episode
Both teams were given maps, local telephone directories, and a list of items related to the area that they had to locate and purchase for the lowest price.
The list included a sweater with an anchor emblem, freshly shucked oysters, Bachin (an antique bowl used for making Jersey butter) and a surfboard.
The teams were each given eight hours to find all the items and return them to Lord Sugar.
Back in the boardroom, Karen revealed that Jack’s team had bought seven of the items and spent £390.20 but had failed to secure the Jersey Royal pot of potatoes and sea salt glass and that they also had the wrong size bracket purchased.
They were fined £274.30, making them a total of £669.50.
Raj’s team spent a total of £337.23 but failed to secure the Jersey Royals and were fined £90, bringing a total expenditure for the team to £427.23.
Jack and his team returned to the boardroom and Lord Sugar declared that this was ‘practically the worst team he ever sent out on this task’ as they returned with seven items.
After receiving feedback from Karen Brady, Lord Sugar decided to bring them all back to the firing line, and ultimately both Jack and Amina were fired.