Altrincham businesswoman Rebecca Jeffery tonight became the sixth person to be fired from this year’s series of The Apprentice.
Jeffery, a 31-year-old marketing consultant, was given her marching orders by Lord Sugar after a disastrous task.
The two teams were given a shopping list of nine multicultural items to be purchased in one night for the lowest possible price and told to be back at the Shard by 6am.
But after Rebecca had a mix-up between soap and soup, and her team failed, project manager Trishna brought her into the boardroom along with Sofiane.
Lord Sugar called the debacle a “complete and utter mess-up” but acknowledged that the decision to fire Rebecca was a difficult one.
“Sofiane, I’m concerned, you know, no smoke without fire. You go off and do your own thing, perhaps you’ve got no respect for others. My business partner has got to be somebody who can get on with people.”
He added: “Rebecca, you asked for the opportunity to be a project manager and once again, you didn’t take it. You are a good talker, there is no question of that.
“Trishna, I think the failing of this task lays firmly with the fact that the strategy was not adhered to. I find it very hard not to put the total blame on you.”
In the end, however, he decided it was Rebecca who had to go.
“It is difficult, this was a serious failure, on balance I’ve got to think about the people going forward in this and I’ve also got to think about past performance. On that basis, I’m going to have to say, Rebecca, you’re fired!”
Rebecca can at least console herself with one of the all-time great black cab interviews after her exit.
“At the end, I think I went, ‘Because I’m not a twat!’” she said. “I think that’s my downfall. Haven’t been enough of a twat.”
