Lord Sugar fires Gabrielle Omar and Stephen Brady

Both Gabrielle Omar and Stephen Brady were sent packing on the Apprentice last night after failing to impress on the task which had the teams searching out competitive discounts for a daily deals website.

After surviving by the skin of his teeth last week, Lord Sugar made Stephen project manager of team Sterling and explained they had one day to get knock down prices for the website.

Fighting for survival: Ricky, far left, was doing a lot of talking in the boardroom and avoided being fired — Ricky, far left, was doing a lot of talking in the boardroom and avoided being fired

Jade led her team Phoenix to victory having had two deals accepted by the website, with overall total sales of £14,563.00.

Sterling fell well behind them and although they had three deals accepted by the website, they only sold £6,440.00 worth of units.

Stephen impressed Lord Sugar with his team’s strategy to focus on getting multiple deals and the Amstrad boss said: ‘That’s smart, I’ve got to tell you, that’s smart.’

The strategy: Jade wanted her team to go with quality and not quantity when it came to securing deals — Jade wanted her team to go with quality and not quantity when it came to securing deals

Jade is prompted to admit that her team had played things differently and she said: ‘That wasn’t my strategy; I was very much focused on the fact that we needed quality rather than quantity.’

After Tom and Adam detailed the deals that they made, which included a candle set, Lord Sugar was left concerned and said: ‘I’m a bit worried about your assessment of a good deal, quite frankly.’

Despite his reservations, Phoenix were crowned winners and were rewarded with a trip to Cliveden, where they enjoyed afternoon tea.

Whilst one team is treated, Sterling head to the Losers Cafe with a warning from Lord Sugar that despite Stephen’s wager, he is going to judge them all equally and fairly when deciding who was responsible for the failure of the task.

Not impressed: Lord Sugar acted quickly and fired Gabrielle first before telling the two remaining candidates that they weren't safe

Back in the boardroom, Lord Sugar asked the candidates who they thought is responsible for the failure of the task and Gabrielle and Stephen blame Stephen.

After the candidates told Lord Sugar why they shouldn’t be fired, he delivered his final verdict.

He said: ‘Ricky – I must admit you did sell some stuff here but also you made, what I consider, a belligerent decision not to go to the spa, which I think was a very very serious mistake.

‘Stephen – you leapt across that table, virtually, saying ‘please make me the Project Manager. I will win’, and you haven’t won, it’s as simple as that. There was an air of panic that I can detect.’

He continued: ‘Gabrielle, I don’t think you contributed much in this task at all, to be honest with you.

‘I’d just like to reiterate that it’s the person who I feel is most responsible for the lack of contribution in the task that leaves, and on that basis I’ve got to say that Gabrielle, as nice a person that you are, it is with regret that – you’re fired.’

Not content with one person being axed, Lord Sugar added: ‘There’s no smoke without fire. Stephen – you asked me for the chance to be the Project Manager, I gave you the chance.

‘You told me you were going to win, you didn’t win, you lost. On that basis I’ve made a decision, and that is that – you’re also fired.’