The Apprentice airs SHOCK double firing as Final Five are confirmed

Virgin Radio

4 Apr 2024, 21:01

The Apprentice has picked its Final Five, but not before firing not one, but two candidates right before the gruelling interviews stage.

(Major Apprentice spoilers ahead)  

Tonight’s episode saw the two teams try their hand at making a new vegan cheese brand. They needed to impress supermarket investors (and of course, Lord Sugar) with a unique flavour, packaging design and social media branding video. 

While Phil Turner was tasked with being Project Manager after just about getting through week nine, he actually lead his team to victory with the high-end truffle soft cheese, but it was Steve Darken, Foluso Falade and Rachel Woolford who ended the episode with no sales and therefore, found themselves back in the boardroom. 

After a disastrous attempt at leading the branding arm on her own, Foluso was brought up by Lord Sugar for her video and poor packaging, and she became the latest candidate to be fired from the competition. 

Speaking exclusively to virginradio.co.uk, Faluso described the moment she entered the boardroom as going into “survival mode” due to all-important interviews stage next week. 

She told us: “I think in the back of all of our heads, we knew this task, this particular firing, was going to be like 50% of what you've done and 50% your business because obviously this is the week before week 11. So it was a case of ‘Okay, cool. This is worth fighting for, essentially the final spot of what normally is final five’. 

“I just remember just trying to blurt out everything I've done, every achievement I've done in the process. I was just trying to literally just give [Lord Sugar] everything and it just didn't work out in this case.”

She continued: “I walked out smiling because I did everything I could do. There's nothing left, I had nothing left to give.”

However, Foluso wasn’t the only candidate on the chopping block as both Steve and Rachel were brought back to the boardroom for another grilling by Lord Sugar. 

Both candidates had to defend their business plans and hope to persuade Lord Sugar to keep them in the competition, but unfortunately for Steve, he was unable to convince the business tycoon of his entrepreneurial success. 

Steve told virginradio.co.uk of his last-ditch attempt to win Lord Sugar over: “I figured if I'm gonna go down, I'm gonna go down swinging.

“It was a tough day, it was a tough boardroom. I wasn't surprised, unfortunately, I think we had our backs up against the wall in this task. And the other team obviously, they had Phil who's a chef, which immediately gives them a bit of an advantage. 

“When I was talking with Lord Sugar, that firing wasn't about me, it wasn't about my abilities, my competency or anything else. I think probably Rachel had the more attractive business proposition for him at that time. I took something positive from that.”

Faluso and Steve’s firing has meant that The Apprentice’s 2024 Final Five are Flo Edwards, Dr Paul Midha, Phil Turner, Rachel Woolford and Tre Lowe. They’ll have to face the likes of Claude Littner during the gruelling interview stages next week. 

The Apprentice, Thursdays 9pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.