Lord Alan Sugar fired 16-year-old AS Level student Hibah Ansary on last night's episode of Junior Apprentice.
Sugar claimed that the Manchester-based applicant didn't have the "cut-throat nature" needed for a career in business, after her team failed in the camping products task.
Project manager Adam Eliaz brought Ansary and Zoe Plummer back to the boardroom after the team failed to sell a single unit of their Flex N Store to Millets, Marshmallow or Argos.
Rival team Instinct, who sold 3,100 units of their Slide Stuff, were rewarded with a private fireworks display at Kew Gardens.
Defending his lack of results in the boardroom, Eliaz said: "It is not the easiest task to come up with a totally original idea." An unimpressed Sugar quickly replied: "If this was easy I'd put it on CBeebies!"
Criticising Eliaz's leadership skills, he continued: "I wonder if you led the team with a rod of iron or whether it was a stick of celery!"
The 17-year-old market trader then pleaded with the millionaire to give him another opportunity, explaining: "I left school at 16 with not the best GCSEs. I invested my life savings into a business without any financial backing from my parents. Look at the blisters on my hands - I love working. I've never been so hungry for anything in my life."
Concluding on who he should fire, Sugar said: "Adam, you have got a lot of enthusiasm but you really lost control of the task. Hibah, I've observed only in the last two weeks that you are very articulate. Adam, on balance, I like your spirit.
"Hibah, my instinct is that the cut-throat nature of business is not suited to your personality, so with regret - you're fired!"
Speaking afterwards, she said: "This process has shown me how important success is to me. I really do fear failure. I'm still going to carry on with my dreams of studying medicine and I hope that I'll be really successful at it one day."
Junior Apprentice continues next Wednesday at 9pm on BBC One.
Posted: Thu May 20, 2010 12:25 am