By Paul Revoir and Andrea Magrath
Last updated at 1:46 AM on 26th May 2011
Trained actress Felicity Jackson made her exit from The Apprentice last night.
The 24-year-old, who runs a careers service for actors, was given a critical panning by Lord Sugar after her performance in the boardroom.
She was axed after ugly scenes with her rivals at the end of the show following a beauty task which went horribly wrong.
Fired: Felicity Jackson is the first female to be ousted from The Apprentice this season
Jackson, who the first female contestant to be shown the door this series, said she believes a woman will win this year’s series.
The rival teams were set the task of picking and mastering two beauty treatments, then selling them on to shoppers in Birmingham.
Felicity’s Team Logic suffered an early setback when they lost out on a spray tan treatment to Zoe’s Team Venture, who had reacted far more enthusiastically to the product.
Boardroom bickering: The 24-year-old fought it out with rival Ellie Reed and Natasha Scribbins
‘Personable but not business minded’: Lord Sugar said he could ‘never’ go into business with Miss Jackson
After losing out on the treatment to Team Venture, Jackson’s Team Logic settled for flogging trendy hair accessories and a ‘hot shell’ massage treatment.
Zoe clashed with Susan Ma over the number of spray tan products the team could sell every hour. Susan, the self-styled beauty guru, estimated they would sell six an hour, but soon found herself struggling to move even half that.
Nevertheless, their team’s efforts easily eclipsed Team Logic.
Grit your teeth and bear it: The contestants tried out several beauty treatments for a salon task
Salon business: The teams selected two beauty treatments to sell and perform on customers in Birmingham
Jackson came under fire from Lord Sugar for focusing on selling products instead of treatments.
Her team ended up with a loss of £247 while Venture, who opted for cold stone pedicures along with the spray tans, made £203 profit.
‘You started at 11am and the first treatment wasn’t implemented until 3.30pm. What happened?’ Lord Sugar questioned Miss Jackson in the boardroom.
‘Unbelievable. Every single one of you should have said, “What is going on here?”‘
Career change? The boys got into the spray tan task
Skills: Zoe’s Team Venture excelled with their spray tan and pedicure treatments, making a £203 profit
‘I’ve repeatedly stated that this task is all about the treatments. But you ended up spending £800 on products.’
Jackson laid much of the blame for her team’s poor results on rival Ellie Reed, immediately picking Reed to bring back into the boardroom with her.
After struggling to decide on the second colleague, Jackson opted for Natasha Scribbins – who, with Ellie, promptly laid the blame on her.
They claimed she had bought too many beauty products and offered too many free treatments.
Mistakes: Felicity’s team over-bought on their products, and ended up with a £247 loss
‘She had enthusiasm, she had passion but there was a lack of strategy,’ Natasha told the board.
Felicity became defensive, snapping to both of her colleagues: ‘You’re both just saying that because I’ve brought you in.’
Ellie and Felicity descended into bickering with Felicity telling her: ‘You’re not a team player and you haven’t been in any of the tasks I’ve worked with you on.’
‘You gave no help throughout the pitches, you spent more time moaning than actually doing the job.’
Lord sugar was not impressed with Miss Reed’s apparent lack of drive. ‘What kind of business person spends three house sitting around wondering what’s going on?’ he asked.
Fighting: Felicity fell out with members of her team in the boardroom
‘I can’t come to terms with the fact you sat up in that room for three house. if it were me I’d be down there shaking my colleagues.’
But Ellie put in a good fight, arguing that Felicity’s lack of understanding over the numbers was their downfall.
‘Lord Sugar do you really want to go into business with someone who doesn’t understand mark ups and figures and can’t make the calculations?’ Ellie challenged.
Not impressed: Alan Sugar told Miss Jackson that her task had been ‘disastrous’
Firing the project manager, Lord Sugar told her: ‘This was a disastrous task and a lot of decisions weren’t really made.’
After the tense showdown the three women left the building without a handshake – but Jackson, from Enfield, north London, insisted the less than fond farewell ‘really wasn’t a big deal’.
‘They stabbed me in the back and said I was a bad project manager minutes after they said the opposite about me,’ she complained.
The fired hopeful – who is now backing youth organisation-founder Melody Hossaini to win the series – found her acting skills didn’t help her during her final moments on the show.
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