The Apprentice 2011: Tears and tantrums galore as Edna Agbarha is fired... but blames teammate Zoe for task failure

By Sarah Bull


You're fired: Business psychologist Edna Agbarha became the latest candidate to be fired on The Apprentice


Business psychologist Edna Agbarha became the latest candidate to be fired on The Apprentice - after failing a junk removal challenge.

Agbarha was criticised by Lord Sugar after her team failed to make enough money getting rid of waste products.

But the 37-year-old insisted she did not deserve her trashing in the boardroom and laid the blame squarely with project manager Zoe Beresford, who was reduced to tears on day one of the task.


'In this case, Zoe should have gone. Her leadership skills were non-existent, there were no decisions and no strategy, she was quite shambolic,' Edna said.

'She fell apart by her own admission and Lord Sugar said she fell apart too.'

The rival teams were given a tipper truck during the two-day challenge to make a profit collecting refuse to dump or sell on.

Week six saw the candidates woken up and told they would have to wear steel-toed boots and high-visibility jackets, leading them to think they may be going to a construction site.

But in fact they were taken to Smuggler's Way waste transfer station where they were met by Lord Sugar who told them their latest task would be to show them they could make money from absolutely anything.

It's your fault: But Edna blamed teammate Zoe Beresford for the failure of the task


The hopefuls were told they would have to set up their own junk removal service, which would see them collect the unused rubbish, and turn it into a profit.

Each team was given a one-ton truck and two days to make money with their services.

Zoe took charge of Team Venture, while five-time winner Helen was made project manager of Team Logic.

Logic decided to concentrate on making money by selling on metal they found on their waste travels.

Zoe's teammates Glenn and Leon decided to target cafes to try to convince builders they found there to use them for junk removal, while Tom and Jim travelled around the suburbs using a loudspeaker to try to encourage residents to come out.

Not happy: Lord Sugar said he didn't think he would 'gel' with Edna when it came to business

The final three: Zoe caused controversy by taking Edna and Susan back into the boardroom


Lord Sugar set up two leads for the teams, one of which was a city bar refit. And Helen's team was first there. While the owners would expect to pay around £100 for the waste removal, Helen decided to give a quote of £0 - a decision which wasn't met well by Melody.

Zoe, Susan and Edna were next up to look at the city bar, and quoted the owners £150 to take the lot. However, Susan said she thought the team should have also charged £0 to move the junk.

And Helen's team's decision paid off as they were awarded the contract.

Back on the roads, Tom and Jim continued trying their luck with residents.

How dare you? Zoe was furious when Susan accused her of being bad for team morale during the task


The second tip-off from Lord Sugar was an office in Fulham which was trying to get rid of surplus office supplies. And Helen again decided to quote £0.

Zoe's last chance to secure a commercial contract came with the office, and the team tried to come to a decision about what figure to ask for.

In the end, Zoe decided to charge £100, before going down to £80. And, again, Helen's team secured the contract with their £0 quote.

At the end of the day, Zoe was reduced to tears by the fact that they hadn't managed to get any contracts, telling Glenn and Leon: 'We've had the most horrific day. We've completely messed everything up.'

Preparations: The teams meet Lord Sugar at Smuggler's Way waste disposal site to find out about their task


But the boys were more optimistic and told Zoe they might be able to bring things back the next day.

Early the next morning, the teams were sent down to try to make some money on their waste at the depot.

Helen's team began their first clearance project in the city bar, but struggled to get the two tons of rubbish up two flights of stairs.

And on the other side of town, Susan and Edna went to a plumber's yard to clear it of rubbish, managing to convince him to pay them £100 and give them three copper cylinders.

Melody also secured her team a job at a builder's house, clearing rubble and managing to get £250 for clearing the lot.

After clearing the bar refit, Helen's team sold a lot of the wood for £120, with the added bonus of the truck being cleared for them.

Who should be team leader? Zoe volunteered herself to be project manager after getting fed up with the dithering of her teammates

No arguments here: But five-time winner Helen was a popular choice to lead Team Logic


On the other team, Susan and Glenn tried their luck at another plumber's, where they paid £100 for a copper cylinder, which they believe they can sell for £280.

Over at Melody's Battersea builder, the boys arrive back to find the builder had apparently added to the pile.

Acknowledging the teams were struggling, Karren said: 'This task is really about logistics - getting these materials where they need to be before the deadline.'

A scrap dealer arrived to weigh up Helen's metal, 123 kilos of iron, 71 of lead and 105 of stainless steel, for which the dealer quoted £393, before being pushed up to £410.

He then headed over to Zoe's team to weigh their metal, which got them £915.

How much for this? Helen and Natasha weigh up the rubbish in one of the tip-off jobs set up by Lord Sugar

Careful there! An unamused Nick Hewer watches as Zoe and Leon try and get a bath into the back of their tipper truck


Heading back to the house, Jim says: 'We just couldn't have done any more, unless we stumbled across a copper mountain.'

Then it was time for the teams to head to the boardroom for Lord Sugar's take on the task.

Before going in, however, Susan said Zoe left a lot to be desired in her project management.

She said: 'Zoe was just pessimistic, sad, with a horrible attitude - I never never want to work with her again.'

Asked about her strategy, Helen explained she hadn't decided to charge, a move which was approved by the rest of her team, apart from Melody.

She said: 'Our time costs. For that we should charge for our service.'

Over to Venture, where Zoe apologised to Lord Sugar for charging too much for his tip-offs.

Then it was time for the costings, where Nick said Team Venture made £1045 and spent £339 which generated a £706 profit.

Nice doing business with you: But Edna's plumber client wasn't impressed with her attempt to raise the price of the job after completing it

Argy bargy: Jim was thoroughly annoyed when a builder he was taking rubbish away for apparently added more to the pile as the team got rid of the first batch


Team Logic had a revenue of £1090, an expenditure of £378 and made a profit of £712 - a difference of £6 from Team Venture.

As a winning treat, Lord Sugar treated Team Logic to a day out at Britain's only natural thermal spa for some pampering.

Back in the cafe, Zoe's team discussed what went wrong with the task.

Then it was time to go back into the boardroom, where Lord Sugar told Zoe: 'I do appreciate people that admit their mistakes and I do appreciate when people put themselves forward, but sometimes there are cases when you shouldn't put yourself forward like a bull in a china shop.'

'The strategy was to go for metal, hopefully stick to plumbers and my own experience was to go to family businesses.'

But, as the group discussed whose fault was the team failure, the team accused Edna of jumping on the back of every single part of the task.

Lord Sugar complained: 'It's very hard for me to cut through all this stuff.'

Can't we have a bit more? Melody barters the scrap dealer up from £393 to £410

This will be worth a fortune! Glenn struggles in with one of the copper cylinders the team managed to obtain


Zoe then decided to bring Edna and Susan back into the boardroom, while Glenn and Leon headed home.

Back in the boardroom, Susan started arguing with Zoe after she said she could have done the task without Susan.

Edna entirely blamed Zoe for the failure of the task, saying she should have planned out the second day on the evening of the first.

And Susan added: 'Zoe, you were not good for team morale, you sat in the corner crying.'

He told Beresford: 'You lost it, by your own admission you lost it, and I'm pleased that you admitted you lost it ... but there's a limit to how long I'm going to put up with someone telling me I got this wrong, I got that wrong.'

Celebrations: Team Logic celebrate their win with a day out at Britain's only natural thermal spa

Bikini babes: Helen and Melody show off their bikini bodies as they relax in the water


The tycoon then turned on Agbarha, and said her performance did not match up to her impressive CV, which includes three degrees and two Masters qualifications.

Firing her, he added: 'I've concluded that Zoe you did lose control of it, however, Edna, I just don't think you and I are going to gel in business. I wish you well but Edna, you're fired.'

Afterwards, Lord Sugar said: 'Zoe has made some mistakes. I have forgiven her but she's not going to be forgiven again.'

Edna - the oldest contestant in the BBC1 series - said she regretted 'overplaying' her qualifications.

'Lord Sugar's from a completely different background so I think he didn't quite appreciate that,' she said.

'Because I was the oldest contestant, I wasn't fazed by many of the things that happened in the house, in the tasks and in the boardroom, so that probably was an asset for me, my experience and my credibility.

'I probably downplayed it though. I kept on talking about my three degrees and I underplayed my 14 years of practical experience.'


source:dailymail