Sugar introduces 'Apprentice' flop to F-word

Software sales manager Ian Stringer has become the latest candidate in business reality show "The Apprentice" to be fired after making a meal of a restaurant exercise.

Stringer, who boasted on the BBC Web site that he did not know how to spell or say the word "loser", was sacked in the third episode of the show after trying to sell half a pizza for the full price after running out of food.

"There are two kinds of people in the world: winners and ... I don't know how to spell the other word. I can't say it..," wrote the 26-year-old.

In the boardroom, Sugar jogged his memory and introduced him to the F-word too when he said: "You're Fired".

Stringer failed to convince Sugar he was organised or a good team leader despite the boys bringing in more money with their Italian restaurant than the girls who went for a Bollywood theme.

"You went out and took 844 pounds, you actually worked hard, you were beavering away, and what was the end result? Nothing really because you made fatal errors, that's what annoys me," said Sugar.

The boys spent a whopping two-thirds of their takings on costs but still managed to run out of food.

Teammates were embarrassed with the "buy one, get one-half" deal, while customers gave them a roasting.

Stringer took Simon Shaw and head chef Kevin Shaw into the boardroom.

Shaw, who described himself as bit of a "culinary adventurer" had wanted to call a latte coffee a dessert, and tempers boiled over when he was told to calm down and stop shouting.

"Mate, I'm the head chef, that's what we do," he said.

But he defended himself in the boardroom, saying: "I was so concerned by the lack of leadership, I took everyone outside and I gave them a motivational talk and I helped to take charge otherwise it would have fallen apart. Ian did not lead."

Things were simmering in the girls' team too, especially after they discovered they had not bought enough spices.

The girls got the diners in, but they failed to serve a sitting because the food was not ready.

"From day one I said 'why are we doing a Bollywood theme' for a number of reasons and one of them was nobody knows how to cook Indian food," said team member Claire Young.

Stringer, a former Dixons sales assistant, blamed the loss on his head chef during the journey home in the taxi.

He added: "There'll be no tears, no anger, because I trust myself to deal with whatever happens in life. I can deal with this because I'm an achiever."