The Apprentice firing: Jenny Garbis booted from Lord Sugar's boardroom

The business studies graduate claims she was 'dealt a bad hand' after failing to prove her negotiating skills

Richard Woods, Vana Koutsomitis, David Stevenson, Selina Waterman-Smith, Mergim Butaja, Dan Callaghan, Sam Curry, Elle Stevenson, Natalie Dean, Jenny Garbis, Ruth Whiteley, April Jackson, Scott Saunders, Gary Poulton, Charleine Wain, Joseph Valente (BBC)

Jenny Garbis has been booted out of Lord Sugar’s boardroom after disappointing with her failure to seal a deal on last night's The Apprentice.

The 23-year-old business studies graduate was accused of being “dead weight” by project manager Vana Koutsomitis when the girls’ team lost the negotiation challenge.

Lord Sugar split the teams into sub-teams, with one staying on the English coast and the other heading to Calais in France.

Garbis was originally asked to find some Leavers Lace in Kent at the lowest possible price but after trying in vain, it was discovered to be a Calais speciality and she was given mussels instead. By this point it was late in the afternoon and she was unable to make a purchase.

Garbis defended herself in front of Lord Sugar and aides Karren Brady and Claude Littner, arguing that she had been “dealt a bad hand”.

“If I’d have been given the manure, I wouldn’t have been in this boardroom because I’d have had ‘an item’ to my name,” she said. “It would have been ticked off the list: tick, she’s got an item.

“It’s almost like I was set up to fail. I’m not saying there are any conspiracy theories but I think I was just very unlucky and actually I think a lot of the process is about luck.”


 The girls' team gets mucky in The Apprentice
 (BBC)

Leaving in the taxi, Garbis promised she would go on to “achieve massive things”. “I know what I’m capable of and if Lord Sugar can’t see that, I shouldn’t be his business partner anyway, quite frankly. I bet you anything, in a few years’ time he’ll be knocking on my door, wanting to be part of my business.”

Elle, Vana and Jenny were hauled into the boardroom

Following the show, Garbis admitted that she finds “being an attractive woman in business” hard. “People can’t take you seriously. That’s always difficult,” she told The Sun.

“I’d like to think people would hire me because of the way I speak and everything I know about the industry and my passion for it rather than, 'She looks nice'.”