Emma Rothwell fired from The Apprentice in first week

Emma Rothwell, who is originally from Accrington but now is based in Essex, failed to impress in the opening week – making no notable contributions to the task.

Series 19 of the BBC business show began in the Austrian Alps, with Lord Sugar telling the 18 budding entrepreneurs he was “looking for a Bezos, rather than a bozo”, as they were tasked with running a package tour, which they had to sell tickets for.

Lord Sugar then split the group into two teams, with one running a tour at a glacier, followed by observer Baroness Brady, and the other running a tour in the forest, followed by former The Apprentice winner Tim Campbell.

Emma found herself on the forest tour team, which had managed to negotiate a fantastic deal on the excursion and commission fee on the honey they were selling to their customers.

However, an abysmal performance by the sales team, which Emma was a part of, cost the team the win, making a loss of €166.

The sales team were to blame for the failure of the task (Image: BBC) Having made no sales during the task, Emma was in the hot seat alongside Keir Shave, who made an audacious attempt to play rock, paper, scissors with customers to decide what price they got.

The tours ran relatively smoothly, and the guests made no complaints, and Lord Sugar said he felt the blame was with the sales team and allowed the rest of the members to return to the house.

Despite keeping her head down through most of the task, Emma's inability to defend herself is what ultimately led to her demise on the show.

Fighting to stay in the show, she said: “I literally gave my all to this task.

"I am constantly positive, always thriving, trying to get the best from the team and literally gave it my all.”

At this point, Karren Brady did raise to her that she didn’t sell anything, to which she said “technically no”.

In the boardroom, Lord Sugar said: "Emma, you haven't sold any tickets, and you haven't explained to me what in fact you did do.

"It's difficult but my gut feeling is telling me, Emma, it is with regret, you're fired."

A teary-eyed Emma left the show and in classic Apprentice style thanked Lord Sugar for the opportunity.

Read more: Meet the Lancastrian who hopes to win Lord Sugar's investment on The Apprentice

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Sugar added: “The thing is she didn’t fight for it. If you can’t show me what you are about, I can’t invest in you.”

Having hoped to use Lord Sugar’s £250,000 worth of investment would take her online gift store business, Quirky Giraffe, “to the next level”, she left the show with big plans to elevate her business.

Emma said: “Lord Sugar has absolutely made a mistake, and I am more than good enough to be his business partner, and this will not be stopping me.”

Reflecting on her time on the show Emma said she was disappointed that she didn’t get a chance to show what she was about and thought she should have spoken up more.

She added: “We were super unlucky. Everyone gave it their all, as you would in that situation.

“Maybe we could have stopped slightly different people on reflection, in certain parts, but the other team were really close to us, and I think they were managing to stop people just before us to sell. It was a group struggle, if that makes sense.

“The biggest thing I would change about my time there would be to fight more in the boardroom.

“I feel like when there was the final speeches, I didn't realise it was happening and obviously then it went to the other candidates, and they gave a big spiel, and I was like 'Oh no'.

"I learned from the show just to stand up for myself a little bit more. I am good at business but I just didn't get a chance to show what I can do, because my strengths are marketing and I have a first class honours degree in product design, so any product-based tasks I would have smashed.

"Hopefully in a few years time the headline will be I was voted off first in The Apprentice but I am now making millions."

The Apprentice will return at 9pm next Thursday on BBC One when the contestants will visit Abba Voyage and be tasked with creating a virtual pop star.