Lord Sugar makes pet puns and whittles down his final five in The Apprentice

Lord Sugar has joked that the losing team’s leader acted like Chairman Meow, after candidates were unleashed on the pet industry before his latest firing in The Apprentice.

Kieran McCartney, an estate agent from East London, walked after losing a deal with the 79-year-old business mogul, while student wellbeing adviser Rothna Akhtar was the latest candidate to be sacked.

Lord Sugar said he was “considering the best option for me”, as he whittled down his final five contestants on the BBC business show.

At the beginning of the episode, the teams were unleashed on the pet industry as they were tasked with designing a pet product and social media campaign to pitch to some of the UK’s biggest retailers.

It also featured a cameo from former Made In Chelsea star Zara McDermott, who helped the candidates with their social media campaigns.

McCartney walked away from the process after viewers saw him strike a deal with Lord Sugar last week, promising to leave the programme if he could not take his team to victory as project manager.

He suffered through a tense boardroom ahead of his departure, during which Lord Sugar joked that he had “used up his nine lives”.

When it was revealed that his team had lost, McCartney walked out of the boardroom and joked that he “had to go walkies”.

He later said: “It was win or walk, I’m not a beg, I’m not going to beg for my place. A deal is a deal, and Lord Sugar hasn’t seen the last of me.”

Following his exit, his teammates Akhtar and student recruitment company owner Dan Miller, were in the firing line.

After a “bit of a dilemma” over who to fire, Lord Sugar ultimately decided that Akhtar would be the next contestant to leave the show as she was unable to sell any products during her team’s pitches.

He said: “You’ve been really impressive in this process but I have to tell you that, regretfully, your journey is over now. You’re fired.”

The entrepreneur then told Miller: “You know what that means. You’ll have to be grilled by my advisors. I wish you luck.”

Akhtar said she was “gutted” to be fired, adding: “I’ve done this whole thing with integrity and I’m really proud of the way that I conducted myself.

“This isn’t the end for me and I’m going to utilise everything that I’ve learned from this and go on to be successful.”

Akhtar would have expanded her bakery business if she had won the programme, while McCartney would have created his own estate agent business.

The winner of the latest series of The Apprentice will be awarded £250,000 of investment into their company and the opportunity to go into business with Lord Sugar.

The Apprentice returns on BBC One next Thursday at 9pm.