Fired: The self-styled snob (and David Cameron lookalike) is first to go from The Apprentice

Last updated at 13:44pm on 27.03.08

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He boasted that his only failure in life had been getting a B-grade in one of his GCSEs.

But last night trainee barrister and self-styled snob Nicholas De Lacy Brown had the unwanted distinction of being the first business hopeful to be told "You're Fired!" in the new series of The Apprentice.

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The contestant, who took his grandmother's name De Lacy, because he thought it was more sophisticated, was shown the door after a series of blunders on a challenge which saw the two team's tasked with selling a van load of fish, worth £600, on a market.

De Lacy Brown, 24, who also claims to be an artist and property developer, was put in charge of pricing on the boy's team, which is called Renaissance.

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Arriving at midday to their pitch, things got off to a comical start as Raef Bjayou identified the wrong fish and De Lacy Brown priced it up wrongly, the group ended up selling off their stock far too cheaply.

At one stage, they were knocking out lobsters at £4.95 each, rather than £4.95 per kilo.

As team leader Alex Wotherspoon began to criticse the mistakes, the group fell into bickering and ended up running from office to office flogging off their remaining stock dirt cheap.

As a result of their bungled antics they lost the first task having only made just £32 profit, while the rival girls team managed £154 profit.

On the show Sir Alan told him: "Nicholas, you told me that you got an outstanding pass from the Bar - you weren't outstanding in this task.

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"You were devastated when you got in B in your GCSE French, you're going to be even more devastated now because you got a big fat F. You're fired!"

Alex Wotherspoon, 24, who is a regional sales manager and Raef Bjayou, 27, escaped to fight another day after being scolded by Alan in the final three in the boardroom.

Barrister Bjayou hardly helped his case by telling Sir Alan that there had been a split among the boy's team between those who were cultured and those who were not.

He claimed he was in to art and culture and had found it very difficult to have conversations about football with some of his team-mates.

Speaking after he had been axed from the show, De Lacy Brown, who claims he is "allergic to chavs", said he had been wrongly fired.

He said: "In terms of the task it was the wrong decision. All I can put my hands up to is that I did not notice the low price of the lobsters immediately."

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De Lacy Brown added: "I think there is an element of every single person in the show that wants the fame. There are lots of jobs around that pay £100,000 and you can go for them in a very normal way.

"Everyone knows that this a TV show and they know there is a huge media following and if they get the job they are going to be in the media and if they don't get it they are going to be in the media."

He also claimed he had been edited to make it look like he was a 'flump' in the boardroom.

"It was kind of said that I didn't argue my case and as it appeared in the editing I didn't really argue my case.

"But in reality I did argue quite well in relation to the task. Scroll down for more...

"So that kind of annoyed me because I am barrister by training and I would not want people to think I am crap at arguing."

He said he had now secured himself a pupilage at one of the most prestigious legal chambers in the country.

This comes after he had originally claimed at the beginning of the show: "From the moment I was born I knew I was destined for great things."

The girls team, led by Claire Young, also had their fair share of disasters but saw none of the infighting and were first back to the house to claim their prize - a fish meal cooked by Michelin-starred chef Jean-Christophe Novelli.

The new series kicked off after a record number of 20,000 applied to take part. This was whittled down to just 16 contestants.

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Among the other participants is a soldier who battled a drugs problem, a woman who sued a City law firm and another who claims to be descended from African royalty.

Others include a former champion showjumper, a bank manager, a barrister and a woman who says her biggest regret was turning down a role as a Bond girl body double.

Producers claim to have made an effort to weed out the celebrity wannabees after last year's show was dominated by the off-screen antics of Katie Hopkins who boasted about her string of affairs and was photographed having sex in a field.

Once again Alan Sugar, 60, has been creating controversy with his comments about women in the workplace. He has claimed women bosses are more likely to discriminate against female employees with children than men in charge are.

Among the other challenges on this year's show will be teams running rival launderettes, competing pubs and even fish stalls.

Added to this they will be challenged to make a new perfume, design a greeting card, invent a new ice cream flavour and sell wedding dress.

They will stay at a luxurious 7,000 square foot multi-million gated converted glass factory.

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