Ella Jade goes in Boardroom purge

One of the two Jewish candidates in this year's Apprentice has been fired.

Ella Jade Bitton, 23, was one of three candidates fired by Lord Sugar in the show's fourth episode on Wednesday, after failing to win the YouTube channel task as project manager for Team Tenacity.

On the show, Lord Sugar said: "I'm afraid to say, you do not have the acumen for this."

Ms Bitton, who attends the St John's Wood Liberal Synagogue, was absent from the follow-up programme You're Fired! after a BBC spokesman confirmed that her father, businessman Paul Bitton, had died.

Ahead of the show, the former North London Collegiate student, from Aldenham in Hertfordshire, had compared her Moroccan Jewish father to Lord Sugar – and said she decided to enter the Apprentice after watching the programme with him for years.

Mr Bitton, who was due to travel to Israel for a family wedding this week, had told the JC: "I'm proud, she's my daughter. She's so young and everyone says she's very bright."

Ms Bitton said of the show: "It's a very rigorous process. You don't realise how much goes into it.

"Lord Sugar is a character. I think it's an experience. I always said 'he's my dad'. They're very similar with what they've achieved. I thought of that in the boardroom. I should have told [Lord Sugar] that."

A BBC spokesman said: "Her father passed away suddenly. His support for her on The Apprentice meant the world to her. Our thoughts are with Ella Jade and her family."

Jewish candidate Daniel Lassman is still in the running to win the show.