BOLTON salesman Alex Wotherspoon narrowly avoided hearing the dreaded words "You're Fired" in week four of the BBC reality TV show The Apprentice.

Alex, aged 24, was once again on the losing team when his group, led by Simon Smith, made a loss of more than £70 in the challenge to sell portrait photographs in the Blue Water Shopping Centre in Kent.

The young sales manager, who is among the hopefuls battling for a job with Sir Alan Sugar's company, was one of three members of the Renaissance team to be called back into the boardroom. Team-mate Claire Young was sent out, leaving just Alex and Simon to face Sir Alan. Ultimately, the business mogul fired Simon.

Alex, from Rosewood in Westhoughton, was accused of shirking his responsibility by Sir Alan's right-hand woman, Margaret Mountford. She said: "You stepped so far back from responsibility you were practically out of the room."

The Renaissance team opted for a glamour and beauty theme to sell the photographs, but ran into production problems when pictures could not be identified.

Alex decided to work on the technical side of the task, producing the photos, after turning down the chance to be second-in-command, saying he thought project leader Simon was "diluting his responsibility".