Lord Sugar speechless after The Apprentice team earns biggest sum of cash from task in show's history

Contestants on The Apprentice often fail to impress Lord Sugar and co with their wacky ideas, bad branding and hapless mistakes. But when they succeed, they really succeed.

And tonight's episode sees one team do just that by earning the biggest sum of cash from any task in the BBC reality show's history.

The record was previously held by the 2015 team, who racked up £1.2 million in sales during the electric bike challenge.

The jaw-dropping total left Lord Sugar speechless and the rival team - who'd brought in a perfectly respectable £400,000 - absolutely gutted.

But the contestants on tonight's episode's winning team have smashed the previous record after being tasked to launch a new Formula-E team and pitch it to potential sponsors.

Formula-E, officially known as the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is a motorsport championship for electric cars.

Multi-million pound negotiations were put in jeopardy when awful designs (of course) and questionable branding were revealed.

BBC

But one team still managed to race to the top spot on the podium with offers of sponsorship.

And one of the offers was so high, Lord Sugar initially thought there must have been a mistake.

Speaking of the record-breaking win, Baroness Karen Brady said that he was both impressed and surprised.

"[He was] thrilled," she said. "He couldn’t believe it when he saw the number.

"He was like, 'Are you sure? Has someone made a mistake? Can you double-check it?'

"That figure in sponsorship is a huge amount!"

Winner winner chicken dinner!

BBC

The record-breaking total comes after a double firing on last week's episode, which saw contestants travel to Jersey to secure nine items synonymous to the area for the lowest possible price.

Both teams were given maps, local directories and a list of items they were asked to locate and buy within an eight-hour timeframe.

The list included a jersey with an emblem of an anchor, freshly shucked oysters, bachin [an antique bowl used to make butter] and a surfboard.

When the teams returned to the boardroom, Karen revealed that Jack's team bought seven of the items and spent £390.20.

BBC

However, they hadn't found the Jersey Royal potatoes or sea salt glass jar, and also purchased the wrong size shackle, resulting in a fine of £274.30 and a total spend of £669.50.

Raj's team spent a total of £337.23 but didn't secure the Jersey Royals, incurring a fine of £90 for a total spend of £427.23.

Lord Sugar declared that Jack's team was 'pretty much the worst team he has ever sent out on this task' and ultimately, both Jack and Amina were fired.