Being fired isn't much fun at the best of times, but when it's accompanied by a withering remark from Lord Alan Sugar it has to hurt. We've rounded up some of Lord Sugar's best ever boardroom putdowns to the starts of The Apprentice. Rather them than us...

To say he doesn't mince his words is putting it mildly. As Nicholas de Lacy-Brown discovered when Lord Sugar fired him in the fourth series of The Apprentice.

After questioning whether the 'outstanding' result on his bar vocational course actually meant that it hadn't happened yet: "You were devastated when you got a B in your GCSE French. You're going to be even more devastated now because you've got a big F. You're fired."

It wasn't the first time Nicholas had felt the effects of Alan's sharp tongue. In his opening address to the group, Alan told them: "I've got you a most beautiful house – actually it's a converted factory. In my day they made glass in it. Nowadays they convert them for posers like you to live in."

When Michael Sophocles tried to impress the boss by revealing he was a "half Jewish", Lord Sugar hit back with: "You're half Jewish? If you are unsure, we can always pull your trousers down and check?"

But our particular favourite was when Claire Young, having narrowly escaped being fired, was ordered out of the boardroom by Lord Sugar in no uncertain terms: "I'm sick of looking at you at the moment. Get out of the bloody door. Get back to the house."

And here's a few of Lord Sugar's other parting shots to the group:

"Don't tell me you're just like me. You're not like me. I'm unique."

"Could be you’re here because you’re good with words and know the right thing to say at the right time. I know the words to Candle in the Wind. It don't make me Elton John."

"Never underestimate me because you will be making a fatal error. I don't like liars. I don't like cheats. I don't like bulls******s. I don't like schmoozers and I don't like a***-lickers."