Joanna avoids a dressing down after The Apprentice's fashion task

With the BBC show edging to wards its grand finale, the Lupset hopeful one of just five candidates left from the original 18.

The 23-year-old took a gamble this week by putting herself forward to be project manager for the very last team challenge which saw the candidates act as marketing agents for clothes designers.

Joanna, who is a self-styled dedicated follower of fashion, said before beginning the challenge: “I think I can smash this task and Lord Sugar will see that I’m a credible business partner.”

She got off to a great start by managing to haggle a ‘great discount’ from the chosen designer, according to Lord Sugar’s spying sidekick Claude Littner, and struck a deal for 17 per cent commission on sales compared to the other team’s 10 per cent.

But her luck ran out when a magazine rejected her team’s front-cover photoshoot and the other team secured the deal.

Tasked with staging a fashion show, both teams then had to push sales of the garments to attending retailers and fashion experts,

And having chosen a line of inexpensive clothing, her team were able to shift far more units than their rivals who had opted for an expensive range.

Joanna’s team were able to rake in a £4,362 profit, far more than the opposition’s £1,362.

Afterwards, Joanna said: “People still underestimate me but I’m on cloud nine.”

The remaining five candidates will now undergo the penultimate interview round next week, when each candidate is expected to pitch ideas to unforgiving business moguls.

If Joanna can make it through that, she will then go head-to-head with the remaining candidates in an individual task for the final.