Priyesh has managed to keep a relatively low profile so far in a series filled with astonishingly poor performances with candidates failing to impress Lord Sugar and his fellow board members.

Thursday night’s episode was one of the best so far, with a trip to Egypt to organise a corporate hospitality event in the desert filled with the usual extraordinary gaffes and jaw dropping moments.

Choosing to be team leader of his group, Priyesh showed a steely determination to get through the latest challenge and took charge of the kitchen in a pretty calm manner, although not without some typical disasters along the way.

Fellow candidates inevitably let him down in the kitchen with a vital bunch of parsley ending up in the bin as one individual thought the leaves, not the stalks, should be in the trash, making the recipe unworkable.

Surprisingly Priyesh barely reacted, not panicking at all as if it hadn’t even happened, and showed sufficient calm to reassure his team and get the dinner cooked.

On the downside, his decision to add lashings of spices to the pot resulted in a disastrous curry, which was too hot for the gathered guests to eat.

Still, compared with the other team’s clients who arrived at the dinner soaking wet after a kayak trip and had to send most of their food back as it was cold and undercooked, leading to a demand for a 50% refund, Priyesh showed he could hold his own, the first time he has really come out of his shell during the series so far.

In a spending exercise, he did show a few signs of a one-time accountant, cutting the food bill by saying the eight guests could share six meals, the drinks were not in short supply, which is the usual problem on The Apprentice when teams desperately try to cut costs.

Regardless of the mishaps, the end result was a win in the boardroom for Priyesh and his team. And this was despite worries Priyesh was on the verge of a heart attack when he let out a cry of anguish after Lord Sugar criticised his cooking and gave the impression it may be him who was headed for the waiting taxi. But it was back to the house for the former accountant and he survives another week in the house.

His opposing team were not so lucky, making a huge loss on their corporate event and seeing Lord Sugar lose patience and fire three people on the spot.

The Apprentice is on BBC1 on Thursday nights, and also on iPlayer after broadcast.

 Pictured: Priyesh Bathia head in hands after receiving results from Lord Sugar, from the BBC