SOUTHAMPTON tree surgeon Tom Bunday's future in the reality show the Apprentice is hanging by a thread after he narrowly escaped being fired this week.

Tom, who runs a business Marchwood, was warned by Lord Sugar that he had his last chance after making his third boardroom appearance.

While Tom dodged a bullet, project leader Jasmine Kundra was given her marching orders after team Typhoon lost the art gallery challenge.

Tom, who runs his own tree surgery business, had been losing project manager in the previous week's task, urban gardening.

Despite this experience Tom actually made a tentative suggestion that he should take command again as his father was a professional artist.

However, luckily for him, as it turned out, Jasmine professed a passion for art and jumped into the hot seat.

Her decision to concentrate on corporate clients rather than the public at their pop-up contemporary art gallery proved disastrous as Collaboration, led by Canadian Jackie Frost, outsold Typhoon by almost three to one.

In the boardroom Tom and Jasmine were joined by the "over enthusiastic" Sabrina.

Things were looking bad for Tom, who had made no sales, until he made an impassioned pitch for his abilities.

"I sold my house to start my own business and now its keeping my family," he said.

This was enough to save him but Lord Sugar warned Tom he would have no more chances.

Next week the surviving candidates run their own TV shopping channel.