A RETAIL guru from Bury has a secret weapon on this week's episode of The Apprentice — his young daughter.

Former Holy Cross RC College student Samuel Boateng has impressed Lord Sugar in the first five weeks of the show and is yet to finish on the losing side.

Tonight's task involves staying up all night to buy and sell discounted products across London, challenging the remaining 12 candidates to put their stamina skills to the test, with or without the help of late-night coffee.

Samuel has a 15-month-old daughter, Olivia Victoria, and, as with any parent with young children, has had his fair share of late nights looking after her.

The 27-year-old told the Bury Times: "I must admit, I'm not the biggest fan of late nights, but I'll correct myself — I'm used to them as a parent of a young daughter. That is good training for this task."

As the candidates get tired, there might be a tendency for tempers to flare, but Samuel, who attended Castlebrook High School, said he is confident in the professionalism of his teammates.

"Throughout the entire process, everyone in the candidates' house has been good to live with and there has never been any problem with how people have got on," said Samuel, who is a sales manager.

He added: "Even though it is working at night, people do stay professional and use their skills to try to win the task.

"As for myself, it's a task that my skills are suited for as it's all about sales, negotiations and understanding how to deal with different types of customers.

"Though I am from Bury, I have lived in London now for a couple of years and it is a small advantage in this task."

Samuel has promised that tonight's episode will be action packed and exciting, after he finished week five as the winning project manager.

The two teams were challenged to pick a new cycling product that would soon be put on sale and come up with a crowdfunding campaign for it.

Samuel came in for criticism from Lord Sugar after his mime act, which was supposed to attract attention at London Waterloo rail station, fell flat.

In the boardroom, Lord Sugar joked: "Napoleon had more success at Waterloo than you did."

However, Samuel, disagreed. "Lord Sugar wasn't convinced, but the fact that people are still talking about it now shows that, as a publicity stunt, it was a success."

The Apprentice is on BBC1 at 9pm today.