The Apprentice: What is a Sussex trug from Brighton episode?

They had to find nine items that were important to the area, with the team that secured the most items for the lowest prices winning.

These items included 1kg of fresh-picked asparagus spears, a small resin casting of a body part, and a 45 RPM vinyl of the winner of Eurovision in 1974 (ABBA's Waterloo won that year in Brighton).

However, one item that people outside the county might not have been aware of at all was a Sussex trug.

Contestants on The Apprentice had to find a Sussex trug in their Brighton scavenger hunt (Image: Lee Avison)

Here's all you need to know on what it is and why it has significance to the area.

What is a Sussex trug?

According to the Heritage Crafts website, a Sussex trug is a handmade basket which utilises cleft willow for the body and coppiced sweet chestnut for the frame.

They said: "Sussex trugs have been made in the county of Sussex since 1829 when they were invented by one Thomas Smith of Windmill Hill, Herstmonceux.

"He made his newly invented basket by taking an old idea used in Sussex as long ago as Saxon times and upgrading it to fit ‘modern’ needs. Trugs were made famous when Queen Victoria purchased some personally at the Great Exhibition in 1851."

After the end of World War II trugs became "redundant in an agricultural industry that was then embracing mechanisation" but still survived in being sold for gardening.

Companies making trugs eventually slowed down and now there are just three commercial businesses making the traditional Sussex trug today.