Tom Beasley reviews the latest episode of The Apprentice. The process rolled on with a sales focus this week, with the teams selecting a trio of products to flog at a busy pet show…
Episodes like ‘Pet Show’ are often the highlights of The Apprentice. The first day of these tasks sees the teams select a number of products from enthusiastic vendors, before flogging them mercilessly at some sort of event the next day. This time around, the teams Versatile and Connexus were asked to choose products to sell to animal lovers at a London pet extravaganza. The items available varied from the cuddly to the absurd, with a whole new audience being introduced to the bizarre spectacle of a chicken in a hi-vis jacket.
Versatile, led by sports marketer David, opted to greet each inventor with breathless enthusiasm on their way to selecting some adorable animal balloons that had sold remarkably at previous shows and a selection of deeply creepy animal t-shirts, which were frankly ludicrously expensive. Connexus, meanwhile, were led by sales expert Scott and were encouraged by Brett to drill right down into figures with the inventors, coming across as rather cold and clinical in the process. As a result, they lost out to Team Versatile on the balloons, instead focusing on cats with seat warmers and an electronic cat toy that resembled some pound shop tat. The teams were also tasked with choosing some high-end items. Under the rather bolshy guidance of Richard, Versatile selected a range of dog sofas, whilst Connexus plumped for some bespoke cat towers that had an impressive sales history.
Sales were immediately impressive for Versatile, with the fun balloons going like hotcakes at £5 a pop. David at this point made the rather questionable decision to more or less abandon the t-shirts in order to fulfill the rapidly increasing balloon orders. Over at the team’s high-end stall, the dog sofas were proving to be a tough sell, despite Richard’s arrogant assurance that he would be able to help them fly off the shelves. Richard did eventually manage to sell three of the sofas, whilst Charleine and April each offloaded one.
Connexus initially struggled with their small accessories, although an on-stage pitch from Brett brought plenty of activity to their stall. The cat towers were a bit of a mixed bag, although project manager Scott worked well and sold three of them. Ruth, whose sales technique resembled the ramblings of an eccentric old woman at a bus stop, was wildly enthusiastic and personable throughout the entire day, but failed to get rid of any of the towers. They were joined by Selina, who was the exact opposite of Ruth in every way, losing interest in the task once she had made one sale. Once she’d got herself on the scoresheet, she spent the rest of the day wandering around yawning. The intriguingly villainous tendencies she displayed last week appeared to have gone missing.
In the boardroom, both teams appeared to have done pretty well. It was Versatile who emerged victorious, though, largely as a result of the incredibly high volume of balloon sales. Charleine did take a brief shot at Richard, though, saying that they should have chosen the cat towers over the dog sofas. Over at Connexus, Brett was criticised for his “bull in a china shop” method of wooing the investors, which proved costly in losing the balloons. However, he was saved from a spot in the boardroom by virtue of his lucrative on-stage pitch. Ruth and Selina weren’t so lucky, brought back into the boardroom by Scott for the final showdown. Selina was called out for her lack of enthusiasm and Scott was told to develop a tougher edge, but it was Ruth who fell on her sword due to her poor sales record.
This was the best episode of this series of The Apprentice so far, if only for the colourful environment of the pet show. The personalities of the individuals are starting to come through, with likeable Brummie Gary emerging as a top competitor, whereas private tutor Sam has failed to do much of anything at all. Selina is a prime candidate for the series’ top villain, particularly given she has already been given a final warning by Lord Sugar.
Next week, the teams tackle the world of children’s literature.
Tom Beasley – Follow me on Twitter for movies, wrestling and jokes about David Cameron.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=W04aXcyQ0NQ
