Tom Beasley reviews the latest episode of The Apprentice, in which the teams struggled in their attempts to capitalise on the discount store boom…
There was a sense of dust settling on this week’s episode of The Apprentice after last week’s boardroom bloodbath. This week saw the teams rebalanced as Lord Sugar sent them to Manchester with the aim of setting up rival discount stores in one of the city’s biggest shopping centres. Retail expert Gary took the helm of Versatile, finally stepping up to the plate after weeks of solid background performances. Salesman Scott opted to lead Connexus, hoping to rebound from his loss as project manager of the pet show task.
The first day of the task saw the teams visit wholesalers before selling their wares on the streets in the aim of “smelling what’s selling” in order to restock for their stores on the second day. Scott and Connexus opted to focus on electronics and his team sold pretty solidly throughout the first day… after Sam had finally managed to get the figures right to pay the wholesaler. The only major hiccup was Brett attempting to sell items by using their RRP as if they had previously been sold at that price, which led Karren to intervene. Gary, alternatively, went for a more scattershot strategy and bought items of all kinds. They sold equally well on the first day.
It was on the second day that Versatile began to struggle, with Gary insisting on high prices for his branded items despite their proximity to a market-leading pound shop. This led to a stuttering start and slow sales, which weren’t helped by Richard’s alarmingly exuberant attempts to draw people into the store by pretending to be an ice skater. Things were even worse over at Connexus, though, with the team bickering over the layout of the store and Brett and Vana complaining about their individual sales records being hurt by their position in the marketing sub-team.
Sam began to stick out as something of a problem for Connexus later in the task, particularly once Brett and Vana were drafted into the sales team and business started to pick up. The new duo sold exceptionally well, whereas Sam still failed to flog the low-price goods. Gary, meanwhile, had wisened up to his pricing failings and allowed costs to tumble as his stock gradually depleted. Scott had opted to restock early in the afternoon, but Gary refused to leave the store until much later in the day and his sales really suffered as a result.
In the boardroom, Gary’s high prices seemed to pay off as his team stormed to victory, largely as a result of the stock assets they had left behind at the end of the day. They were left to celebrate as Scott’s mood became increasingly worse, which was a shock given his usual calm demeanour. He flapped about, free of any enthusiasm for the task, before eventually bringing Sam and Brett back into the final boardroom. The boardroom battle quickly became nasty, with Scott claiming that Brett had physically threatened him during a heated moment earlier in the task. This claim was almost immediately shot down by an infuriated Karren, who had been in the room at the time.
Scott struggled throughout the final battle, visibly drained as a result of working with his difficult team. It was Sam upon whom the axe ultimately fell, though, as a result of his poor sales and repeated issues with mathematics and figures across various tasks. Scott and Sam didn’t shake hands after the latter’s dismissal in a moment of horrific tension that suggests Scott may well have fallen into something of a funk. If it continues into subsequent tasks, it could really hurt his chances.
This was a reasonably subdued episode of The Apprentice, compared to last week’s utterly barmy hour of televised discomfort. Next week, the teams turn party planners as they put together children’s birthday bashes.
Tom Beasley – Follow me on Twitter for movies, wrestling and jokes about David Cameron.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=ROisAvdW5SY
Originally published November 21, 2015. Updated April 14, 2018.
