The Apprentice reaches its penultimate, and usually most exciting, episode as the final five candidates face Lord Sugar’s closest advisers in the gruelling interview task…
The final five candidates on The Apprentice this week received an early call from Lord Sugar, advising them to tie up any loose ends in their business plans because they were about to face the interviews. This is perhaps the most excruciating, yet entertaining, annual task offered up by The Apprentice, largely due to the withering charisma of Claude Littner, who was thankfully still involved despite his new role as Sugar’s right-hand man on a weekly basis.
This week, then, gave viewers a chance to work out what each candidate would do if they were given Lord Sugar’s investment. Brummie Gary wanted to set up an events planning company with an interactive edge, Charleine wanted to start a hairdressing academy, Joseph planned to establish a plumbing brand, Vana had a game-orientated dating app in mind and Richard… well I’m still not quite sure what Richard’s business really was. There was a lot of business speak flying around at the hands of all of the candidates, who found their dreams scrutinised, pulled apart and put under the brutal microscope of Sugar’s putdown-prepared interviewers.
Charleine repeatedly asserted that she would “work her socks off” if given the chance to work with Lord Sugar, but more than one interviewer expressed concerns. The issue was that there’s a bit of an enormous difference between one salon in Plymouth and a global academy. It’s a bit like saying that you should be the new CEO of Tesco because you once sold a Twix in the school playground. Joseph had similar issues with the franchise model, but he performed strongly in his interviews, sticking by his plans and impressing one interviewer when tested about how well he knew Lord Sugar’s book – which he called an inspiration.
Meanwhile, Brummie Gary’s events business was falling apart under the intense scrutiny of the panel like an ice cream left on a park bench in June. His notions of interactivity were laughed off by several of Lord Sugar’s advisers and Gary did nothing to shed his image of being a corporate man, particularly when he seemed to exaggerate his responsibilities regarding a large budget. Vana fared slightly better, although there were plenty of holes in her planned dating app, which would only reveal a photograph of a potential partner following a day playing various games with them. After a day of playing card games and quizzes with an anonymous app user, anyone other than a member of One Direction would surely be a disappointment.
Richard, armed with a ream of paper filled almost solely with corporate drivel, simply fell apart under questioning. After taking a battering from Claude and friends, “Tricky Dicky” entered his last interview like a condemned man on his way to the gallows. He admitted that his business plan was full of pretentious waffle and seemed to give up, which pretty much sealed his fate in the boardroom. Surprisingly, though, it was Charleine who was first to fall with Sugar regretfully citing his concerns about how big the business could be. Corporate Gary was the next victim in one of the easiest firings of the series. It was only then that Richard fell, after being unable to worm his way out of a potential conflict of interest with a current company he co-owns.
This sets up an intriguing clash between Joseph and Vana, who were pretty much inarguably the two best candidates to win The Apprentice. In Sunday’s finale, they will both launch their businesses with the help of a handful of fired candidates you probably don’t remember…
Tom Beasley – Follow me on Twitter for movies, wrestling and jokes about David Cameron.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=WWU57JuvPl0
Originally published December 20, 2015. Updated April 15, 2018.
