Tom Beasley reviews the latest episode of The Apprentice, in which the teams were tasked with putting together children’s parties, complete with entertainment, catering and goodies. Who would send the clients home happy?
Last week, The Apprentice ploughed a well-known and zeitgeisty area of business – the discount store. This week, it was something entirely more affluent, with both teams given a set of parents willing to spend at least £2,000 on party planning services for their child’s birthday. Sugar elected the project managers himself, handing events agency owner Selina the reigns of Connexus, whilst forcing Brummie Gary to the head of Versatile for the second consecutive week, citing his business plan’s relevance to events planning.
Selina was given the choice of any member of Versatile joining her team. She opted for Richard, which was bizarre given how thoroughly she sidelined him for much of the task. They met with their client – a teenage girl – and barely allowed her to get a word in edgeways. Selina seized upon the fact that she had managed to spit out that she was sporty and decided that a mini Olympic Games was the best possible theme for the party, neglecting to realise that probably isn’t most teenage girls’ idea of fun. They also forgot to ask for the client’s contact information and, as a result, were unable to upsell extra add-ons later in the day.
Over at Versatile, Gary took the opposite approach with his client – a young lad. He listened to the client’s desire for an outdoor party with an emphasis on being active, as well as noting the mother’s severe nut allergy. David promptly stated his expertise in climbing walls and the like, prompting Gary to structure the main theme of the party as an adventure day. They also remembered to take the details of the clients, allowing them to upsell later in the day for personalised t-shirts and some ludicrously expensive goodie bags from Charleine and Joseph that David loudly voiced his opposition towards.
Connexus’ party went down fairly well for the birthday girl, but considerably less so for her less sport-inclined friends. Brett and Scott, seemingly over their dust-up last week, took charge of proceedings in funny outfits and led a singalong on the bus from the sports centre to their barbecue food. The food, incidentally, had become Richard’s baby after he managed to talk Selina out of an incredibly expensive afternoon tea idea that would have had the girls putting together cakes rather than munching on burgers and hot dogs. It took an age to get the food together, with Richard obsessing over tiny details and being unnecessarily mean to the clearly miserable Vana.
Things were far worse over at Versatile though, with safety-conscious David sapping all of the fun from the climbing and racing. Meanwhile, a confusion as to whether Joseph and Charleine had used hazelnut spread on the birthday cake left the family concerned and on-edge rather than relaxed. An awkward, music-free journey from the initial venue to the food had the atmosphere even colder. It didn’t help that the add-ons – t-shirts printed in sloppy fashion by David and Joseph’s rubbish party bags – were so naff that Gary had to pull all out of his charm to get any money out of the clients at all.
It was the terrible execution of Versatile’s day that was the prevailing story in the boardroom, with Gary’s team losing out, despite doing so much right in the early stages. Fingers were quick to point at David for his anaemic hosting style and the loss of £175 on the t-shirts. After a seemingly endless deliberation, Gary opted to bring David and Joseph back into the boardroom. However, Charleine left her seat a little too quickly for Lord Sugar, who broke with formula and made sure all four team members were forced to defend themselves. Gary and Charleine both came within a whisker of a firing, but it was David who ultimately felt the wrath of Lord Sugar and left the process in what was probably the right decision.
This wasn’t an especially exciting episode of The Apprentice, with the show unlikely to match the high points of the brutal handy man episode and its blockbuster triple firing. We’re getting down to the nitty gritty now and, next week, the candidates get to turn their hands to big money as they flog property. Get prepared for some massive numbers and incomprehensible deals.
Tom Beasley – Follow me on Twitter for movies, wrestling and jokes about David Cameron.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=zo9wUtSEME8
Originally published November 27, 2015. Updated April 15, 2018.
