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What happened?
If you wanted to quit watching this series of The Apprentice it is too late. You are in it for the long haul. By now you are probably wondering who is the favourite to win this show. “Advertising – Cars” has not provided any confidence whatsoever. The BBC are teasing us and hiding the truly skilled entrepreneur for the later episodes. Season 13 thus far has been terrible but week 7 did up the game slightly.
Up the game how?
Well, at least this week the task tries to enforce some entrepreneurial flair. The teams were tasked to create advertising for a car and pitch it to industry experts. It required the brand creation and directing a video advert. Michaela volunteered to project manage Vitality and James led Graphene. Their approaches were oddly different. Almost opposites. Team Vitality decided their target market was 18-25 females and Graphene opted for families. The reason why I supported this task is that it should really bring out the true skills of certain individuals. It did not.
Oh, here we go again.
Look, I understand that The Apprentice centres itself on entertainment. I also understand that in the end, this is just an addictive reality TV show that pretends it is about business. Yes, I do sound grumpy. My point is that Lord Sugar is going to invest £250,000 to one of these lucky souls and I cannot understand why. I must point out again that there has not been a single week so far where one team has run away with it. In episode 7, one team bared most of the blunders.
What blunders occur in week 7?
Team Graphene was a nightmare and mostly because of the insufferable control freak Elizabeth. I felt sorry for James because he is set in the confines of a reality show. As much as he probably wants to be assertive he must feel limited in that environment whilst she loudly expresses every opinion she has. Ultimately her ideas led to some unforgivable mistakes. First of all, why on earth would you name your car Expando? There is nothing at all that sounds relatable to that brand name. It sounds like swimwear.
The next point: why would you set the entire car scene in a medieval location. The brand name may have been eminently poor but they had the justifications. With the Middle Ages setting, it wipes out all their marketing objectives. Team Graphene was a car crash led by sweaty James who looked like he had been reduced to a schoolboy everytime Elizabeth challenged his authority.
What was was wrong with James in this task?
Fear. Elizabeth could smell it on him. I am not sure why he felt like he could not challenge her back. Afterall, he was the project manager. He easily choked under her pressure which was embarrassing, really. I was kind of hoping for James to show his stern side and really announce his authority. We were all let down.
What about Team Vitality in week 7?
As for team Vitality – well luckily for them the other team created their own branding hell because their idea was pretty average. They named their car Miami, which everyone confused with a rental service. Michaela was lucky, really. It surprised me that they never thought of the assumptions Miami would bring. Or do we expect too much from these intelligent beings? Anyway, it was Elizabeth who really made this task interesting.
What is your problem with Elizabeth?
I cannot stand her. She is probably the only candidate I would never ever consider working with. In “Advertising – Cars” she demanded that she was the actress, she gained full control of the story and made sure she made the key decisions on the editing. It was almost like she was directing her own movie about her. Strangely enough, the idea was nothing new and it failed miserably. Much to my enjoyment.
But Elizabeth didn’t get fired! Sajan did!
Beyond disbelief at this stage. At least Lord Sugar has given her the warning shots. It is obvious he has become completely briefed on her diabolic behaviour. In the end, Sajan getting fired was a bit of a travesty. He directed the poor car advert but was making good use of what he had. I feel Lord Sugar already has the CVs and business cases decided for the latter stages of the process.
In the end Sajan did not fight his case strongly enough, and rumour has it he is relieved he got fired.
It doesn’t sound like much happened in “Advertisement – Cars”?
Nothing really did. Despite my interest in the task, it was pretty obvious Vitality was going to win with their straightforward approach. It was all rather bland.
Candidate of the week for episode 7
No-one.
Is there a standout candidate in The Apprentice yet?
No.
Keep watching?
No.
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