THIS week’s edition of The Apprentice UK saw JD O’Brien ejected from the process after he led his team to failure in a crowdfunding task.

From Lord Sugar’s asides to Karren Brady and Claude Littner, it was clear that the men’s beachwear entrepreneur could have escaped eviction from the process if he had put up more of a fight.

But JD accepted the criticism levelled at his leadership and did not shift the blame onto the shoulders of his colleagues—Rebecca Jeffery and Paul O’Sullivan—leaving Lord Sugar with little other option.

The Task – Cycling Crowdfunding

THE candidates had been tasked with assisting the launch of two new cycling safety products. Nebula, led by JD, was promoting special cycling headphones, while Titans, led by Samuel Boateng, were assisting with an illuminated gilet.

The teams had to get the public to invest in the products through crowdfunding pledges, by organising a PR stunt, creating a campaign video and a crowdfunding website. They were also required to pitch the items to a group of cycling retailers to try to secure orders.

In the 24-hour period assessed for this edition of The Apprentice UK, Samuel’s Team Titans raised pledges of £788, sufficiently ahead of JD’s Team Nebula total of £681 to win the day.

Standout Characters

Samuel Boateng – “I’m cycling. Is it clear I’m cycling?”

In his high point of The Apprentice UK 2016 series to date—but not necessarily for the right reasons!—Samuel Boateng grasped the mettle and enthusiastically pitched his PR stunt concept to his sub-team colleagues Grainne McCoy and Trishna Thakrar.

However, the pair’s expressions of bemusement were alone worth the price of tuning into this week’s show. “This is gonna be good, this is gonna be good, this is gonna be good,” Samuel insisted, enthusiastically albeit a tad unconvincingly…

…and so it proved. Claude Littner also expressed lack of faith in Samuel’s vision for the PR stunt. Sadly, we never got to see if Claude had to deliver on his grave promise that he would “eat my shorts if that gets traction on social media”. But it’s fairly safe to assume that Lord Sugar’s right hand man was ever in any danger of having to do so.

It was clear, though, that Lord Sugar did not miss that the secret of Team Nebula’s success was not Samuel, but Karthik Nagesan who, despite his now characteristic disruptiveness during the team’s video shoot, had a “superb” performance at the pitch that secured two decisive orders from the cycling retailers.

“Samuel, you are a lucky man,” Lord Sugar remarked as he sent the winners off to enjoy their treat.

Grainne McCoy & Trishna Thakrar

Grainne had another strong week, sticking to her guns about her lack of belief in Samuel’s mime concept for the PR stunt. And despite the tension of the boardroom when it became just how unimpressed Lord Sugar and his associates were about the stunt, the pair managed to smooth over their differences.

Trishna had a close shave after persuading her teammates to alter the spelling of “Gilet” to “Gillet” (which actually means either a mare, a “flighty young woman”, or the underside of a dog’s jaw), but she escaped forensic inquisition on this faux pas thanks to being on the winning team. To be fair, she did not shy away from her mistake, and even highlighted on Twitter after the show.

So November’s here, just writing my Christmas List;
1. New Bike
2. Light up Gillet
3. Oxford Dictionary#TheApprentice

— Trishna Thakrar (@TrishSpurs) November 3, 2016

Rebecca Jeffery & Paul O’Sullivan

AS JD left the boardroom, Rebecca Jeffery and Paul O’Sullivan had their position spelled out in clear terms by Lord Sugar. The implication was crystal clear. They were being given a final chance to prove themselves.

Paul’s temperament had been called into question previously, and his failure to include on the website the fact that the item being offered for a £5 pledge was worth three times that amount left Lord Sugar decidedly unimpressed.

Rebecca’s marketing skills also drew some acidic observations from Lord Sugar who told her that he would fire anyone from one of his companies if they’d organised a PR stunt that raised only £200.

The Wisdom of Lord Sugar

Both teams felt the brunt of Lord Sugar’s acerbic wit this week, particularly for the PR stunts that they organised for their respective products. Even the winning team were told, in relation to their ‘mime’ PR concept, “you bunch of so-called intelligent people have left me speechless”. But it was the losers, Team Titans, who felt the Sugar burn most severely.

“Frankly, you created all the buzz of a dead bee” — to Rebecca Jeffery on the ‘gospel song’ PR stunt she coordinated for Titans’ headphones campaign

“If that’s what you call going viral, I think the virus must have been sleeping sickness.” — another withering pronouncement on the weakness of Rebecca’s PR stunt

“We needed Jay-Z, unfortunately we got Jay-Dee” — discussing with Claude and Karren the extent of JD’s culpability for the failure of Titans to excel in the task

“It was useless. Napoleon had more luck in Waterloo than you did” — passing judgement on Samuel’s concept for Titans’ PR stunt at Waterloo Station

Looking Ahead to Week 6 on The Apprentice UK

AS WE reach the halfway mark of the show, and with 12 candidates still remaining, the pace is set to quicken with the Week 6 task, when the candidates are roused from a day of R&R by an early evening phone call summoning them to meet with Lord Sugar on the 69th floor of The Shard.

The candidates will be working the nightshift, each team required to find nine items—for the least amount of money—and return to The Shard by 6am.

Negotiation skills as well as stamina will be crucial, as the teams will be assessed on the number of items secured, and on spending the least amount of money in doing so.

At the break of day, with candidates rubbing their bleary eyes, who will be in for the rudest awakening? AGENT’s money is on a multiple firing, but anything is possible. And as ever, we wish it was next Thursday already!

The Apprentice UK is broadcast Thursdays 9-10pm on BBC One, followed by The Apprentice: You’re Fired, hosted by Rhod Gilbert, on BBC Two, 10-10.30pm.

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