Busting the moves

Well here's a late update on the fifth episode of The Apprentice series 8, which saw both teams this time being asked to come up with a gym workout program, which they can sell to gyms.

So the two teams, Sterling, this time lead by Ricky, and Phoenix, which was lead by Stephen (Phoenix) had to come up with ideas for the program.  Ricky for team Sterling came up with the idea of combining dance moves with martial arts, and the promotional video they filmed for program was directed by Duane, and starred Laura, who headed up the workout moves.  Meanwhile team Phoenix came up with the idea of a 1980s themed workout program, complete with space hoppers and hula hoops, and their promo video featured Azhar as the instructor.  The two teams then approached retailers with their sales pitches and promo videos, where Ricky's professional pitches were appreciated, but their video was disliked by the retailers.  And in team Phoenix, the team leader, Stephen, messed up on the costing of his workout accessories, but they liked their video. 

In the boardroom however it was all about which team made the most profit, and in the end it turned while team Sterling had orders from two gyms for over £7000, team Phoenix had one order for over £12000, which meant they won the task.  Ricky then decided to bring Duane back in the boardroom for his poor direction of the promo video, and Laura for not showing the combat moves along with the dance ones.  However after quite a debate between the three team members, Lord Sugar decided to fire Duane, as he ultimately blamed him for the failure of the task.  Meanwhile however Lord Sugar decided to let Laura stay as he wasn't convinced that Ricky made the right decision bringing her back into the boardroom, and Ricky was kept in because of his capable performance so far in the process. 

To be honest I'm not sure that Lord Sugar fired the right person this time, as Duane was a very capable candidate, and he had a better attitude than Ricky, who has so far been very arrogant, but it does appear the arrogant guys do go further in the process, as we have seen in the past.  Duane however did show signs of becoming defensive when his decisions were challenged, and that he really wasn't that prepared to listen to other people when given feedback.  And while I do think that she should remain in the process, I'm not overly keen on Laura, as she comes across as a bit of a nippy sweety, and her Glasgow accent at times is a bit grating and shrill on the ears.  But Lord Sugar clearly wasn't impressed with Ricky's decisions to bring in the two creative people in the task rather than the others on the team who sat in the background, but it does have to be said that the failure of the task did boil down to Duane, and that's that.

So that's another episode done with, next up the two teams have to sell food out on the streets of Edinburgh, and no doubt it will be all about who profits the most, so more on that later in the week.

And that's it for nowww.