The remaining candidates were given the task of selecting products and then selling them live on air, on the Ideal Home Shopping Channel.

Eclipse - Simon, Naomi and Tre - were led by Simon and picked a craft set (which I wont attempt to spell), a foldable wheelchair and a trampoline to sell.

Stealth - Kristina, Katie and Lohit - were led by Kristina and picked ladies' underwear, a chocolate fountain and some mop.

Lohit, Katie and Naomi came across as very competent performers onscreen. Katie, as usual, came up with the best lines as she identified the target consumer as someone called Mavis, who has a ery sad existence and needs the shopping channel for companionship.

Neither team excelled - they both lost thousands of pounds compared to usual earnings in the prime time slots they were given, but Stealth did have a clear edge over Eclipse and were sent off to a Turkish bath as a reward.

Simon made a balls up of everything. When he in the production chair, he was dumb struck and useless. When he was presenting, he was a gaffe-prone fool. Nick didn't mince his words, describing him as "selfish", guilty of "vanity", and accused him of thinking of himself and not the team.

The choice of a wheelchair by Simon raised eyebrows at the time with Tre and Naomi, and also with Sir Alan who we were shown watching and commenting on the shopping channel broadcast from his own office (though I wonder if he really gave real time opinions of if or if he had a recording and a script). He was distinctly unimpressed and threatened to have words with Simon over it. It was presented onscreen by Naomi and Tre, and they managed to sell two. When it got to the boardroom, Sir Alan - despite what he has earlier said about it - had decided it was a good product and gave credit for the sales to Simon for product selection and not Naomi for presenting it well. His conclusions seemed all over the place. The fact that no trampolines were sold meant, according to him. that it was a bad product and didn't suggest to Sir Alan that it was just a good product that Simon was unable to sell. He seemed to be arriving at conclusions that enabled him to allow Simon to stay.

Despite the clear evidence against Simon, Sir Alan obviously likes him and decided to fire Naomi instead, who in fairness should have gone much earlier anyway.

Labels: apprentice, review, tv