We got the customary shots of the candidates waking up. Presumably the camera crew actually go in first, wake them up and say "right, we're going to film you waking up". Simon rose from his slumber and said "morning" to Tre. Tre replied simply, "Wanker", like some kind of obscene alarm clock.

The candidates were ordered to meet Sir Alan in Greenwich to hear details of their next task. They stood in front of the Cutty Sark which was a nice reminder of how she looked before she was ravaged by fire. The Cutty Sark had been used to import tea, and Sir Alan explained this was task would be about about selling imported goods to the retail trade. Each team would listen to pitches from a trade rep from a variety of countries, and then select the one with most marketable products and then try to get orders.

Tre was put in charge of leading Eclipse (Lohit, Simon & Jadine), whilst Katie was appointed manager of Stealth (Kristina and Naomi).

Stealth chose to work with Canadian imports and Eclipse went with Sweden, which seemed like a sound choice when you consider the popularity of Swedish furniture. It was an eclectic range of products including a children's toy wheatie, dehumidifyer and a "rug in a box" which almost sounds like a reply to the song that Justin Timberlake performed on Saturday Night Live.

It seemed that what would be key to this task was arranging the face to face meeting with retail buyers, but the girls didn't arrange any appointments in advance and Eclipse only managed to get one, which seemed to be down to lack of manpower (with Jadine being too homesick to work) and a bad list of contacts culled from the net by Simon. With a lack of appointments arranged, the teams ended up turning up on doorsteps and cold calling disinterested staff with one person fuming at Naomi, "We dont have a manager or a buyer, get off my line you silly woman".

When the teams did manage to get face-time with the right people, they all seemed to sell well, but if there was a flaw in the task - probably for both - it was in getting into companies in the first place. At one point Simon and Tre were walking up and down Islington's Upper St trying to doorstep owners. I was hoping a satisfied customer from week one - also in Upper St - may approach them and ask for a coffee, which Jadine had memorably branded with the eclipse shape.

The single biggest sale probably went to Jadine and Lohit with when they sold 5 high end designer dehumidifiers but it wasn't enough to beat Stealth who trounced them.

Katie and the girls went off for a reward in Selfridges, whilst Tre kept Lohit and Jadine back in the boardroom to face the boss. Tre and Lohit fought their corners well and articulately, but Jadine seemed resigned to her fate, and she was sent packing in emotional scenes and the sadness seemed to be felt by all, as Jadine had said she had wanted to win to help get a better life for her daughter. Sir Alan simply concluded he was looking for a more finished product and she still needed to learn 0 which slightly misses the point that this is The Apprentice and not just The Employee.

Labels: apprentice, review, tv