Reviewing the primary episode of this 12 months’s The Apprentice (BBC1) final week, Christopher Stevens recommended right here that the category of 2024 may be the dumbest but. Tonight’s second episode, I’m pretty assured, wouldn’t have modified his thoughts.
This week’s process was based mostly on what Lord Sugar™ fairly improbably claimed is ‘one of the biggest trends’ in Britain at present: the unstoppable rise of the mini cheesecake. Each staff needed to make two batches, one to promote to a company shopper, the opposite to most people – with the staff that made the larger revenue the winners.
For some time, the ladies received a bit slowed down in arguing about what number of grams are in a kilogram. But, having labored that out, they set off to their shoppers at London Dungeon, the place they managed to barter an acceptable ugly value of £13.80 per small cake, promising (not altogether honestly) that the ultimate outcome could be value it.
Less profitable have been the boys, whose company shoppers have been the Innocent smoothie firm. Innocent’s dedication to wholesome consuming – not in any case a fantastic secret – was arduous to overlook from the fruit and vegetable-related decorations adorning virtually each inch of their headquarters. Nonetheless, the boys’ chief negotiator Paul missed it, recommending one thing extra chocolatey as an alternative.
‘We don’t need chocolate,’ mentioned the shoppers – after which mentioned it once more when Paul poured scorn on the entire foolish enterprise of ‘five a day’ and urged them to go for a spot of indulgence.
This week’s process was based mostly on what Lord Sugar ™ fairly improbably claimed is ‘one of the biggest trends’ in Britain at present: the unstoppable rise of the mini cheesecake
Each staff needed to make two batches, one to promote to a company shopper, the opposite to most people – with the staff that made the larger revenue the winners
For some time, the ladies received a bit slowed down in arguing about what number of grams are in a kilogram
Only after three rebuffs was he keen to compromise – by providing them chocolate and[itals] fruit. Meanwhile, his preliminary value of £9.95 a cake was casually swatted apart in favour of £6.
Not that Paul proved solely devoid of self-knowledge. After the assembly, which his team-mates precisely described as ‘a car crash’, he admitted that ‘there were maybe some things I didn’t decide up on’.
And with that, the boys went off to create their fruit and veg cheesecakes, with dragon fruit, apricot and er, avocado. These have been additionally so misshapen that the staff determined it was greatest to name them ‘artisanal’.
Weirdly, the parents at Innocent weren’t impressed. ‘Avocado seems a bit odd,’ mentioned one with commendable understatement. ‘It’s an acquired style,’ replied Asif on behalf of the boys – the difficulty being that the shoppers confirmed no indicators of buying it and dropped the worth nonetheless additional.
But a minimum of the boys’ gross sales to the general public went somewhat higher, with the desserts retailing in a pop-up café at £6, £6.50 or £7 relying on which staff member was promoting them and when. The solely downside got here when one buyer mentioned she was a vegetarian and so couldn’t eat the gelatine – at which level she was provided the cake for a fiver.
Each staff needed to make two batches, one to promote to a company shopper, the opposite to most people – with the staff that made the larger revenue the winners
Once once more Tim Campbell MBE caught to his coverage of serving to us to know precisely what was occurring by repeating precisely what we’d simply seen occurring
Compared to all that, the ladies did look like members of Mensa. Even so, their victory was virtually as simple as the roles performed by Lord Sugar’s two assistants.
Once once more Baroness Karen Brady was required solely to lurk round elevating the occasional eyebrow.
Once once more Tim Campbell MBE caught to his coverage of serving to us to know precisely what was occurring by repeating precisely what we’d simply seen occurring.
And so to the boardroom, the place the ladies beamed and the boys received caught into throwing one another beneath the Number 94 to Tooting.
To his credit score, Lord Sugar did a fairly good job of pretending to agonise about who must be fired.
But after all it wasn’t lengthy earlier than Paul was at the back of taxi wishing he hadn’t spent a lot time ‘banging on about chocolate’.
To his credit score, Lord Sugar did a fairly good job of pretending to agonise about who must be fired
It wasn’t lengthy earlier than Paul was at the back of taxi wishing he hadn’t spent a lot time ‘banging on about chocolate’