Week 2 of The Apprentice, and after last week’s poor performance by both teams it was time to show they had lifted their game. After Reaf Bjayou escaped being fired by Sir Alan last week and looking to disprove any question marks over his performance, he put himself forward for the role of team leader for the boys this week. For the girls, Jenny Celerier also put her hand up for the role of team leader.
This week, Sir Alan set the teams the task of operating a laundry business. Allowed to use industrial laundry services for one day only, the winning team will be the one who made the most money at the end of the task. Additionally Sir Alan lined up a big hotel offer for the team with the most suitable pitch.
Both teams developed a pricing structure, for the boys £1 – £2 for most items depending on size, for the girls a fixed £4.99 for every item. With the prices agreed, the girls were first to make their pitch to the hotel manager. With 1000 items to be laundered the girls priced the job at £5000! As the girls did not move on the offer, it was time for the boys to pitch. With their flexible pricing structure, the boys were closer to usual price to launder that quantity. Eventually the boys closed the deal, agreeing at £200 for the lot.
Having lost the hotel deal, the girls went door-to-door in the hope of getting business. Jennifer Maguire and Lindi Mngaza approached a fish monger needing a pile of dirty clothes to be cleaned. Normally costing £60, the owner was amazed to find the girls would launder the entire pile for only £15 all in!
Reaf Bjayou, Kevin Shaw and Michael Sophocles continued looking for business, whilst with a van load of laundry from the hotel, Lee McQueen, Simon Smith, Ian Stringer and Alex Wotherspoon started on the mammoth task of washing and pressing every item. With Simon having worked in laundry service before, the task seemed to running like a military operation.
By 2:00am, the end of the allocated time to use the industrial laundry services, the boys had finished every item, whilst the girls had to rely on the morning to continue ironing some of their items back at the house.
The next day, upon handing back the washed items the girls discover that some of the items are missing. Not only this, but realising they are low on cash for the task; they ask customers if they would like to include a tip for their good service!
When it came to the boardroom, the girls lost the task with Jenny, Lucinda and Shazia in the final three. It was a close call between team leader Jenny and Shazia who was in charge of recording every item of clothing when returning them to the customer. Having stated at the beginning of the task not to lose a single sock, let alone two shirts, Sir Alan named Shazia as the second apprentice to be fired.
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