Series 4 Week 12 - The Final!
Well it’s finally arrived. After 11 weeks of trials and tribulations it all comes down to this, the final of The Apprentice 2008. After Lucinda was shown the door last week, we are left with a four way shoot out this week. As a reward, Sir Alan treats the four to a gourmet dinner.
The candidates join Sir Alan at an empty art gallery. For the final, there will be two teams, Alex with Helene and Lee with Claire. As usual for a final, they are joined by the candidates already fired from the series. The task this week is to develop an original brand and fragrance for men and then present to a select audience of industry professionals, and Sir Alan of course.
Continuing the trend from last week, Alex continues to mention his age – yes, he is still only 24 would you believe.
Lee and Claire decide to go for a “macho brand”, along the lines of James Bond with a casino theme. However, over on Alex and Helene’s team, the brain storming session isn’t going as well, with Helene disagreeing with Alex’s choice of scents. Meeting with a design agency, Alex and Kevin are struggling with a name for the product, just having established a crude design.
Back to Lee, and he’s in his element beginning to plan the setup for the presentation the next day, even mentioning the use of glow sticks to open the presentation!
Alex and Raef begin shooting the commercial for “dual”, the finally decided upon title of their fragrance. Nick is impressed with the two part design of the bottle. The set of Lee’s commercial is dressed with the theme of a casino revealing the “roulette” bottle.
The next day, and it’s the day of the pitch. Lee is getting flustered over the presentation, whilst Alex and Helene practised alone and seem to have it all sorted. Well that’s what they thought, until they presented to the rest of the team, where Jennifer thought it was boring.
Sir Alan arrives at the venue to join other high profile guests from the industry. Lee and Claire are up first – and yes the presentation really did open with Lee’s idea of glow sticks! Claire begins with introducing the gambling theme. Lee says how this is a fragrance for “new men”. Claire fends off comments about the focus primarily being on the gambling theme.
Next it’s Alex and Helene, and again there is a fancy opening, this time with dancers. Alex begins the pitch, claiming the fragrance is for the “versatile man”. Helene takes over, showing off the unique design of the product. After the video was shown, Alex and Helene instantly received praise from the audience, one guest claiming “I think your product is ace”.
Then it was the boardroom to end all boardrooms, with all candidates looking incredibly nervous. Lee and Claire are questioned over the gambling theme and the potential to be linked to promoting a gambling habit. Nick isn’t happy with the gambling connotation stating “Roulette equals gambling, gambling equals debt, debt equals misery”. Alex and Helene were brought up on how long it took them to establish the initial thoughts including the name, with Nick saying “the first day was a wash out” and the high cost required to produce the fancy design of the bottle. Questioned about the design of the bottle, Alex was defensive, not admitting that the designers came up with the concept.
Having sent the ex candidates away, it was down to the final four in the boardroom. Sir Alan didn’t beat around the bush and instantly fired both Alex and Helene. Down to Lee and Claire, Sir Alan sends them outside for a breather. Upon return, the ex candidates are questioned on which would you choose, with Simon saying “I wouldn’t want to be you”, referring to Sir Alan having to make a decision. Sir Alan asks why they both want this, to which Claire responds with how she has developed throughout the experience “I’ve got resilience” and Lee states the sales experience he has behind him “I’ve demonstrated my sales ability and my management ability, I deliver and I want this”.
Wondering whether Lee is just a one trick pony and if he could work with Claire day-to-day, Sir Alan draws his conclusions. “Lee you’re hired”!
16 candidates, one job; Sir Alan’s search for his apprentice is over.
